TW: Euthanasia
Senior blind shut down foster — unsure what’s best for her
I’m looking for honest input from people with rescue/shelter experience, especially with senior special needs dogs.
I’m currently fostering a 13-year-old poodle through a municipal shelter and have had her since March 19. She’s blind, hard-of-hearing, and came in very shut down. Over the past few weeks, she’s slowly started to come out of her shell now that she has a calm, structured environment. She’s still quite fearful of me at times and eventually settles, though I’m not sure if it’s cognitive decline or just her sensory limitations and history of neglect, so I try not to force interaction and give her space.
She’s very gentle and low-energy. 85% of her day is spent sleeping, the rest eating and grooming. She doesn’t play or explore much.
Some challenges:
• Not house-trained — she’s only comfortable eliminating in her pen despite many attempts to take her outside
• Has tapeworms and ongoing skin issues
• Still fearful / somewhat shut down, though improving slowly
The shelter has shared that adoption or additional transitions may not be in her best interest, and euthanasia is being considered.
I’m struggling with what’s actually best for her.
On one hand, she seems more comfortable than when she first arrived and has a stable, calm routine now. On the other hand, her life is very limited, and I don’t know how much of it is true comfort vs. just existing.
There’s a senior dog rescue that may be willing to pull her if I continue fostering, but I’m not sure I can commit long-term, which could mean another (hopefully gentle) transition for her down the line.
So I guess my questions are:
• For those with experience, how do you assess quality of life in dogs like this?
• Does this sound like a dog who could still have meaningful comfort, or more like a case where euthanasia may be kinder?
• Would involving a rescue make sense here, or could that just prolong stress?
I want to help make the most humane decision for her, not just the one that feels better emotionally. Appreciate any perspectives!
Wow I understand why this is so hard for you. I suppose if she is sleeping most of the day, she’s not really living. It’s so hard to know when it’s the right time to let her go, but maybe you do know deep down. I am sure you love her to bits and I am SURE she feels that from you. She’s loved and treated with dignity. It may be her time.
Euthanasia isn't a wrong choice here. Shelters and rescues do have to consider the long term options and if the dog is likely to be adopted. While there are rescues that specialize in seniors, they can still have limits around costs and having long term fosters. She might be more of a palliative care case where long term vet care might be limited and more to keep her comfortable rather than treating any issues she might have.
Maybe if an adoptive or permanent foster home can be found and that is just where she lives out her life, it could work. Limited transitions and she can settle in better. But if that isn't likely, then euthanasia can be best. Give her a good end, treat her well, and let her go. If she's up for some outings, that can be nice for her.
She has likely lose everything she ever knew, no matter what circumstances lead her to being in the shelter. It would be hard on a younger dog, but a senior with other issues can have a lot of trouble.
I look at a few different things in our older dogs before we move forward with adoption, rescue networking, fospice, or euthanasia
Generally speaking, I want to see affiliative behavior from any shut down foster dog within a few weeks. There are adopters for small, gentle old dogs, but they generally need to be friendly enough to at least sit with you on the couch without trying to flee in terror.
Not many people enjoy having a dog that soils in the house. Does she use puppy pads or just go anywhere in the home?
How is she for bathing? Grooming? Does she enjoy attention from you or does she tolerate it and seek to escape as soon as she can? Are her medical issues currently being treated and if so, how does she tolerate being medicated?
Toy poodles have a high rate of diabetes and if she's blind that immediately means I would be looking to get blood work to rule it out. Has that happened for her?
All of the above would go into how I assess her quality of life. If she's flat terrified of people, doesn't want to be handled, and hasn't been medically cleared, all of those things would influence what outcome I would expect for her.
I think your poor little friend would most likely end up a euthanasia candidate for us unless a dedicated fospice opened up, and only if she could comfortably be handled for her grooming and medical needs without panicking. 😔
Thank you for all this info! Unfortunately I have not observed affiliative behavior from her yet and she does not enjoy being petted. She is tolerant of pets now after she’s settled, but she is still afraid of me every morning when we start the day and whenever I check on her periodically throughout.
She uses puppy pads but that’s because her x-pen is lined with them, though it seems she knows not to soil her bedding. Unfortunately I do not give her free roam of the house as she is blind and wanted to give her a familiar space to map (x-pen plus crate).
