Godmother
Well-Known Member
I have a 27-month-old female who is one of the three longest-lived of her sibs and half-sibs. She has an enlarged heart and is on several medications to ease her breathing and to keep her lungs as clear as possible of fluid.
A month ago she developed signs of hind end degeneration, and my vet added Pred to her medication regime. Then she developed what seems to be a very slow-growing mammary tumour. Her lungs are still good, though.
I thought that she would go downhill fast and that it would be clear when to take her to be pts. But she still makes the effort to go up and down the ramps of the FN, she grabs and defends any treats, and she enjoys food. She seems to love getting into an old box in the play area to chew on it and an old steak bone in there, and she builds little nests with cardboard.
Much of the time she just lies around, but she will eventually join the others for their out time. Her breathing becomes laboured upon any effort, but she stops to catch her breath and then keeps on going.
She has never turned blue or been so short of breath that she panicked.
I am taking her to the vet next week to see if he has any idea how much time she has. I will be on vacation in less than two weeks, in a place that is at least 4 hours travel to the nearest vet. Obviously I can't take her there with me, but it would be so hard to leave her with someone else if I didn't think I would see her again.
I don't want to cut her life unnecessarily short, yet I don't want to risk her going into a respiratory crisis when I can't be there with her.
So there's not much anyone can say about this situation; I just needed to share it.
A month ago she developed signs of hind end degeneration, and my vet added Pred to her medication regime. Then she developed what seems to be a very slow-growing mammary tumour. Her lungs are still good, though.
I thought that she would go downhill fast and that it would be clear when to take her to be pts. But she still makes the effort to go up and down the ramps of the FN, she grabs and defends any treats, and she enjoys food. She seems to love getting into an old box in the play area to chew on it and an old steak bone in there, and she builds little nests with cardboard.
Much of the time she just lies around, but she will eventually join the others for their out time. Her breathing becomes laboured upon any effort, but she stops to catch her breath and then keeps on going.
She has never turned blue or been so short of breath that she panicked.
I am taking her to the vet next week to see if he has any idea how much time she has. I will be on vacation in less than two weeks, in a place that is at least 4 hours travel to the nearest vet. Obviously I can't take her there with me, but it would be so hard to leave her with someone else if I didn't think I would see her again.
I don't want to cut her life unnecessarily short, yet I don't want to risk her going into a respiratory crisis when I can't be there with her.
So there's not much anyone can say about this situation; I just needed to share it.
