I’m writing today about some stuff that’s not really so common to be done here in the Philippines. One of them is putting your pets (any pet) to sleep. Well a few weeks ago we had our dog put sleep. She’s been with us for over 9 years. It was a difficult decision for all of us in the family, but at the end we had to do it so Fluffy would not suffer more and much longer. Not one of the kids wants to take her there. We definitely shed tears for her. We gathered our kids and nieces and have their say on what to do with her. We all agreed to let Fluffy sleep without pain.
A few months ago I noticed Fluffy had some rashes, and I saw her itch it. So we thought it’s just from the fleas. So I bought different shampoo for her. I really thought it got better, but I was wrong. So we decided to bring her to the Vet. The vet gave her some medicine and we bought some shampoo there. It just didn’t get better though. Last month I could see that the skin rashes got worse. It even covered up her eyelids. I’m really heart broken just watching her daily as she kept on scratching.
Bob also saw Fluffy out in our front yard scratching so much. So we talked and we told our niece to bring Fluffy to the vet and see what does the vet think? To ask the doctor also if it would be better for Fluffy to be put down or have medication? When our niece came back the doctor gave us 2 choices. If we want Fluffy be treated it might take a few months and she’s not sure if she would really heal because of her age. It will cost us over 5k a month for that. And taking her age into consideration she might not last long too. If we chose to put Fluffy down it will cost us 2k (including the medicine to use). They will bury her too.
You have to sign a waver that it was our choice to do that. Just to avoid lawsuit against the vet. You can even watch the process if you want to when they put your pet to sleep. So that evening all of us the family gathered to talk about it and what’s the best options for Fluffy. We all decided to put her down so she would be out of her misery. That’s the best thing for her. We did it for our love for Fluffy. The next day my brother-in-law Jhun brought Fluffy to the vet. Thank God Jhun was here at the house to work on our organic garden.
I’m not going to let someone kill her for them to eat her. You know that’s what the typical drunkards do here. They will kill that dog and make it there appetizer (hors d’oeuvres, pulutan, sumsuman) while drinking. Sounds yucky, but that’s the reality here. We had neighbors in GenSan before that they really enjoyed eating dog meat than other meat. They almost had party every weekend. How do we know it’s dog? Because it shows when they’re roasting, the whole dog on the bamboo rod. It really grossed me out but can’t tell them what to eat. Sometimes they offered some when we pass by, I just smile. It’s really disgusting but it’s not my place to tell them.
Just to show how rare it is here to have a dog or other pet put to sleep, just after we had Fluffy put down, my cousin visited with her family I told her that we had to have Fluffy put to sleep. She said “Oh, really?” After a few minutes she asked, “Where is Fluffy?” I reminded her that Fluffy had been put to sleep, but she said “where is she now?” She had no idea that what I meant was that the vet had euthanized Fluffy, due to her health. It is just not a well known thing here in the Philippines.
We had a good years with Fluffy. She gave us few pups. Some of our friends have her puppies. The puppies turned out to be good for them too. While writing this post, we got a new pup for the kids. It’s a black pup. We named him Pepper. I will post some pictures here later and on FB. We also have a dog named Chichi.
The price for putting down a pet might vary from one place to the other. Not sure how much the cost in the other cities here in the Philippines. I was just quoting the price of Davao City. Just like when we had our cats spayed the first one it cost 3,500, we are not happy with the result. Our cat still in heat which is annoying because she’s so loud and you felt sorry for her. Our second one it cost 5k but we are really happy with the result. We will be going to have our third one (Blue) pretty soon. We already had a quote from our vet. It will be 3,500 if the weight below 5 kilos. So we are trying that Blue’s weight will not exceed 5 kilos.
I went through the same agonizing process when I put to sleep our English black lab, Rambo, he was 15 years old, he got depressed when my husband passed away, he was his dog. he had some joint problems typical of Labradors. My husband passed away October 2011, and I had to put Rambo to sleep December 2011. Two deaths in a row was just too much to bear, but like you, I don’t want him to suffer, I want him to die with dignity and not in pain. I cried for months, and I still miss him, the most affectionate, loyal, devoted dog one can have. I still have my senior, 17 years old white terrier, still active for her senior years!!!!
