I really hope you took your dog to a vet and not relied on Answerbag.

You don't mention the age of the dog...that can have a baring on your decision making, in my book. If he has had a wonderful long life...it may be time to consider the tough choices here...depending on two things... The QUALITY OF HIS CURRENT LIFE...is he still happy, is he still interested in things, activities around him...CAN he recover from his current state of debility? Will he be ABLE to enjoy life in the future? The health of your bank account. It sucks to have to make such a decision with money as part of the consideration, because most of us WOULD spend any amount we could to provide for our companion animals, just as we would a child...but the reality is that sometimes we can't afford to pay for ALL of the treatments that MIGHT save our dogs, cats, horses..not because we wouldn't..but we just don't have the funds required. When my partner's Chocolate Lab, Coffee, had her final illness, the vet said it would cost at least $1700 to do what needed to be done and only gave our beloved girl a 4% chance of recovery! We could have extended our finances...put our finances at risk, not paid other bills that were due.. But for only a 4% chance that she MIGHT RECOVER to live at all...no real promise as to what her quality of life would be???? We couldn't do it! By the same token..I spent about $1200 on my dog, Bossco to extend his life about 2 years with a good, fairly active quality of life, when I had the funds to do so. My partner HAD SPENT over $1800 on Coffee several years before she had to be put down...again with about a 95% chance of full recovery, which she had and enjoyed her remaining years fully. So, you do have to consider all of the facts and try hard not to guilt trip yourself...obviously you love and care about your dog, with all of your heart. But you will have to think about what you are capable of affording...vs. what your dog will truly gain in the end. No matter how financially well off you might be...you have to ultimately consider what the quality of the animal's life will be going forward. I'm not personally a big fan of Prednisone. It has a lot of negative side effects; plus typical Western Medicine tends to treat the symptoms of an illness, NOT the core cause of the illness. http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4896662_treating-prednisone-side-effects-dogs.html http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/articles/use-of-prednisone-in-dogs.shtml I would say check out the Yahoo Homeopathic Medicine/pets website...and see what the owner of that group has to offer you...she's pretty fantastic and really knows her stuff inside out! http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ClassicalHomeopathyPets/?yguid=354615195