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1. Cindy Scroggins on October 28th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

   This is such a sad decision. In my view, it’s time to put the pet down when you realize you are keeping him/her alive more for your own sake than for his. Animals don’t have any concept of longevity–they know simply that they’re suffering. If the future means pain for the animal, I think it’s time to put him down.

   Good luck to you. I know you are a good person if you are asking this question.

2. Sheila Ryan on October 28th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

   It is never a good time from our point of view, is it?

   It is especially difficult if your pet does not appear to be suffering acutely, yet you sense that “it is only a matter of time”. I’m thinking of conditions that are progressive and terminal, yet manageable for some months or even years.

   If this is what you are wrestling with, you might consider weighing the stress of treatment against what benefit the animal may derive — though it will ultimately be your intuition, I think, that guides you.

   A number of aging cats, for instance, suffer from a kind of chronic kidney failure for which there ain’t no cure. This happened to a beloved cat of mine, and for a while, with the help of her vet and his assistant, I tried to treat her. I learned how to give subcutaneous fluid injections to keep her from dehydrating.

   And the painful thing turned out to be this: She perked up noticeably after each injection, and for 24 hours or so it seemed almost as though she were young again. And then she began once again to fade.

   Though the injections were not extremely traumatic either for the cat or for me — and they would have prolonged her life — something about the cycle of rising and falling hopes (mine) began to bother me not long after beginning the routine. It felt wrong to me, even (dare I say) ‘unnatural’.

   And so the decision to say good-bye.

   I know that others might have made a different decision, and I do respect that; I think that maybe all I am saying is, Listen to your intuition, even if it tells you something that you know is going to hurt you.

   For what it’s worth, if the situation is not urgent, you might want to cultivate a relationship with a vet who makes house calls. Sure, they cost more, but whether it is treatment or euthanasia, it can be less stressful on everybody if you don’t have to take the animal to the vet’s clinic.

   I’m sorry you’re going through this; it’s one of the sadder prices we pay for loving our pets.

3. walt on October 28th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

   having had two cats euthanized in the past year and and a half, I found that you’ll somehow muddle through the balance between your wish to continue the pet relationship versus the quality of life that the pet experiences.

   btw – one cat went through the kidney situation that Sheila described, although we never did the subcutaneous injections, we stopped at the point where that was going to be a necessity. the other had obvious pain from bone/joint issues, and just wasn’t itself anymore.

   at one point, with both cats, my wife and I knew that it was causing us more grief to let him go on than to prepare to say goodbye instead. that’s when we knew.

   please know that you have our concern and sympathy.

4. Daryl Scroggins on October 28th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

   We had a great Dalmatian a number of years ago. We rescued him as a puppy; he was deaf (runs in the breed) and somebody had brought him back to the pet store he had been bought from, and they were about to have him put to sleep because he had become too large for the store to even try to sell again. When he got to be 10 years old, which is about the full expected lifespan for the breed, Toby developed another problem they are prone to: kidney stones. He had attacks several times and it got to where he couldn’t pee even with various treatments and diets. The vet said they might be able to do a surgery that had a less than 50% chance of making things better “for a while”–for several thousand dollars. The next time he bloated up from not being able to pee, I took him to the vet and told them to try to catheterize him one more time. They did, with much effort, and when he was clearly experiencing the relief that comes from such a dam breaking, I had them give him the shot that put him to sleep. I was holding him and he was smiling as dogs do when they are sure they are loved, and that smile didn’t ever fade–he just subsided without knowing it. I have thought of that many times. I know I did the right thing. But what does knowing have to do with such matters? Knowing doesn’t stop memory.

5. hubs on October 28th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

   I have been told “you just know”.

6. melissa on October 28th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

   you’ll know. you just will.

7. Sheila Ryan on October 28th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

   I think that Cindy (and others) are right in saying that if you know enough to ask the question, you’ll know when it’s time.

   Hey, other animals are better than we are at this dying business. At least most of them are better than most of us.

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