Putting down an animal...

[Chan]

Has anyone had any experience with this? What happened and how did you or the person who did it come to the decision? How old were you and how did you cope? Do you think it's okay to put an animal down? Why or why not? Did you ever feel one way and then change your mind after an experience with it?

PS - This isn't a debate. I'm just curious how everyone feels about it.

[disnut8]

We've done it a number of occasions. And it's never easy. With Genny, our first dog, wow, it was a heartbreaker. She had gone blind and couldn't control her bodily functions and as a family, well, we all lost it in some fashion. Rich and I were both with her in the end and Chris was in the waiting room.

With Bear, our second dog, that was even worse. He actually died on the vet table but was brought back. Only Rich was there. To make the decision to have Bear cross the Rainbow Bridge. If I thought Genny was bad, Bear was worse with my husband.

Smokey, our first cat was also a heartbreaker. We thought he only had hairballs but when I took him to the vet, I found out he was a fatal cat. Yes, it was hard but I took him home that night, we all said goodbye and he crossed the Rainbow Bridge the next day. I was the one that dealt with that. I figured Rich had had enough.

Tyler was the next one. His litter mate, Todd, is still with us. Tyler had another cat disease and I dealt with that. It helped that we had Todd. I was in the room when Tyler went.

The vet we had in Nebraska when all this happened was wonderful. Let us make all the decisions and then sent sympathy cards after. We had all the time we needed and no one said anything about all the tears. It's hard. Todd is now over nine years old and we have four other cats. I can't imagine what we will go through when any of them join their siblings on that Bridge. The only comfort is knowing they will all be together.

[Chan]

I haven't had to make any decisions in that regard. My mom did, though. I was glad I wasn't there.

And my first cat, Darren, is 13 so that makes me nervous.

[Elizabeth]

I had a 21 year old cat that I had to have put to sleep and a dog that had a severed spine after being hit by a car that was put to sleep. It was hard but the cat probably wouldn't have lived much longer, she was suffering so much. She could barely eat and sat up to sleep and would breath so hard. Her heart was enlarged. She was in a lot of pain too. The poor doggy was so sweet I just hated putting him down, he was still a puppy. But what kind of life would he have had? It's not like he could have been put in a wheel chair and taught to cope. I was an adult in my 30's when both of these happened. It was hard and I cried in private. My cat had to go back alone with the vet because I was pregnant and holding my 2 yo and did not want him to see it, but I heard her meow like she did when she got shots when they did it. The sound is deep in my brain and it still hurts me she was alone with them when they did it. But again she was suffering so much. If she was an adult person they would have had Do not resusitate (?sp) on her.

[Sasha]

we have twice the first was a lovely kitten he had been playing with his brother and fell off a chair and ended up in a coma I was a kid and really upset. the vet was really nice he said that he'd keep the kitten overnight just to make sure that there was nothing to be done and then my mom phoned up in the morning and arranged it cause there was bascially no brain function left so there really was nothing more to do.

The other was our dog who I loved but he was getting more and more aggressive. so much so that we told the kids not to come over at certain times. he was a very clever dog and could open windows and climb ladders lol but he went to far and bit one of my mom's friends not badly but still once he did that we had to have him put down. A friend of moms said he'd arrange everything it was his wife that got bitten and I found out later that it hadn't been done the way it should have been. I was really angry and still feel guilty cause I loved that dog and he loved me :(

[~Lisa~]

Well, we have had quite a few.

First a cat that got hit by a car and was in a very bad way, I never seen her but my Mum called the vet out to put her to sleep.

Then a kitten that was just 4 weeks old. He started bleeding out of his nose and his head kept growing up. The vet determined he was born with no skull and told us to bring him home and leave him in a box and not feed him, Just leave him to die. We got him put down, we couldn't do that!!!

Another kitten, two weeks old that my friend sat on, It was under the rocker chair and she moved the chair and started rocking. It was crying like crazy, so we had her put straight to sleep.


THIS ONE I'M STILL UNSURE IF I AGREE WITH!
When my Nan passed away, all of her 6 cats and two dogs were put down. She wanted it that way because they lived in the middle of a park and were not road worthy. She also wanted the two year old pups put to sleep too but we took them.


And the most recent, My dog of 17 years. She had arthritis and was not very active and she was also loosing her hearing. We had been contemplating putting her down for years but she wasn't in pain, so we left her. The one cold winters night, she fell in to our fish pond. I heard her crying and got her out and dried her off and left her in the laundry.
She never stood up again. A few days later we had the vet come out and put her to sleep.

All of our animals are buried in our yard. It's hard and i don't think i will be getting anymore for a long time.
Most of the ones we have had have been strays we have taken in.

[LisaSharleen]

Yeah, I couldn't read any of that. I just totally started to cry.

[Rachel]

:( I had a dog from age 5 to age 18. I taught her how to eat an apple with her front teeth like we do. She was the sweetest thing. She started having seizures and was put on Phenobarbitol and just was a mess after that. So we decided it was a quality of life issue and let her go. It was very hard, she was my "sister", I loved her very much.

[MaryM]

I hate the idea of putting an animal down. I had that experience with a dog a few years ago. I didn't handle it well.

[martina]

the only person i know that had to do this was my best friend Sharleen and it was really hard on her

[Sue]

My aunt just had to do this to her dog and it was the hardest decision of her life... her dog maxine (max) was like 15yrs old and has been w/her since she was 2wks old with her eyes close still she had to wean her herself. the dog was having alot of medical issues and then started having seizures and they happened more often and she couldnt watch her suffer and was with her when they injected her with the stuff to put her down... it was very emotional for her but she knows it was the right thing to do...
i think when the pain out ways the life you should do the humane thing and let them go on!!

[Chloe]

When I was at the lion park, it provided a service to local farmers in the district or horse breeders a free service to put down animals. Its super expensive to get the vet out in South Africa, so in doing this the lion and game park went out put down the animal and they used the meat on most occasions to feed the lions and tigers. I saw a horse being put down only once b/c after that the guy who you go with refused to take me again after how I reacted. I literally had that wail that ppl talk about as soon as I heard the gun go off. It was extremely upsetting and even now thinking about it, it brings tears to my eyes :(

I was told though that the way this had happened wasnt the norm and it was a difficult one. This was bc the woman said it was a nice horse (2yo) and I developed a bond straight away with it b/c I was patting his mane, calming him down bc the stupid woman wouldnt go away. She stood there and spoke to us about how nice this horse is and she had another girl holding a kid. JP didnt know whether they were staying or going and in the end he had to ask b/c they were hovering around. Normally they go into a stable and everything is set up and normally ppl dont watch esp with a little kid. It was beyond sad and i was crying non stop before JP pulled the trigger, I turned away and as soon as I heard the gun go off I wailed. I have never wailed in my life apart from then. JP who always showed a very rough exterior and teased me relentlously BUT when he shot that horse he ran right over to where I was and held me. Told me it is ok and to not turn around, to not look whilst the put the horse in the back of the truck.

I never want to experience that again.

[Chloe]

oh and to add I have had a dog put down that also destroyed me and 2 cats b/c the cats had cancer :(