Signs Your Dog Is Dying

Your dog is old or sick, and something changed this week. The food went untouched, or the stairs stopped happening, or the panting started at night with nobody moving. You're reading this because you want to know whether that's what you think it is. Here's what veterinarians say to watch for, which signs mean call today, what the last day or two usually look like, and how to make the decision without waiting for a sign that never comes.

They tend to arrive together over days or weeks, not one at a time. PetMD's veterinary guide lists seven.^[1]

• Behavior changes first. Depression, confusion, agitation, restlessness, or anxiety. Some dogs get clingy and follow you room to room; some go off alone. The one that hurts is the loss of interest: the toy stays where it dropped, the visitor gets no greeting.^[1]
• Eating and drinking fall off. Appetite and water intake decline gradually as the organ systems begin to shut down. Hand feeding may work for a while, then it doesn't.^[1]
• Breathing changes. Panting while lying still, a new cough, or breathing that looks like work. A cough can come from fluid building in the lungs as the heart weakens.^[1]
• They stop getting up. Pain, muscle loss, or plain weakness takes the legs. First the stairs, then the couch, then the bed itself.^[1]
• Weight comes off. From not eating, or from muscle wasting when there's a cancer or another disease doing the work.^[1]
• Accidents. Urinary and bowel incontinence, often because the dog is physically unable to rise from the bed to get outside.^[1]
• The circulation goes. Weakness from poor blood flow, and the cough above.^[1]

An old dog can show two of these for a year and be fine. It's the cluster, and the speed, that tell you something has turned.

Breathing. Ohio State's veterinary hospital puts it plainly: physical symptoms such as unrelenting pain or extreme difficulty breathing should weigh heavily in the euthanasia decision, because they constitute very poor quality of life regardless of anything else going on.^[2] The quality of life scale most vets use says the same thing in its first line: trouble breathing outweighs all other concerns.^[4]

So: a dog working to breathe, a dog in pain the medication isn't reaching, a dog seizing, or a dog that can't get up at all is a call to the vet today, or to the emergency clinic tonight. Not for permission. For help, and for the medications that make the next hours bearable.

People hope for the death in the movies: the dog goes to sleep on the porch in the sun and doesn't wake up. Ohio State's guidance for families is that only a very small percentage of pets experience that kind of death without help, and that the dying process can bring anxiety, difficulty breathing, severe nausea, and seizures.

Many pets allowed to die on their own do it overnight or while the owner is out, and some owners regret afterward that the dog was alone.^[2] That isn't an argument for one choice over another. It's what the people who see this every week want you to know before you decide.

If you choose euthanasia, this is what happens, in the words of the University of Illinois veterinary college: the vet gives the injection, and the pet may urinate or defecate, may take a few deep last breaths, and may twitch. The dog is unconscious when those things happen, so they aren't signs of pain or discomfort.^[3] Many vets sedate first. It takes minutes, and you can be in the room, at home or in the clinic. What each of those costs is in when to put your pet down.

Nobody "just knows," and the dog won't tell you. Ohio State's hospice program calls that a myth and adds the line families should hear early: many families say they waited too long; families rarely say they decided too soon.^[2] The same guide gives four ways to get an honest read instead of waiting for a sign.^[2]

• Look at photos or video of the dog from before the illness, and compare it with the dog in front of you.
• Write down three to five things the dog loves to do: the walk, the other dog at the park, dinner. When they're consistently unable to enjoy them, it's time to talk to the vet about euthanasia.
• Mark each day on a calendar as good or bad. When the bad days start to outnumber the good, it's time to consider it. The University of Illinois puts it the same way: when there are more bad days than good, owners often elect to euthanize.^[3]
• Score a quality of life scale, and have each family member score it separately, because each of you sees the dog differently. Repeat it on a fixed schedule, every three days or every Tuesday, so you can see the direction. Ask a friend who sees the dog less often; the decline that's invisible to you is obvious to them.

The scale vets use is the HHHHHMM scale: hurt, hunger, hydration, hygiene, happiness, mobility, and more good days than bad, each scored 0 to 10, with a total over 35 reading as acceptable quality of life to continue care.^[4] The free quality of life scale tool scores it and prints a week sheet you can take to the vet.

Call the vet with what you've seen, even if it's after hours; that's what the emergency line is for. PetMD's list for the meantime: supportive bedding, the pain medication your vet prescribes, and frequent company, then a conversation with the vet about palliative care, hospice, or euthanasia.^[1]

In plain terms: put water where the dog can reach it without standing. Put a towel under them and change it. Keep the room quiet and the lights low. Sleep in the room. If the dog wants to be near you, let them; if they want the closet, let them have the closet. In the morning, make the call you've been putting off, or make it tonight if the breathing has changed.

What to do when your pet dies covers the first hour, the body, every option, and the prices. The pet cremation cost estimator gives you the ranges by weight before anyone hands you a form. When you can, the pet obituary writes it down. And if you want to talk to someone who won't say it was just a dog, Cornell's veterinary college runs a Pet Loss Support Hotline at 607-218-7457, staffed by veterinary students trained by grief counselors.^[5] The full list is in pet loss hotlines.

This page is death education, not veterinary advice. A dog working to breathe, in pain, or seizing needs a veterinarian today. For our full citation list and how we check our facts, see our Sources and Methodology.