I accompanied my mother in law to take her 2 year ...

I accompanied my mother in law to take her 2 year old husky here.

One weekend she (the dog) was fine one second and by the next morning she was not able to walk or use the bathroom. We took her to our normal vet and they said she probably had tore a muscle so they gave us muscle relaxers and pain pills. By nightfall, her whole back end seemed completely paralyzed and she would whimper in pain if we tried to move her. We had to carry her outside to try and use the bathroom and carry her upstairs to bed.

On Monday we went to our vet first thing. They had to bring out the stretcher to bring her in. She was crying, clearly miserable and in pain. They reassessed her and said it was not looking good. They said she seemed to be suffering from a spinal injury, causing the paralysis. They explained it was possible to have surgery but there would be no guarantee it would be totally fixed and she would never be the same dog again. They told us we could come here and they could help us better by doing an MRI and having a neurologist look at her. It was devastating... but we chose to do as the vet said and bring her here.

They were out with a stretcher in about ten minutes. They braught her back right away and we waited to see somebody. It was a while. I was kinda expecting that though, it is an emergency vet. Finally a doctor came and got us. He agreed with our vet that she had a spinal injury and it wasn't very good. He explained that he could have them do an MRI, look over the results, then have the neurologist make a decision. He also emphasized that there was a 50% chance even with surgery that she would never make a full recovery and maintain a "quality life" as she once had.

My mother in law decided to at least do the MRI to see how bad the problem was. That was until he told us the cost. We knew it'd be expensive, but damn not what it was. He quoted "around $1800-$2000" for the MRI and "around $4000+" for the surgery. Then there would be aftercare costs and such. We were floored. My mother in law put her head in her lap and started to cry and said she couldn't afford that, especially when it was only a 50% chance of recovery. She had to make the awful choice to put down our beautiful girl. She was only 2 years old. So loving and kind, sassy and smart. She was my two little boys best friend.

My mother in law paid the bill and walked out. She couldn't handle the thought of seeing her dog be put down. So my 11 year old son and I decided to sit with her so she wouldn't have to die alone. Most heartbreaking thing I've ever done. The doctor who did it explained everything very thoroughly and answered any questions. He was very empathetic. Very gentle. The process was as peaceful as that can be I suppose. They allowed us as much time as we wanted/ needed with her before and after it was done. I am grateful for that.