To save (cat/dog) or to euthanise?

Dear pet rescue volunteers,a question for you: "When to chose euthanasia ("the good death") and when to keep on fighting? "Save him" is sometimes not enough...

This morning my plan was to write about vestibular disease in dogs. However, first post I saw on my FB was a story of a dog called "Medo" ("bear" in Croatian) which was posted by an Animal Association "Nada za slavonske pse" (Hope for dogs from Slavonia). In this post, Medo will be just one of many dogs volunteers around the world save and have to make hard and heart-wrenching decisions about their faith. Medo got a feeling of how brutal humans can be. Also, he is a living witness on everything I often talk about: complete disinterest of local councils (which is againt the law!), on how easy it is to get a forearms permit and how meny illegal weapons are a legacy from Croatia's hOMELAND WAR (fought in the early '90s). Medo was found by a volunteer with fractured pelvis, he is in pain and only option is to amptutate one hind leg. Link to his story is at the end of this post.

This is Medo. Photo was taken from FB page of Animal Association "Nada za slavonske pse". Read his story and help if you can.

I read the comments: "Save him! Save him!"

I do not know the volunteer (s) in that Association, but based on the posts on their FB, it seems that, ONCE AGAIN, all the work is being done by one person (maybe two). Usually, volunteers are women who literally give their life to helping animals because they can't remain blind to the pain and suffering caused by other people. Most of Slavonia (a region in Croatia) has such a bad attitute towards animals and their rights that even God said: "Nope, I am outta here!". And yet, those women persist and push on, surpasing the "being a volunteer is giving a couple of hours every week to help others". This becomes their life, a full time job without a break, vacation, holiday. Animals do not understand "day off" or that you want to stay indoors because it it freezing cold or heat outside. Animals do know they need to wait at a certain place for the familiar sound of a car in which their food arrives.

This is the reason why I feel obliged to react when I see one-sided comments from well-wishers: " Save him!", "He deserves to live!"

Allow me to paint the realistic "behind the scenes" picture as a veterinarian, veterinary physio-therapist and an owner of a dog who requires 24/7 care.

🧐"Hind leg amputation is not a problem. There is physiotherapy, wheelchair and other rehab modalities. " "I/we will help" (yet not mention on how or how long). "Dear sweet soul, he deserves to live".

All above mentioned is true. Let us add a little bit of colour named "reality check". ❓Have you ever taken care of large or gigantic dog breed (+ 35 kg) which could not get up on his/her own?

If not, that is the first part of not understanding the whole situation.

My dog is a 42 kg long coated GSD. For almost a year he has been unable to get up on his own or roll around. That means all "personal hygiene and food/drink" things are my job. Including regular turning (to prevent pressure sores) and lifting up to allow him to do his business. A couple of days ago he got vestibular disease which rendered him unable to support his weight.

"Ok, lifting up a couple of times a day is no biggie..."

No?

If you are lucky, you will have a dog with no pain who is very patient (read my blog post "A Story of a Dog Who Showed No Pain"). An you will have a dog whom you will lift and he will be able to support his own weight.

PetSafe Care Lift harness helps us walk. But the "me (human)" factor is necessary to lift him up and help him walk .Pay attention to other mandatory equipment like car ramp to help him up in the car and vet bed to keep him warm, to keep him dry and to prevent pressure sores.

But what if the dog is not cooperative, if he is in pain and you haven't got the slightest idea on how or where to grab + 35 kg of "dead weight" to lift him up without causing more pain and damage? How to turn him over if he soils himself, again without causing additional pain?

All in all, you will have to lift the dog up at least 4-5 times a day. There will be days when he will be tired. Legs will be heavy and you will end up picking him up +10 times a day. No matter how good your dead lifting technique is (use your legs not your back!), you will not be able to avoid pain and possible injuries to yourselves in the long run.

