Got one to tell that ain't no fun at all but maybe yall have been through something similar. When my boys left home we inherited their dogs and yeah they were family pets anyway. One came from an "adoption agency" many years ago. Nice itty bitty beagle pup who was rescued on the side of the road with his mama and her litter. This pup was the sole survivor of what was diagnosed as poison ingestion probably anti freeze.I did not want this pup for obvious reasons but my youngest put up a real fight and we brought the sick little beagle home.He was around 4 weeks and would fit in your hand. Could not hold food and we kept him alive with a mixture of Pepto and milk through an eye dropper.After a time soft food and weekly vet trips became normal and at three months he weighed 10 lbs.We named him Royal Pain and at 1 year he weighed 44 lbs. Our beagle turned out to be a big hound, most likely a Walker. Two things stayed with him for life, he could never get enough to eat and he purely hated to go to the vet. Got so bad about vet trips that the last time he went we had to literally hog-tie him to get him in the truck. After that I gave the shots and my wife did the doctoring if he needed it.
Having a big hound in the house is not without its moments.Growing up, Royal ate a great many expensive items like a land line phone, tennis shoes, a recliner, and one of my wife's handbags. Then came the day he chewed up six inches of an expensive Jeffry recurve. He and I had a serious talk and he never chewed up stuff again.
Royal eventually got up to 70 lbs. We have a good place for dogs to get out and run but he was not interested. He was a house dog and all he did was eat and sleep.
And then one day he would not get off his pillow even to eat. Over the next week he managed a few stiff legged trips outside and to his food. We put water next to him and tried to load him for a vet trip but that was not happening. Six months earlier my wife had taken our oldest dog to the vet and old Molly got so excited she had a heart attack and died right there.
I put a kiddy pool under Royal's bed and for a couple of days the old boy never moved. I called four vets trying to get a house call even if all they did was put him down. No luck. Was not going to let him suffer.Took off a half day intending to carry him outside, tied if need be and then make it quick. My God how I dreaded that! When I got home he was up for the first time in four days. I grabbed a handful of lunch meat and a handgun and led him outside. We talked a minute and I put the rest of the meat in front of him and stepped behind him.
