Westover's Marley and Me

Fourteen years ago, my Dad surprised my brothers and I by bringing home a baby puppy that we ended up naming Sugar. This past week we unfortunately had to put sugar down. Sugar lived a great long life, much longer than expected as about 3.5 years ago Sugar was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She struggled to breath at times and was in visible pain at others. When I left on my mission 3 years ago, I did not expect to see her again as the vet originally told us she had 6 months to live. In the last couple of months Sugar was doing noticeably worse. Within the last two weeks before her passing, she would randomly whine and refused to walk on one of her back legs.
              As a result, my Dad took Sugar to the vet to figure out her status. As it turns out, she had a pinched nerve in one of her back legs. The vet said she could fix it through surgery and a medication, but the medications she would have to take to overcome the pinched nerve would counteract the medication for the congestive heart failure. The vet told us that the combination of the two medications would eventually prove to be her demise but she had no idea how long this surgery would if at all prolong Sugar’s life.
              My Dad is the most animal loving person I have ever met. He loved Sugar probably more than all of us combined. He made then, the decision to put Sugar down. However, after talking to him a few days later he felt a lot of guilt and regret.
              What would you have done in this situation? I personally think my Dad originally made the right choice, but I can see both sides of the issue. I mean it would have been great to have her for a couple more years, but it likely would not have been nearly that long and no one could foresee her condition of living.

              This same debate can be extended to those that are on life support in hospitals across the United States. At what point should loved ones decided that enough is enough? 

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 5, 2017 at 8:43 AM

    That's always a tough decision. My family also had to make that hard choice when a few years ago our horse, Cheyenne, broke her leg while running. We opted to put her down as leg injuries are extremely bad for horses and very difficult, if possible for them to overcome. In my opinion your dad made the right choice. While a human can decide whether or not they would like to be on life support (even if it's before the accident or illness), an animal needs us to make those tough choices for them.

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  2. UnknownApril 10, 2017 at 7:09 AM

    It is a really tough decision. My family also put our dog down when I was younger. She had been docile her whole life but had recently started biting people and bit a visitor that came to our house.

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  3. UnknownApril 10, 2017 at 7:52 PM

    That is an interesting controversy you bring up. My family had to put a beloved dog down. He had three legs and had gotten to the point where his value of life was lost.

    However, you can't help but feel differently towards human being and their situations. My aunt had to make that decision with my cousin who was on life support. An absolutely hard decision and one you can't help but wonder about.

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