Let me use myself as an example. I am not petite or tiny tiny. I am a vet, mostly working with large dogs and horses. My muscles are really quite good, so is stamina. As a consequnece of picking up my Ares, holding him up, bending over and overloading my right arm while helpin him out, my shoulder tendon has decided now is the best time to show some inital inflammation pain. Good thing is, as a vet physio, I have all the equipment I need to rehabilitate myself so we practice sharing is caring concept: a little bit of laser to Ares, a little bit to me. When the vestibular episode occured, someone (me!) had to get him up and out of the house and lift him into the car. Yes, I do have all the harnessess and techniques. But 42 kg of dead lifting a dog who is big, long and unstable is a Herculean task. How did I manage? Power of adrenalin, but that is not reliable or sustainable fuel to depend on.

Up until now I was not alone in taking care of him. Since he got worst, I was left alone to take care of him (for the next 3 months). Bloody luck, eh?

Sometimes you get unforseen complications as result of "knuckling"-nails too short and sensitive so it makes walking even harder!

No one in the Medo's comment section offerred to take at least half-day care duty. Of course not. People will comment, share,like, maybe give a donation but day to day care is the obligation of a person who saved the dog. Every day for weeks and months (maybe even years).

If you think this is where it ends, sorry to disappoint you but fasten your seat belts and prepare for incoming turbulence! Spare some more time and read on as this is too big and too importan topic to leave the volunteers to carry physical and emotional weight of the guilt if they see that they will not be able to take care of that dog...

Ask yourselves this: " What happens when a dog like that soils himself?"

It is easy with small dogs. You pick up, turn over, take to the bath tub or shower. With big/giant dogs a problem is to turn them over and carrying them to the bath tub is out of the question. Most shower cabins cannot accommodate a large dog. So you use dry shampoos, rags, towels, tissues, often multiple times a day to make sure they are clean, dry, that urine and feces will not irritate the skin or cause sores. You take your hair dryer and dry if the coat is longer od denser. Hygiene is a priority but it takes a lot of effort and time.

Volunteers are used to being bitten, scratched, puked on, pooped on or urinated on. But they mostly lack time. Time to help other animals. Time to do their regular work, to be with their family, to have a social life. Also, money is always the issue. I do 2 mashine loads a day and I only have one dog to take care of. For that one dog I bought 7 vet beds (each is 40 EUR) and loads of reusable diaper pee pads. Include the towels, Genox disinfectant, Genoll detergent, water and electricity and the expense just keep pilling on. Not to mention a lot of effort.

Lift up. Turn over. Wash. Disinfect. Dry. And repeat all over again very soon.

What about emotional toll? That is a topic no one likes to open. It is raw, painful and some people consider it a shameful weakness. A lot of people in the comment will guilt trip you. Together with a professional reality Therapy Practitioner, Štefanija Prosenjak-Žumbar, dipl.soc.ped., who has more than 40 years of practice, we will start a supprot and educational group for volunteers who rescue animals (it will be available in English).

Even that will not be enough. The problem is real volunteers know or feel they can't give up. they now those furry beings need them. They leave under constant stress about finances because donations are scarce, small and usually not enoight to help all those who had the misfortune of seeing how mean humans can really be. Volunteers need to calculate who to help. Often they use their personal cars and gas to deliver food or help animals. They end up saving and taking care of sick animals where two people would struggle...and often there is not secodn person to help out. Besides all that, that one person should also: post regulary, notify and write, ask for donations, pick up donations, take animals to get their vet care or to their new homes, cruise around and check feeding points, write reports on people who brake law. Of course, one mustn't forget themselves, so tha tperson should take care of themselves, their family, do their regular work and all the obligations life throws at you. It is enough just to write this down to see the uttermost absurdity of their situation. It doesn't end here. People will call, write and insist the volunterr comes and takes care or the cats and dogs they find (right now, of course). They will make threats, verbally assault and bully the volunteers, especially women. Those people will not make a single donation neither will they call the local council and have them take care of the problem (because people working for a council get paid to do what many volunteers do for free)!

Let's say we managed to jump over that gargantuan obstacle. And that medo had his surgery to reppair the pelvis amd amputate his leg.

