Yesterday, I brought our senior dog for one of her monthly arthritis shots (I don't remember what the medication is called). Normally my mom takes care of this, but she was busy that day. Our dog is about 14 years old, which is well past her life expectancy given how big she is (90lbs). Unfortunately, she has arthritis that is especially bad in her hips. Her paws point inward when she walks, when she lays down she has to go down shoulders first and slowly lower her hips, and she tends to slip and fall when she is on tile. She is half deaf and can't really control when or where she poops.
Of course, bringing her to the vet exacerbates her hip issues. She has to get in and out of a car which is a big irritation for her arthritis despite my assistance. By the time we actually walk into the vet's office with their slippery floors, she struggles to walk. The vet did their thing, but afterwards, one of them spoke to me about euthanasia. I was a bit taken aback at first, but it made sense given what she had seen so far.
I decided to give her the following context about our dog’s home life so that she would not be judging her condition based only on how she looked at the clinic: At home, she's about as active as an arthritic senior dog can be. She sleeps a lot, of course, but she's also pretty active. She follows us all around the house when she wants to feel included, wagging her tail the entire time. When it's dinner time, she gets so excited she does a little hop on her front paws. She still loves to roll around in the sun and scratch her back on the grass. She still gets excited when she meets new people, albeit in a more reserved way than she did when she was younger.
I told the vet all of this, but it was like talking to a brick wall. She told me she understood but continued urging me to euthanize. At the time, her insistence actually started to piss me off. My family was equally shocked when I told them. But now that I've had some time to cool off, I've been wondering if she's right. Should I actually consider euthanizing a dog who, at least from my perspective, still seems to be enjoying her life despite the pain she's in?