High risk surgery or Euthanasia

Hi, We have a dog that is 12 years old, has high blood pressure and has an eye  that needs to be removed due to glaucoma 59 mmHg and an ulcer. He is totally blind in both eyes. The Animal Ophthalmologist says the eye needs to be removed but will not do it until the dog has blood work, physical and BP is under control which we have been treating since Feb. The issue is because the dog is in great pain (per eye doctor) he has to have the eye removed or put down. We are willing to take the risk because if he makes it GREAT if not we tried. What are your thoughts. Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions. Paul

Hello and first, I'm so sorry that you have found yourself in this situation where there appears to be no 'right' answer.  According to what you have written, if you do not do the surgery, you will face a choice between suffering or euthanasia.  Neither of these sound like a desirable outcome but of the two, euthanasia sounds to have a considerably better outcome for the patient.  I would therefore not advocate doing nothing.  If they do perform the surgery, it sounds as if there is still a high risk of suffering or euthanasia.   There is also (and this is more important to some clients than others, but to some it would be personally crippling so I always mention it) both a considerable financial and emotional cost to yourselves to performing the surgery, which will remain with you.  What is the expected outcome if all goes well?  I suspect an unsighted twelve-year old dog who has never experienced total blindness before, who still has an underlying illness affecting their blood pressure.   This does not sound to predict a lot of gain in terms of good quality of life.   So, based only on what you have told me, I cannot see a positive outcome here.  I think that in your position, I would check my understanding of this situation with the vet, in particular asking 'What is the most positive outcome that you can expect to acheive from this surgery?' and 'What per centage chance of acheiving that outcome do you predict that we're looking at?'    However, for me, using only the little information that I know at the moment, I suspect that I would be considering euthanasia for this patient.  It also sounds as though you have consulted a specialist - far more qualified than me to comment, having far more information available to them aboyt your dog's case and about eyes in particular - who has said the same.  I'm sorry.

I think I should mention here that there is a fantastic charity called the Ralph Site.  Ralph was a much- loved cat belonging to a well-respected vet who was struck by the lack of help and greif advice available for owners of any species, at such a hard time.  It may help to visit this site and also to search for 'put to sleep' and 'euthanasia' in our blog.  Wishing you both all the best.

Thank you for your reply. It is a very difficult decision and a heartbreaking one no matter which way we go. Your reply does help and we hope and pray we make the right decision for this baby. I have to say, I think it would be easier to make a decision like this for myself than my beloved pet who has no voice. Thanks again.

Hi Dr. Buchanan, Just an update about our dog Itsy. After weighing our options, we decided we had to give him a chance. He has been dealt some bad hands all his life. He came through the surgery fine and is healing nicely, staples come out Fri. Also his BP was not high at all 117/58. A little about us we lived in Costa Rica for 8 years and started a rescue there and had spay/neuter clinics. We helped get over 3000 dogs and cats fixed. Here is the link to a news story about our Dog Train we have for the dogs. We have gone from 19 dogs down to 7 now and are getting too old to take on more. Thanks again for your help. Paul & Alice Johnston Could not link this page you will have to copy and paste. file:///Users/alicejohnston/Downloads/NewsArtical.pdf