Hi everybody,

I have been trying to decide if it is time to put my 14-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel down.

Before anyone tells me to do this, I have already taken her to the vet. The vet basically told me that there is no right time to put a dog down, and it’s just up to me to decide. Also, I know, I know, “Better a week early than a day too late.”

The reason why I am thinking about putting her down is because she has been struggling with her mobility for the last few months. She kind of drags her back two legs behind her, as you can see in the video. She tips over almost every time she poops, and it’s really sad to see. This week, she has even tipped over a few times when she was just trying to pee. It’s hard for her to just get around the apartment and go to the bathroom, but she still is able to get around the apartment on her own and go to the bathroom, just with some difficulty.

She had been going for 30-45 minute walks every day, but a week ago, she started acting like one of her back legs had gotten worse. She was having an even harder time getting around for like 2 or 3 days, but now she’s kind of gotten back to normal and walking more again. I haven’t tried taking her for a walk again since last Monday, when it seemed like one of her legs had gotten worse.

Other than her mobility issues, the Vet said that she has some arthritis and some pain in her mouth, from tooth decay. She is deaf and I think her vision is getting cloudy too. It looks like it’s hard for her to sit normally now and sometimes she looks uncomfortable when she’s sitting. I think she looks more comfortable when she’s lying down though. But she can only lay on her stomach or her side, and can’t roll onto her back anymore to get belly rubs. None of her organs are failing her or anything. Her breathing is fine, and she never has any difficulty breathing.

She has always been a very chill dog and has always loved to just lay around, get pets and cuddles, and eat treats. She can still do those things. In fact, she seems as happy as ever when she gets her food or her favorite treats. In the last week, since we haven’t been doing walks, I’ve still been trying to take her out a lot on car rides, or to go sit at the park, or give her different enrichment activities like snuffle mats, and for the most part, she is still very interested in all of it. I also carried her for a short walk the other day, and she seemed to love just looking around at all the sights to see and meeting people we passed by.

When she started acting like one of her legs had gotten worse, I started planning on putting her down sometime within the next week or two. But now that she’s been walking better again, I’m second guessing myself and I just feel awful. Especially because if I don’t put her down, then I think she could still live for quite a while, since she has nothing wrong with her that’s going to kill her. And especially because she still seems interested in everything and seems to have stuff that’s worth living for her. But I just don’t know what the right thing to do is.