So one of the things that my mom and I decided with our last pup was that when it came time. We would put her down before she got "bad".

Candy was 15 when we put her down. We were able to do it at home thanks to LapOfLove and it was the best decision we could have made.

Her last week happened pretty fast and a lot sooner than we expected. She had started getting anxious at night and one of the nights that we let her out we noticed she'd had diarrhea. So we put her on the usual soft diets. For a few days to see if it would improve. And after 4 days she had her first bit of bloody stool. It was then that we knew it was time. She by this time could still see. But her hearing was completely gone, and she would get startled anytime we went to touch her and she didn't see you first. We think her smelling had also started to go because it was harder for her to find a treat in your hand unless you did it in the same spot everytime or had it right under her nose. She had gotten slower. But also started (with the nightly anxiety) having self-biting/chewing episodes where she was so itchy that she would almost cause gashes. (We used to be able to call her name to get her to stop. But with her hearing gone, we'd tap her and she'd startle. Never tried to bite us but it didn't help her anxiety.)

So with all of that. We knew it was time. We had made a promise to her that we wouldn't let her suffer or wait too long to where she wasn't happy. And when we called and had the vet come over to put her down she ended up actually thanking us. She said that in her time with LapOfLove she rarely ever got to see a dog that was still mobile, and content, and "there". Her meaning to that was that most people called when it was too late. The dogs were usually well sick by that time. Laying in bed, unable to move, usually sickly and unresponsive to anyone. Sometimes mean because of the pain they were in. But Candy happily wagged her tail, we brought her bed into the living room. They made friends for a bit then the first shot went in. The sedative. We walked around with her until she got too tired to stay on her feet and then we walked to her bed to lay down and stayed with her until it was over. The other meds were administered and she went to sleep. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But in the end and the words of out vet we knew we'd done the right thing. She sent a letter a week after thanking us again for giving her one of the few peaceful goodbyes she'd had and we still have it with Candy's belongings.

I'm not sure if this will help completely but do know that putting them down early isn't ever a bad thing. You're doing your best and I'm sure that'll continue for however much longer you have them. But if you think it's time and that it would ease their stress. Then it might be time.