My senior dog has CHF with fluid in lungs. When is it time to say goodbye?

I'm sorry Chloe has CHF. She will have extreme difficulty breathing, blue colored gums, she may cough blood, and she will be in a lot of distress and pain. I do not recommend letting her get to this place, it would be horrible for her. One of the great things about veterinary medicine is that we have the ability to ease a dog's suffering before they reach a place of intense pain, distress, and suffering. I recommend having her put to sleep before she reaches this place, it will be better for her and you. Having to watch her go through those symptoms I described above would be very upsetting to you, and you don't want to put her or you through it. I work for a home euthanasia service, so I face the question as to when it is time to let them go frequently. I would make a list of five things Chloe loves to do. When she is no longer doing at least two of them, then it's time to let her go peacefully. It's about looking at her quality of life and preventing her from getting to a place where it's awful. You can speak with your vet for more advice as to when to let her go. You can also request a consult with me for a more in-depth discussion about it. I hope this helps, and again I'm sorry :-(

Poor Xica! I'm so sorry that she's sick, and that you're in the position of having to consider what is best for her right now. This is always a difficult situation. Her x-rays do appear to show very severe pleural effusion. As I'm sure your veterinarian has probably discussed with you, pleural effusion of the type that you have described (bloody fluid) is almost always caused by one of two things: congestive heart failure, or cancer. The amount of fluid in her chest makes it hard to get a good look at the size and shape of her heart, or to determine if there are any obvious tumors in her chest, so it's hard to say which of these possibilities is more likely without additional testing. But unfortunately, even with aggressive treatment, neither of them have a good long-term prognosis. Knowing this, if I were in your position, I believe I would probably decide to let her go rather than pursuing hospitalization, chest tube placement, etc. - these are invasive, uncomfortable procedures that are unlikely to make a significant difference in the outcome for her, because of the severity of her underlying disease. That being said, the decision of when to consider euthanasia is a very personal choice, and one that is different for every pet owner. If you feel that you need to do everything possible, and want to pursue advanced diagnostics to try and get a more specific answer as to what's wrong, there is nothing wrong with this at all - but if you were my client, I would try to gently caution you that her underlying condition will almost certainly be fatal regardless of what you do. I hope you're able to find peace in your decision, whatever it might be.

When you are unable to control Chewy’s symptoms with medication then it will probably be time to let him go. It sounds as if he is doing well for now. If he stops wanting to eat, has trouble with minimal exercise, or coughs constantly, these are signs that his disease is not well controlled. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

You didn't mention if she is on heart medicaiton currently or not; however, I would either take her to your ER vet or to your regular vet as a walk in emergency appt. Spunky sounds unstable and should be looked over by a vet right away. They may be able to help stabilize her condition. Best of luck to you both. Take care.

I'm sorry Smokey is doing so poorly. It could be there are adjustments that can be made to his medicine to help him, but if not, yes it may be time to let him go. Take him into the vet first thing in the morning to discuss the options. I'm sorry you are facing this.

I am sorry to hear that. As long Sassy is stable with the heart failure, does not pant excessively and does not have episodes of collapse the quality of life is usually acceptable. However, some dogs suffer from refractory congestive heart failure and in these cases it is difficult to keep them comfortable as they have tendency to build up fluid in the lungs over and over again. I would say as long as Sassy is eating, drinking, going for walks (they can be very short) and enjoying her life it is worth to continue with the treatment.

This is always a tough question to answer. I work for a home euthanasia service, so I face this question all the time with clients. I recommend making a list of five things Coco used to love to do, and if she is no longer doing at least two of them, her quality of life has declined to where euthanasia should be considered. Quality of life is very important in these cases. I would speak with her vet to see what they think about her quality of life. I hope this helps.