Mercedes

by Beth
(NC)

Mercedes was our sunshine. She joined our family 15 + years ago, a tiny little Silky Terrier. She's traveled all over with us and moved to several different homes, always the cheerful and sweet little girl. When she was younger, we taught her the names of over 30 toys, and we would ask for a specific toy and she would go and get it provided we would throw it for her. This would be a very tiring game sometimes! She was so attached to my husband, he said he could never love a little fru fru dog, but they were 100% inseparable. Well, over the last 6 months Mercedes started to have problems. She first lost most of her hearing, then it was her eyes, she had cataracts, and we tried many medicines... but she lost her sight and every morning we washed her eyes for her, which were almost always kind of glued shut. She also had what the vet beleived was canine cognitive disorder, dementia, as she spent alot of her days in a confused state, would wake up startled, or sleep almost all the time, but soil in the house or bark for long periods of time when she was awake. We knew the time was drawing near, but over the weekend, she declined sharply. She was up every hour of the night wanting to go outside, but she would just walk in circles and bump into things, and only potty when in the house. This morning, we took her to the vet, to ask one more time what might be done.... the only thing that had a chance of helping her was something experimental. We decided the right and humane thing to do was to let her go. Yes, I am very bothered by the decision, but I know it was then right thing to do, because her mind was gone. I am having a very hard time with the guilt right now, thinking we should have tried the treatment... but i know it would only have helped for a little while, if at all.