Hi Vivien – Sorry to hear about your loss too. I can understand your hardship. You’ve mention putting your dog to sleep. Just wondering how much did it cost for you to put your dog to sleep there?
Good that you still had a nice dog with you there right now to keep you company. I was offered to buy a pomeranian terrier, looking at the picture it looks good, but when we saw the pup it’s not what the person said on the picture. It’s not even the same dog. I had to turn her down on that. Bummer, it was hard because my daughter already had her heart on the puppy. Big sigh… But we got a good one now anyway.
Nice to see you here. Thank you for stopping by!
Feyma;
I’ve been looking at your dog’s picture and thinking of our dog “Dona Mini” she turned 14 this year and is moving very, very slow. Now she wakes up and barks once and then falls back to sleep. The vet said she is in good health but if that changes we might also have to think about the other way. I agree with you I won’t let her suffer with any pain. It’s not something I want to think about, but must.
I know the loss of a pet is a hard thing to endure, I feel bad for the Martin family over the loss of Fluffy.
Hi Paul – Dona Mini’s a pretty darn good dog even with her age. You should be proud that she’s still in good health at that age.
I hope it will still be awhile for you guys to think the other way with Dona. Have fun with her right now.
Thank you Paul for the nice thought. Highly appreciated.
I sympathize with your loss.
Thank you so much bigp… I really appreciate your thoughts.
Have a nice day!
I am very sorry for your lose..
I just put my dog down a few weeks ago and still look for her all the time..she was with me 14 years. It is a hard thing to do..I cryed like a baby..it is like a family member is gone.
So sorry..
~~Richard
Hi Richard – Sorry to hear about your loss too. I know what you mean, almost every morning we’ve been walking and at first I was expecting Fluffy to be there at our gate when we get home. I’m just so used to it that she’s there every time. It took me a few days to adjust. That’s for sure our pets, they’re really just like a family to us.
Hoping you’re getting better on adjusting without your pet too. Sorry again too for your loss.
Have a wonderful day!
Mrs Feyma,
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of Fluffy. It’s like the loss of a family member. Alot of times getting a new dog fills the void of your lost friend.
Hi PapaDuck – So true, I agree with you. We’re moving on but we’re still remembering them.
Good to see you here again PapaDuck.
Have a great day!
So sorry to hear of your loss. At the same time, I’m happy that the dog had a good and comfortable life with your family. I think that it’s a hit or miss situation with finding a good veterinarian in the Philippines. It sounds as if you have a good one.
Take care,
Pete
Hi Pete – Thank you. We are happy with our vet doctor right now. Plus it’s just a walking distance from our house. So convenient.
Have a pleasant day!
Feyma,Im sorry for your loss,Fluffy.I relate to your Feeling.2 weeks ago I had to do the same thing here.Sasah was 13 and very over weight.The vet diagnosed her with hart failure too.She came running into my room here with her whole body expanding with every hart beat.her cough was like someone suffering with lung cancer.This is another side effect of the hart failure and I cant fix it.The Vet gave meds I administer 2 times a day.Finnaly enough was enough I took her in.It was a 3 shot process and I was able to be right there with her.I have a baby Boy RedBone here today. lol,puppys are work and have needle teeth.Everything is a toy and they pee every ware.last nite he woke me demanding i put him up in my bed with me.I did notice a couple things wen I was last over there.Seems to have a few dogs running around every ware.I greet a dog with my palm up then my Father inlaw advised me not to do that.Those street dogs were in bad shape.Never seen one mess with the chickens.There was a snake doing that,Papa got it in the middle of the nite with a bolo.Ate that up too,They dont eat dogs ware there at because the medicial people advised agenst it du to dog meat causing health issues.The eating of Dogs seems common in Asia as everyware Iv been they eat dogs.GOD Bless and Good luck with pepper.
