Would you put her down?

United States
May 30, 2008 6:22am CST
Ok so we are at our vets yesterday with our 4 month old Akita...again... we have been taking her every two weeks because of a problem she has. She leaks urine when she sleeps or we miss giving her meds to her. So we tried two weeks of antibiotics first...helped very little. Then we tried Proin 25 for urinary incontinent helped a whole lot down to one time a day when she gets wet (when she sleeps). So our vet feels it is a birth defect and for that we would have to go to a specialist for a solution. He did take bloodwork yesterday to make sure that her kidneys,liver and pancreas are working correctly we get the results today. He did however mention that most people would put her down for this problem. We won't do that. In every other way she is a great dog, super sweet and loving, smart, and beautiful and real joy to be around. She is already a member of our family. We cannot afford the specialist so we are going to keep her on the meds and put her in a diaper in the afternoon/evening when she wets herself in sleeping. Would you put her down?
10 responses
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
30 May 08
I don't think I could do it. My cat was old and sick so I had her put down but it was just a matter of time before her life was gone. Your puppy probably has a long time to live and if it doesn't appear to be hurting the life of the dog or you, then why should you put it down?
1 person likes this
• United States
30 May 08
My thoughts exactly. She is not in pain and we can clean up the mess. We love her and she has a long life in front of her. We told the vet that we wouldn't do it. Our vet tech looked like he was going to cry when the vet mentioned putting her down...he loves her as much as we do. Our vet tech has really formed a bond with her and we appreciate that a lot. It is nice to have some support.
• United States
30 May 08
Our vet is great too but just stretched too thin. He is the only vet now in his office and they are always full of patients. He has a lot of vet techs and help but he needs to find a new partner now that his former one is gone. We had an appointment for 11 yesterday and he didn't get to us till 3 hours later. It is good to have the vet techs and the girls up front for support they all love Shilo like we do.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
30 May 08
I love my vet, my dog is a shelter dog and she took right to him. I think it's important to have a vet that cares. When we got our dog he was extremely sick and we spent a lot of money to get him better, then he started acting funny one morning so when the office opened I got him in and took him that afternoon, she looked at him and said oh Trucker, you are right by my house I could have stopped on my way home from work to see you for this. I knew then that we have the best vet. So it is great to have someone in the vet's office that understands and cares about your pet.
1 person likes this
• United States
30 May 08
No, I would not put her down. I'd keep her contained on hard floors until you got home and could put a diaper on her. If the leaking isn't causing any other issues, she's a completely healthy dog. Has she recently been spayed? That can sometimes cause leakage. If you can't stand to deal with the leaking, contact her breeder or breed rescue because they'd be happy to take a young dog that's used to a family life and place her in a loving home. There's no reason to put a dog down because it leaks.
• United States
30 May 08
We love her and will keep her. We are home most of the time so keeping her in a diaper is no problem. We have tile floors except in the bedrooms where she does not go. She is perfectly healthy in every other way.
• United States
30 May 08
I did contact the breeder for a refund though as we paid for a healthy dog and obviously did not receive one. We found out later that she is not the only one from the litter with a problem. My SIL got one of her litter mates a boy and he has a hip problem that will have to be fixed. Then we found out that atleast two other people have had problems with this breeder about health issues in different litters. Yes I should have done my homework first I know.
• United States
30 May 08
Man, that stinks. :( Whether you should have done your homework or not doesn't really matter when you've got a critter you love and it's 'not right', does it? I hope she doesn't develop any other problems as she gets older. You should consider checking out whether there are any agencies you can report the breeder to. I think the USDA takes complaints on that sort of thing. I'm glad you're willing to take care of her. :) She's a lucky girl.
1 person likes this
@roanne05 (1290)
• Oman
31 May 08
as you've said she is already like a member of the family...would you put a member of your family down???simple "no" is the answer right???i think if i cannot afford the specialist, i will just let her be..their is a diaper anyway..that would help i guess. then try to save money so that you can send to specialist when it is enough.
1 person likes this
• United States
31 May 08
i wouldnt put her down but i dont know if i could handle watching her like that or dealing with it all the time.. i guess you would have to think about it as if she were a child that wets the bed.. my sil wetted the bed till she was in her teens.. is there any hope she might grow out of it?? or grow more tolerant of her problem to where she can control it better??
@Mirenia (199)
• United States
31 May 08
I wouldnt even consider putting one of my pets down. It would just crush me to do so :[ Keep doing what you're doing though! Good idea especially since the dog is really loved by you guys!
1 person likes this
@OWA777 (34)
• Denmark
31 May 08
No absolutely not if it was my cat and had that problem. I woudnt she is so precious to me so im pretty sure i could live with that problem even thought it would prob be annoying as hell.But still having her around would far outweight that
@snowy22315 (181956)
• United States
30 May 08
If I loved my dog I would not. They make dog diapers for such situations. My dog has ocassionally made a mess in the house when he never used to. It's irritating,but i would spend a fortune on diapers before I would consider putting my beloved to sleep. You have to do what's best for you though.
1 person likes this
@madlees (1377)
• India
30 May 08
Have you tried Homeopathy for your pet Sweet design? I have a Dalmatian at home now and before that we had a doberman. We always treat them with homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy is known to cure heriditory cases. If you like you can check out this site http://www.hpathy.com/veterinary/ and they also have discussion forums there. If you like go for it.
• Philippines
30 May 08
I would never, but there was this one time where we really had to have our dog mercy killed. you know when the dog's mouth has white stuff or was it just saliva come out, the vet said he would just end up suffering his whole life and i was in school when all of this happened! but don't you give up! I'm sure he will get better even if it will take a long time.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
6 Mar 11
No i would not put her down. If you love him so much, you would put with his condition and just love him the way he is. It could be a birth defect as your vet says, but that does not mean it would change everything. Just keep an extra padding in his bed and just patient cleaning in the morning. I think its worth it