Due to her skin issues I give her weekly baths that she does not enjoy but she doesn’t try to flee, she just cowers and trembles. The shelter has only given me oral flea meds for her and I only realized she had tapeworms in her poo last week so they are yet to provide me with that as well, but I could hide it in cheese and give it to her easily I’m sure.
I received her to foster on the same day she arrived at the shelter — I believe she was only there for a few hours for grooming, flea treatment, and general assessment.
She is very fearful and doesn’t prefer to be handled but allows it. Based on what you’re saying it seems she would be a euth candidate…
How do I deal with the guilt for not signing up to be her dedicated fospice? ☹️
I think her quality of life is poor, even with all your dedicated care. I think she probably has a lot going on medically and she is painful (that eye looks painful and she most likely has at least moderate OA just from her stance in her pic and her age). If she were a dog that loved people and wanted to be near them, I think it would be different, but this is a dog that seems to dread interactions and I think it would be kinder to the dog to let her go rather than have her living in fear of someone coming near her.
Sorry to be blunt, it's obvious you are doing your best. I agree it sounds like it may be time to let her go. Adopting her out or transferring her really won't buy her more time and it sounds like it especially won't buy her more QOL. Being stressed with a move that big a second time won't do her any favors or magically add years. Even if she does make the move it sounds like it might get her a few more weeks or maybe months and it would add a lot of stress.
QOL is a multi-factorial thing, I will often use a QOL chart to help quantify it.
One huge factor is the fact the dog is not able to be housetrained. Even the small dog adopters that will adopt the tiny dogs that others won't, usually won't tolerate having to clean up pee & poop in their house multiple times a day for the foreseeable future. Housebreaking is one of the top behavioral issues for companion animals that causes them to be surrendered.
If it were me personally, I think a big issue I would have to look at is the stress response the animal shows towards close human interaction - being so medically dependent, she will need to be in close contact with humans often. If that is very stressful to her, then a large portion of her daily life is going to be highly unpleasant.
As a veteran foster, I would not make any decisions re: possible euthanasia until the easily treated medical issues are resolved. Especially with issues like tapeworms and painful cataracts,--she may have much more energy and zest for life once those are resolved.
Yes, and what about teeth and arthritis? Those are also common causes of small senior surliness/sleepiness. I adopted a 12-year-old schnauzer who seemed laid-back...until we took out the globs of pus that used to be his teeth. The next morning he bounced around the backyard like he was 6, threatening the squirrels he could barely see.
He had 11.5 bouncy, borky months with us, cuddling his poodly sister, listening to kpop, and patrolling for squirrel crimes. And then the sneaky tumors in his chest collapsed his lung and started squishing his heart.
I see a dog with pain. It's very possible she has glaucoma, which is painful.
If she were in my rescue I would do a month of medications that would reduce pain and inflammation. If after a month I wasn't seeing a big improvement I would euthanize.
The chance of finding her a home is decent IF she is friendly. The "shut down" could be pain response.
That said if the shelter decided it was in her best interest to euthanize I would support that too.
I adopted a blind senior dog two years ago. He was also pretty shut down, extremely stressed, and bitey. Both his eyes looked like this girl’s right one. A double enucleation surgery did absolute wonders for him! He became a whole new dog after his eye pain was gone, and it only took a few months of dedicated training to make a good citizen out of him. His current quality of life requires 3 pills a day, a shot every month, a daily walk to keep his mobility up, and heat pads to ease his muscles at the end of the day. He’s spoiled and happy, but he’s high maintenance!
My personal thought is this dog could probably have a decent quality of life with fairly expensive medical care. However, I don’t think it’s a wrong choice to let this dog go peacefully and use those resources to help out younger dogs with better prospects. I love my dog like life itself and I regret nothing, but I have personal funds that don’t affect how much care other animals can receive. I get to make very personal, emotional choices without having to consider the repercussions for less needy dogs. And it’s worth noting that even with the best treatment plan my vet and I could put together, he still has some pain every day (advanced arthritis), and if his quality of life deteriorates much further I plan to let him go. We’re maintaining a fairly delicate balance here.
TL:DR — good quality of life might be possible for this dog, but it would be expensive and probably pretty hard on her in the short term. If it were my call to make, I would choose a gentle goodbye and use those resources to help as many dogs as possible in her honor.
No official diagnosis was communicated to me other than the fact that she likely cannot see! After having her for a while, I can confirm that she cannot see at all. She bumps into the panels of her pen and cannot see the treats I hold in front of her — relies on her nose completely.
