[woward]

Unfortunately our nearly eleven year old bitch, Cookie, had to be put to sleep last night. A few hours earlier I called her from a nap to take a walk and she hurt herself getting up. Apparently, her bones were thin and brittle from the cancer and she broke her hip just by standing up quickly. She was suddenly in greater pain than the meds could handle even at much larger doses. She had been doing really well on her pain meds since her bone cancer diagnosis almost 6 weeks ago (see my earlier post). With the meds she showed no pain and continued to play ball and work with our two puppies. She still enjoyed walks although she no longer had the stamina for long hikes. She never lost her appetite. We stopped at our favorite bakery on the way to the vet and shared our last cookie together.

Our vet was very good when I took Cookie in. She confirmed the extent of the injury and totally supported my decision to put Cookie down. For the first time in such a situation there was no discussion of alterntive treatments to needlessly extend her life. I really appreciated the vet's attitude and it made the decision much more bearable.

I started this thread while facing the dilemma of how to treat my two year old Rottie with lymphoma. The veterinary options in that case are what caused me to start pondering the Ethical Issues we all have when faced with this situation.

I'm very sad about Cookie's passing but am happy that the vet was so supportive of my decision in this case. I hope any of you facing a similar situation get the same support from your vets.

Cookie has now joined her brothers. There should be a lot of wiggling butts waiting at the gate to greet me when I get there...