Doggie Quality of Life

Our Little Guy, a 12-year-old Yorkie, is going in for surgery tomorrow morning.

The vet is going to check his few remaining teeth, removing any that are too far gone to save and cleaning the rest. Due to Little Guy’s lack of cooperation when we are attempting to groom him, we have asked the vet to also cut his nails while he is under. Even with most of his teeth gone and very little vision left, he can still connect with a pretty solid bite when you try to trim his nails.

But even though the procedures seem relatively simple, they still involve general anesthesia and we have to keep in mind that he is an older dog and not in tip-top condition.

He sometimes has trouble walking and is on medication for urinary incontinence and we put two types of ointment in his eyes. His teeth hurt and he is totally blind in one eye and can see light and some movement out of the other. The aches that he suffers are - so far - controllable.

We’re not sure about how much he can hear. Although he generally ignores us when we call him, he can hear kibble hitting a feed bowl from anywhere in the house.

Like so many pet owners, we have had to begin to think about how much we want to put him through. I have tried putting a dollar figure on it, but that doesn’t work. In the end it comes down to the question: At what point does his quality of life make it not worth living and what constitutes quality of life for a dog?

We have only had him for three years, but that doesn’t make us care less than if we had raised him from a puppy and it doesn’t make the decision any easier.

If we are lucky, the hardest thing about all this may turn out to be telling him he can’t have breakfast tomorrow morning before the surgery.

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