Tony Cruse (TC) discusses the heartbreaking decisions we, as dog owners, sometimes have to make, and how to manage grief after the loss of our beloved dogs…
Interview by James Buzzel (JB)
JB: Unfortunately, this is a topic we all have to go through with our dogs, making decisions that are really difficult and upsetting to make. Having just gone through this yourself, would you mind telling us about Motley, how long he lived with you and how you came to make the decision to put him to sleep? TC: Yes, indeed. I’ve had him since he was a puppy and he made it to 13-years-old. I just want to say that whilst I’m not a grief counsellor, I think it’s a useful opportunity to share my experience and tips on getting through grief because it’s not easy. I’m right in the middle of it at the moment. We had Motley since he was a puppy, and we put him to sleep less than two weeks ago after he was diagnosed with Lymphoma in June 2023. He lived a good eight months with it, and we decided against any radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Instead, he had a little bit of medication to help him through.
JB: It is obviously a very difficult decision to make – whether to euthanise or to let them pass away naturally. Do you mind talking us through the reasons behind your decision? TC: When he was diagnosed with Lymphoma – which can be very aggressive – your dog can go from being able to walk around as normal, to sadly passing away in a matter of weeks. We were never quite sure how long he was going to be with us for, so we gave him the best eight months he could possibly have. Towards the end, his lymph nodes were swelling up considerably. He didn’t seem to be aware of the lymph nodes, and they didn’t seem to be causing many problems. He certainly didn’t appear to be in any pain – although dogs are quite good at covering up their pain.
The main issue was he was having trouble standing up – getting up from lying down, and a little bit unsteady on his legs. He would fall over, and would struggle desperately to stand up on certain surfaces – and that was just getting worse and more distressing for him. We would put his meal down for him, and normally he would be up and eating it within seconds. He was struggling to get up to eat his meal, causing him distress. The lymphoma was growing, and we made that difficult choice to euthanise him before he got in any real apparent distress.
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