It's a dog's life

Roly, our cockapoo, is almost 14.

The average lifespan of a cockapoo is 12-15 years so he's not doing too badly but he is showing his age.

He still loves his daily walk but he definitely sleeps (or snoozes) more than he did.

He's also less athletic and slips and slides around our wooden floors in a manner that suggests his hips and hind legs are weaker than they were.

Nevertheless he can still bound up the stairs, although come the evening it's more of a stately walk.

He has also developed several ailments including cataracts in both eyes but he's not bumping into anything so I assume his eyesight isn't too bad.

(In fact I know it isn’t because he has no trouble seeing next door’s cat when it sits on the fence at the back of our garden.)

In November however I had to rush him to the vet because he began bleeding (and there is no other way to say this) from his bottom.

It made quite a mess on the carpet and furniture, not to mention the back seat of my car when I drove him to the vet!

It was something to do with his anal glands which had to be drained by the emergency vet to whom we were referred because our own vets' surgery closed at 7.00pm.

Thankfully he didn't have to be kept in overnight (which is very expensive!) and he was OK until a few weeks ago when the same thing happened again, albeit not as bad.

This time our vet recommended that he undergo a small operation, under general anaesthetic.

That took place last week, the same day I had to be in London for a meeting, so I dropped him at the vet at 8.45, caught the 9.40 train to London, and was back to collect him at 5.45.

The older the dog, the greater the risk when giving them a general anaesthetic, hence the form I had to sign.

In the event that Roly's heart or breathing stopped I was also asked if I wanted the vet to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him.

I had already thought about this and said no. He's an elderly dog and when he dies I would like him to die with dignity, without stress or pain or undue discomfort.

Previous experience with smaller pets (hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits) has also taught me that it might be kinder to let animals die peacefully than give them an arguably more painful stay of execution.

One particular case stands out.

Some years ago we had a much loved hamster that had a rectal prolapse. (Look it up.) Our children were quite young at the time and we wanted to do whatever we could to save the hamster's life.

In hindsight that was a mistake, I think. The hamster underwent an operation under general anaesthetic, survived, but died a week later.

I suspect she must have been in severe discomfort, if not pain, and we prolonged that unnecessarily.

A similar thing happened when one of our rabbits was ill, terminally as it turned out. Ending an animal’s life prematurely can be a kindness if there is no realistic hope of a reasonable quality of life.

Anyway, we're not at that stage yet with Roly who, as I write, is dozing peacefully in his bed (below) and seems unbothered by this week’s ‘adventure’.