r/olddogs • u/Gatzby128 • 4d ago
Passing in sleep
I see the posts about being put down, does anyone have an anecdote about a senior dog passing naturally? My baby is 15.
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u/BoxLongjumping1067 4d ago
As the vet told us when we put our little one down a few weeks back: it’s very rare that a dog will pass away in their sleep. They will do everything they can to stay with us
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u/Illustrious_Exam1728 4d ago
Dogs do not pass away peacefully. Please seek veterinary care for at home euthanasia or in clinic.
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u/lady_sagittarius 4d ago
Is this true for every case? Like no dog has ever passed peacefully? Not trying to be combative, just genuinely curious.
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u/Illustrious_Exam1728 4d ago
I’ve talked to many vets, and vet techs. There “may” be a few, but rarely. Most dogs are quite poorly when it’s time.
If you think about it humans rarely pass away peacefully either.
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u/chapstickgrrrl 4d ago
I have promised my dog that I’ll do right by her when she hurts too much. She is very emotive, I will know when she’s ready. Hopefully I’ve got a few more years with her, but I’m acutely aware of her aging. I wish I could call the in-home version when I’m someday doing quite poorly, myself. 🥹
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u/Gatzby128 4d ago
I had no idea, thank you for the information, you're right about humans too, never really thought about that.
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u/Illustrious_Exam1728 4d ago
You’re welcome, it’s a good question.
The human thing, I also apply it to dogs when they’re injured/sick as well. I often they’ll folks, if this were a child what would you do? They would have already been to an ER or a doctor, and many people don’t take their furry friends in.
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u/HomeboundArrow 4d ago edited 3d ago
i don't think it's terribly likely. every dog i've ever had that died of "old age" actually died of begrudging euthanasia. because their bodies were so far beyond the ability to self-repair that they were all effectively falling apart, despite still being able to shamble around to various degrees.
domesticity and freedom-from-need keeps them relatively safe from the usual mortal stressors their ancestors usually succumbed to at much younger ages. and for many years beyond what their genes were ever pressured to accomodate. the flipside of a long life is the inevitable long tail of quiet genetic decay/breakdown, and the slow creep of systemic unravelling.
at whatever that tipping point is in any one case, it's just on you as a caretaker to organize the least stressful/painful exit possible for them.
the closest i've ever gotten to the idyllic notion of the prompt is having a qualified vet conduct a house visit. once the dog is acclimated to the vet's presence and their guard is back down, load them up with a delicious last meal, laced with something from the vet that will quietly send them into an augmented terminal slumber alongside the natural effects of the food itself. and once they're flopped over in their favorite place, in their own house surrounded by familiar smells and sounds and lost in full-tummy dreamland--with you and the fam by their side long after they fully drift off--the vet does the final deed. and that's that.
that's just my own current-best-case so far tho. always open to better ideas 🤷♀️
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u/scottonaharley 4d ago
I only have one anecdote about an old dog passing. My friend said his old smallixed breed dog came into the kitchen, looked at him and his wife and laid down and went to sleep and then passed.every other dog I have had or known has needed euthanasia
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u/BattlePolarBearCat 4d ago
My friend had two pets, dog and cat, both pass in their sleep. At different times, years apart. The dog was very elderly and living on borrowed time. The cat’s actual age was unknown but in its teens, my friend just found her one morning laying in her cat bed.
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u/PrettyPistol87 4d ago
I’m surprised there’s not a service you can call asap to schedule an at home euth
my boy is 14 and i will do my best to make sure when it’s time it happens at home not at the vet where he gets very distressed i don’t want that in his last minutes at all i want him feeling safe loved and eating pizza - no vet smells
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u/wahznooski 3d ago
There are at home euthanasia services. In the US, Lap of Love is one, but there are others too
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u/Hugesmellysocks 3d ago
at least in my experience every vet i know will at home euthanise, this may be different since we’ve been with our clinics for a long time.
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u/AlanStanwick1986 4d ago
I asked about this to my vet when I put my lab down. It doesn't happen often. I put my chihuahua down last month and I so wanted him to just go to sleep and not wake up but he didn't. It sucks horribly.
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u/Bitchfingers69 3d ago
I’ve always asked the vet to come to our home when it was time to let my dogs go. My dogs have let me know when it was time to cross the rainbow bridge. It’s usually not an easy passing for dogs without the vets help.
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u/Rubymoon286 2d ago
So I hope my dog was an exception. He passed in what seemed a peaceful manner overnight.
He was his baseline which was still mobile, still continent, still recognized us, still happy, still eating, still playful and cuddly. Then my Husband found him passed on his bed in his usually sleeping position.
He was 3mo shy of 16 and had heart disease that was well managed and had just had a cardiology checkup where the cardio vet was very happy with his current state. I think his heart just stopped in his sleep, our other dog didn't bark or alert to anything unusual, our old man didn't make any noise, and the living room camera we turn on at night in case we see excess movement didn't go off either.
We already had an end of life plan with a pet hospice vet and were waiting on the quality of life drop according to their chart and had planned to have them euthanize in home. We just truly never saw a decline.
I think it's quite rare for them to die peacefully though, and I truly hope my old man didn't suffer. I worry he did, and that we missed signs, but he saw the cardiologist every three months and the hospice vet monthly, so I'm not sure what more we could have done.
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u/Hugesmellysocks 3d ago
not in his sleep but my dog dropped dead in the night on his way to my bedroom, he has poorly the days leading up to it. i would never ever purposely wait out for a natural death, it looked like he went quick but it still didn’t look like a comfortable death. i’ve a senior girl on palliative care we when the time comes we will schedule an at home euthanasia. it’s controlled, you know you’ll be there and it’s peaceful. even in humans a natural death is often quite long and uncomfortable. my tommy sure didn’t look comfortable.
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u/dogluuuuvrr 2d ago
My first dog passed away while awake- a heart attack I think. The whole episode lasted a minute and she fell over and died. She did not suffer before that
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u/StarryOne78 2d ago
I do. And although he was 15, he seemed perfectly fine. He went to bed the night after his birthday and didn’t wake again. It was incredibly traumatic for us. It will be 3 years on Dec 16. It devastates me to think of it. Maybe it would have been different for us if he were struggling and we anticipated it. IDK. 💔
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u/IronMermaiden 1d ago
My dog passed Sunday morning, at home, in her bed, not even 10 feet from me when I was making coffee. I got up, checked on her, she seemed to be doing okay (all things considered), so I went and made myself a cup of coffee. As soon as I turned around, I got down on my knees to give her a kiss and "ask" her if she wanted to go lay outside in the grass (her favorite thing), and she was gone. She was 17 1/2. Keep in mind, she was heavily medicated. My vet was pretty much my 'situation ship' with my dog's health for the last 6 months (Shout out to them for being amazing). Don't let your dog just "go"..... take them to a vet.
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u/dontreallyneedaname- 4d ago
My beloved 14 year old Beagle passed on his own, roughly an hour before the at home euthanasia appointment. He was asleep and woke up to go into a bit of death rattle. It wasn't horrible, but I would have preferred the planned exit. There was an unpleasant mess we had to deal with.