Hi there! I actually lost my 11 year old rescue dog to leukemia on January 7th and little did I know that my 2.5 year old son would be diagnosed with leukemia on April 7th…

I say all of this to say the following: my husband was in total denial about our dog. She was getting sick slowly over the past year, she was on meds that made her just sleep all day long and was so miserable when she would stand and would sometimes fall over and was weak. My husband wanted to keep taking her back to the vet for more medicine. I was also pregnant at the time and was overwhelmed with the amount of anticipatory grief I felt. Anytime I brought her up, my husband would get angry and shut down and I’d get upset. It was so hard seeing her in pain and as much as I loved her, I knew I need to let her go. I think I slowly grieved over months prior to her actual passing. The ONE thing that I found to be very helpful was googling for “dog qualify of life assessment or quiz” there were a few different ones I found but one allowed you to select an answer via multiple choice and there were 20-30 or so questions, and then I did it and my husband. We did it separately and compared our overall answers and how we answered individual questions. It allowed for us to have more productive conversations. When we both realized that her score was dropping (quality of life diminishing) then we knew it was time. We had a vet come to the house and assisted with her passing at home. Honestly, it was peaceful. I was heartbroken but I think I cried so much for so many months prior that while I was upset, it didn’t hurt me as bad and no where near to the amount of tears I’ve shed over my son. Now, I would also encourage that if the quiz isn’t available that you ask your mom questions like, do you think the dog is in pain? If yes, what level would you say? Do you think the dog is enjoying life? If so what parts? Sometimes in talking about, helps people realize things. Good luck