Hi George – So sorry to hear of your loss too. It’s really hard to let our pets be put to sleep, but if needed we have to do it. Glad that you got a new puppy too. Yep, you got that right puppy pees all over the place, and whines a lot too. LOL. But they’re fun to be around with too.
Yep, it’s pretty common around here people eating dog meat. Just not in our household though. Ha ha ha… I’m sure plenty of people around here don’t eat dog meat too. 🙂
Good luck with your new pup RedBone too. Nice to see you here. Have a good one!
Sorry for your loss, Feyma. My late mother put her 15 year old bull terrier to sleep in Cebu City. He was a family member. The whole household were in tears. The vet couldn’t do anything for him anymore. Thanks for sharing your story.
Hi Roselyn – Thank you. Sorry to her about the pet of your mom too. I can understand what your whole family been through.
Take care and good to see you here. God bless!
Hi Fryma,
Sorry to hear about Fluffy. It seems like you guys really loved her and will miss her dearly…
When my Kiwi wife and I divorced, I had to sell the family home. We had no children. The hardest thing to me about the divorce was having to find new homes for my three cats. I loved those cats so much. Fortunately I found them good homes and they had great lives. None are alive now due to old age.
What a thoughtful tribute to Fluffy.. obviously a good companion for the whole family.
It is also so nice to read the words of encouragement from your friends.
Glad to hear you got a puppy and will look forward to seeing the pictures.
How much did it cost to have your dog put to sleep?
The reason that your dog was scratching itself all the time was because you were feeding it tin food,
and if you switched over to fresh food such as chicken caresses (raw) or anything other than food that
has preservatives in it your dog will probably still be alive now. Dogs in the wild only eat food that they have hunted, and eat fur and all, but now the easy way out is to feed our pets man made foods which cause all sorts of problems, due to what is in them. I have always fed my animals raw food and have NEVER had a problem with scratching or anything else. As for taking you dog to the vet in the Philippines is a waste of time and money, as most of them would not have a clue about the welfare of animals.
I am a vet in Australia and I know what I am talking about, for what it is worth.
I thought I was the only one who felt it was bewilderingly shallow to put a dog to sleep simply because of scratching, mo matter how excessive it was. Even if it were because of allergies, it could’ve been easily treated. There was no mention of a second opinion being sought. Not even a hint of seeing how the pet would respond to the treatment first. 9 years old for a dog is still pretty young unless it was a giant dog, it will probably have 3-5 more years or so in his life. So I have this WTF look on my face the entire time I’m reading this. This is why I am against pet euthanasia. Sure there are legitimate end-life suffering that you want your beloved companion to skip, but there will always be selfish owners like this one who would always resort to it out of their own personal convenience. Yes this post is 4years old. No it doesn’t diminish your selfish behavior. Yes you deserve to be reminded.
What vet in davao offers euthanasia?
I’m sorry, I don’t know which that, but the city pound does do euthanasia.
It is really hard letting go of pets, more so putting them down, am sure. I know how those who had to do it might have felt while having it done. I am also in crisis. We are owner of a young ( almost three years old) active, and very handsome Belgian Mallinoi. A gift to my husband two years ago. But we are living in a subdivision where there is almost no space between houses. And yet, we are having this handsome, lovable thing who barks so loud even at the middle of the night. We get used to him, but not our neighbors, and I understand. It also wants activity, but my husband who is of medium built and already 60, cannot keep up with its stamina, so the poor thing gets to be deprived of the activity it so requires. The most saddening part is that it had bitten a passerby at one instance it got loose. It was so stressful, and yet we still want to keep the dog. But much as we want to keep it, we have to let it go. Nobody else wants to keep it as it is already too old to be trained, so they say. One suggested euthanasia. Is it okey? or can you find us one who likes to have it for keeps. I am willing to give it for free on the condition that it will be loved and shall be given the chance for the activity it needs, and one more thing…that it will not be turned into a pulutan . Please help!