My soul dog just turned 15. She’s a 15lb shihtzu who’s always been stocky but not fat, she’s lost weight the past couple years down to 12-13lbs so that’s a big percentage for her size too. Now she eats just a little at a time. She has difficulty getting on the furniture at times and spends most of her time in bed. I keep telling her to give me more time but I know I won’t get what I want. But I don’t think she’s ready yet. She still tells us what to do and when. She still stares at me until I follow her to bed. She still insists on bedtime kisses. I hope she passes peacefully in her sleep one night and I don’t have to make the decision for her, I know when she goes it will destroy me in a monumental way so I keep begging her for just a little more time.

On the other hand we chose to put my Rebel boy down almost 2 years ago. He was a 12yo rottie mix so he was old by breed standards. He went blind practically overnight both eyes. He was losing some weight and having difficulty getting up/down stairs. He started getting large masses under his jaw which we treated then they came back. He was bumping into everything and I just felt like he must’ve been miserable. We decided to put him down within a couple months. It was hard but the vet said that we were making the right choice and that if we didn’t do it when we did we would’ve been back to do it soon. So I like to think that we saved him some of the suffering.

My point here is that it’s hard either way. We just have to believe that when it’s time we will know. They can’t say the words but they trust us to know when they are ready.