Facing the Hardest Decision With Love

Almost 3 years ago we welcomed a skinny, but very tall brindle Great Dane into our home. His name is Jasper. He wasn’t living the life his original owners intended him to live and they graciously allowed us the chance to give him something better.

Last spring I noticed he was slowing down a bit and taking a little longer to get up. He is a big guy (156 pounds) and it’s a lot of body to get up off the floor or bed, but it still caused me concern. Jasper turned 8 years old on January 1^st, so at the time he was only 7 years old. I did not want his life to be shortened because his rear didn’t have enough muscle, so we started walking. Every day for at least 30 minutes and longer when we went on hikes or had more time in the mornings. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice a lot of difference, but we kept walking anyway.

One day around the middle of November we were walking the property at Hart Square Village. We had gone about a mile and he fell. There was no explanation for why he fell so he got back up and we kept going. After going about another half of a mile he fell again. I helped him up and then almost immediately he fell again. With his size I prayed we could make it to the car because I wasn’t sure how I would get him out of the village and into the car even with help. After I got him home he was unable to get up on his own. We implemented the towel or small blanket under his rear to help him up. Once he was up he would do ok, but things didn’t improve.

After about a week I took him to the vet expecting to have to euthanize him. Surgery on a dog his size is just not very realistic. If they manage to survive the surgery the recovery is incredibly difficult, on the dog and the human caregivers. To my surprise, Dr. Morckel at Animal Hospital North said “Let’s try some drugs, mom.” I was so happy I cried in the office and thanked her profusely. The anti-inflammatories were miracle pills! Not even 12 hours  after his first dose of medication he was able to get up on his own!

We made sure he never missed a dose of the anti-inflammatories and made sure he had a full dose of Advanced Mobility from Oma’s Pride. After a few weeks it was noticeable he was favoring his right leg/hip/knee, not sure which, but it kept getting worse and the swelling was significant. We would restrict his movement, the swelling would go down, he would start to feel better, then go outside and run and jump and we’d be back where we started. He started to act a little depressed because we wouldn’t let him go outside as much as he wanted.

Last week we took him back to the vet for them to look at his right leg/hip/knee. This was a whole ordeal, again because of his size. He had to be sedated for them to get him on the x-ray table. We were hoping his injury was something that could be aspirated and they would be able to do that while he was sedated as well. His “injury” cannot be aspirated. Jasper has cancer and it’s in his pelvic bone.

We have chosen to let Jasper live his best life until he isn’t able to. We are not restricting his movement and he can run and jump and stay outside as long as he wants to. Although the way he hobbles around looks painful, we’re told the bone lesion isn’t in a weight bearing spot, and even the vet agreed he doesn’t act like he’s in a lot of pain. We are giving him low doses of pain medication as needed and have definitely noticed he needs a little extra in the evenings.

I have shared several losses with many of you, human and animal, as you have also done with me. We’re not sure how much time we have left with our big, goofy, stubborn, smart Great Dane, but we are very grateful for the “bonus” time. I thought sharing our journey with you might be helpful, maybe to me as the writer and maybe to you to know you're not alone as you go through or have gone through something similar.