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Congestive heart failure in dogs; when is it time to euthenize?

Hi, I hope you can give me some advise. My dog (toby) of 15 years old has congestive heart failure. I took him first with his vet and make him an echocardiogram and found out that he has two murmur and a pulmonar edema. The vet prescribed him furosemide and enapril, and after 6 months he increased his medication because of his condition (my dog is also taking metacam for his spine, omeprazol for his tummy and metamucil for digestion). He was doing great but right now he caughs a lot almost to the point of not sleeping at all and neither do I (which is not very important at this moment). I was desperate so I took him to a new vet and they told me that I should do another echo so i did, and  they prescribed him exactly the same dosis and told me that there is no other thing I can do, so I came back to his original vet. I told him that my family and I have decided to put him down and he desagreed with me and other vets agree with me.
I 've been having several doubts because some days toby is pretty ok and he eats normal and run like a puppy, and other days I can see that he simply dont wanna live anymore. I don´t know if I should wait a little bit more because I may regret my decision.
How do I know if he is in pain and if it is time to end his life humanely?
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Avatar universal
I couldn't agree with tonyb286 more.  If there is ANY doubt in your mind, I would definitely wait.  Enjoy the good days with Toby and be with him on the bad, and when there aren't any more good days left, which could be soon,  you'll know its time.
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1916673 tn?1420233270
Hi. It is virtually impossible for anyone here to give you good advice on this ... you are there, you know what the situation is in real terms and you know your dog better than anyone else. I would however say, if there's doubt in your mind, leave it and keep reassessing as time goes on. Your dog's age, the congestive heart failure and other health concerns are certainly major issues - and complicated ones too. The amount of medications are another problem, because there may be interactions between them that will further affect your dog's health. Over time, this volume of medications will likely also cause other issues. But, quality of life is everything, so if there are more good days than bad ... that's very positive. I tend to think this is more a watch and see scenario ... things could change very quickly, so you certainly need to be prepared. Our dogs are often the best judgement of "when the right time has come". They talk to us with their eyes, and when you get "that look", you'll know the time has come.

Different vets may tell you different things, and that's just because like all of us, vets are only human and they have different opinions. You are the best judge of what is the best for your dog - and that means, despite the anguish, you just need to be courageous, when the time comes. I would take this day-by-day and try not to fret about it too much.

Tony
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