What about PAIN? Do we control the pain? Because life spent in pain is no life.

What about urinary/fecal incontinence? It is not just about cleaning, it is also about higher incidence of inflammation, constipation and other issues.

What about regular and quality physio therapy and rehabilitation?

Who will lift the dog up into the car?

Who will spend 30-40 minute every day doing physio exercises to sustain recovery?

Who will lift the dog up and position him proprely while doing those exercises?

Who will pain for medication, supplements and neccessary equipment?

Who will do the tjerapy for months?

And who will pay for all of that?

When you have a large/gigantic dog, you NEED to ahve a car with 5 doors and a big trunk. You will not be able to sqeeze your dog into back seat because that will cause pain and injuries. You need to have proper harness and rampt to lift him up. If you cannot park the car at the very entrance of your house of clinic, you need to get a stroller. They are a lot of factors which influence quality of care. Taking care of small dogs and large dogs is worlds apart!

In the end, we've managed to overcome all the obstacles...but who will adopt a giant 3-legged dog who needs additional therpay, supplements, maybe even medication?

The iterest for this story will disappear in about 2 weeks. People will forget about Medo. They will stop sending donations. They will forget about the person who takes care of Medo. That person who lifts him up, washes him, turns him over, drives him around and nourishes him back to health. That person who will be emotionally and physically exhausted. She will have neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain. That person's Quality of Life will diminish. But that person will be happy because she saved one living being. And yet, no one came to the rescue. That will remain "her" problem.

And if that volunteeer realizes she cannot do it, people in the comments will change their tone. They will judge. "What kind of person are you?!", "Why do we give you money?!", "You use animals to get the money for yourself!", "Poor animals!".

You cannot make eveyone happy. Important thing is to not make both the dog and you suffer. Assess the Quality of Life. Make the choice you feel is right.

I would like to propose a solution to all those people in comment section:

1. Publicly promise to give monthly donations until Medo finds a new home or till the end of his life if he reamins under Association's care. Cumulative donations should cover: complete expenses for surgery, rehabilitaiton and medications, food, equipment and supplements. Also gas, eletricity and water expenses for taking care of him. Add at least 2 hour worth of wages (per day) for that person. *Don't make teh volunteers beg and remind you. Take on the responsibility.

2. Donate free and regular massage and physio therapy to the person who takes care of a large/giant disabled dog. They need it!

3. Take Medo into your own home and take over the task of regulary taking him to his therapy appointments and doing the exercises at home.

4. Pledge to adopt Medo as soon as his recovery is finished.

5. Get angry and write and call the local council as the law says they need to cover the complete expenses of Medo's therapy. If we don't know what lowlife hurt him, we can at least make sure the Council obeys the local law. Write, call, be angry, be loud, nd be perssistent. Justice for Medo!

*Do you want to know what are the estimates for his expenses, surgery excluded?

Vet beds, wheelchair and harness around 1000 EUR.

4-5 pee pads/day is around 50 EUR/month.

Genox/Genoll disinfectand and detergent (12 l canister): 100 EUR evey 2 months.

Gas, water, electricity: at least 200 EUR/month.

Physiotherapy and rehabilitation for a few months: a few thousand euros. Food and special supplemnets: at least 70 EUR/month.

And if he needs additional medication?

Sum for next few months: more than 5000 EUR for basic care and rehabilitation. And expenses don't disappear when the therapy is over. They are there, just a bit lower.

So, are you ready? Will you make a public promise?

I send out my support to all the volunteeers who find themselves if such hard situations. Be honest with yourselve and with your capabilities. Don't count on other people for help. Especially not the comment section. Animals and volunteeers qare not to blame. We need to blame the system and fix it by reporting all who break the law and cause the harm.

Medo, good luck… volunteer (s), even more luck and strenght!

Link to original Fb post about Medo on " Nada za slavonske pse":https://www.facebook.com/reel/1291088426262183

To take care of large/ giant dogs with some form of disabillity you need a lot of time, money, energy and emotional and physical strenght!

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