I completely agree with one of the previous quotes "This is a tough one. You just have to hope you'll know when the time is right and have the strength to do it. Keeping a loved animal in pain seems much more cruel than ending their suffering."

You need to put your own sufferings behind you and do what's best for your family friend. It's a very tough decision to make and you'll probably always ponder if/when the right decision was made.

I was faced with this situation 2 years ago. Came home Thanksgiving while I was in college and my GSP (the white/ticked one in my avatar) was looking very skinny. Noted it to my parents and when he lost even more weight they took him to the vet 2 weeks later. Found out his kidney's were going and put him on a special Science Diet kidney food (dry). I then came home for Christmas break and really thought I was going to have to put him down at that time. I had to hand feed him for a week b/c he decided he didn't like the dry dog food. We then put him on canned dog food and he loved it. I think T'day was the last hunt we let him go on until he looked healthy. After I went back to school I was in constant phone convo. w/ my dad about my dog's condition. After a few months things were really looking good so I planned a trip home in March to take him on his 'final' hunt. It was a hard thing to do and it turned out to be one of the best hunts I've ever had with him! He was working the birds as if he was in his prime again. My mom (amateur photographer) came along and snapped some fantastic pics! Things were still looking good after we rested him. Then around Labor Day of '05 it wasn't looking promising....holding his head down, tired sad look in his eyes, very very skinny, etc etc. His kidneyshad finally goneand I made a special trip during the week to come home and put him down at 9 1/2 yrs. R.I.P. Patches