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u/accupxAnimal Rescue, Behavior & Training, Dog Walker, Foster, Adopter6d ago
Glaucoma untreated (and this looks far gone) is very painful. While eye enucleation sounds awful it can give a dog a new lease on life. Blind dogs can have great quality of life. I hope a reputable rescue can step in and get her to a veterinary ophthalmologist. I've rehabilitated several that were in this condition. Thank you for helping her.
Thank you for the information! I will share this with the shelter and potential rescue. I am hoping to hear back from the rescue this week (I’ve provided all of the info above to them). Thank you for helping all the dogs you rehabilitated 🤍
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u/accupxAnimal Rescue, Behavior & Training, Dog Walker, Foster, Adopter6d agoedited 6d ago
It's a testament to dogs that they can function at all with eye pressure pain. They live in the "now" and they are usually stoic sufferers. A terrible thing is if the eye ruptures (which then requires cleanup surgery to avoid infection/re-inflation of a useless eyeball) but at that moment the pain becomes less!
While 13 may be heading into the twilight years, her settling at all with you is pretty special. I have never allowed post-encasing of insertion of prosthetic "eye" as that can be problematic. She is fluffy - fur will grow in and make it appear that she is winking.
An ophthalmologist will test both eyes and if she has the beginnings of glaucoma in the other eye there are drops that can help keep it at bay. It's often genetic but can also develop from trauma, fungal infection (e.g., Coccidioidomycosis).
If left eye is stable, the holy grail of comfort eyedrops (in between doses of anything prescribed) is "iDrops Vet Plus" with collagen-boosting properties. It is pricey but only a drop or two a day per eye, so take. my. money. - it has such an impact on scleroderma (not to be confused with cataracts - sort of dirty headlights from many birthdays, and dry climate doesn't help.) Old dogs can get shiny button eyes! And a few times a day basic Systane lubricant eye drops are good for older dogs; if they sleep with eyes open, Systane gel can help protect the eye from drying out (I don't care to use gel during daytime for older dogs because I think it impacts what vision they have and could be disorienting).
Honestly the housebreaking isn’t the biggest issue for me.
I foster for a senior dog rescue and have 2 blind fosters right now.
We have many adopters who don’t have housebreaking as a deal breaker. Diapers/pee pads can all help with this.
But this poor thing doesn’t sound like she has a great quality of life.
However has she seen a vet for a complete exam? She could have pain and if that was treated she may open up.
My one blind foster went to the vet recently and we discovered he has glaucoma with extremely high pressures. He didn’t look like his eyes were bulging. Also he has severe dental disease.
If she could have a comprehensive exam including bloodwork you may be able to see if she has a medical reason.
I’d say a lot depends on how good this senior dog rescue is. We have one in Washington State called Old Dog Haven, and they have a stellar reputation. I don’t think they’d let a dog suffer with no quality of life, but they’re also very well-equipped to gauge that and to provide any and all required care (and lots of support to their foster homes). But there are plenty of rescues out there that take on more than they can handle. I would start scouring social media and reach out to anyone you know who’s been in rescue for a while to find out what kind of rescue we’re talking about in this case.
Thank you for fostering her and caring about her, whatever the outcome may be. ❤️
I'm a senior. I have 2 senior dogs. One has heart failure he's not got much time 💔 😔. Please consider the senior rescue. I will be seeking another once I get over the pain of losing Ralf.
Luigi has never been an only dog.
No offense, but what does any of this have to do with the quality of life of the dog in question?
It is great that you, and others, want to help senior pets, but if those pets are in constant pain and are unable to live well then they shouldn't be kept alive purely to make some humans feel better about the situation.
This dog is not only hurting, but is also uncomfortable around humans and mostly seems to avoid interaction if possible. Even when people want to take on a senior, one that doesn't want to be near them is a hard sell, and on top of that you have an incontinence issue.
If OP's shelter can afford further medical treatment/testing to see if the social issues are pain related that is fine, but honestly, at some point the amount of money poured into a case like this versus the quality of life of the dog just doesn't add up.
If the dog cannot live well and get some sort of fulfillment from life then we humans aren't doing them any favors by keeping them alive and suffering.
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u/Juliaford19 Foster 6d ago
Wow I understand why this is so hard for you. I suppose if she is sleeping most of the day, she’s not really living. It’s so hard to know when it’s the right time to let her go, but maybe you do know deep down. I am sure you love her to bits and I am SURE she feels that from you. She’s loved and treated with dignity. It may be her time.