Many of our friends on Facebook or twitter, or even email have contacted us, filled with grief and sorrow and asked our opinions on how to tell if it is time to let their beloved pet “go”.
In this “business” I have seen it all. Some people put their dogs or cats down at the very first sign of illness because they don’t want to pay vet bills or because they claim that is the most humane thing. Unfortunately I have also seen people wait far too long, past the point of humaneness and into the realm of cruelty.
I know it is difficult to let a beloved pet go. I can’t even type this without my throat closing up and tears welling into my eyes at the thought of the ones I have had to let go.
This is a very personal decision.
No one can make it but you.
I am certainly no authority on this,nothing would give me the right to judge this for others, but here is how I decide with my own dogs, if this helps.
1. Have they stopped eating?
If my dogs stop eating that is it. I will not force feed them. I will give them three or four days of me trying everything to get them to eat – chicken and chop meat, but once that doesn’t work, that is it, it is time.
2. If my dogs can no longer get up and walk around on their own.
If they can not stand, walk around and move with nobility and dignity, then it is time, even if they are eating and otherwise mentally alert. That is no life for an animal. (I mean this only in the sense of senior failure…not dogs that are young and healthy and get along GREAT and just FINE with a cart. I am talking about when a dog is so old it would not have the strength to get up any longer).
3. If my dog has lost his or her nobility.
If I look at my dog and say I would want to be let go if I was in this stage, then I make that decision of kindness to let them go so that their pride and dignity is no longer depleted.
4. If they are so uncomfortable that they can not sleep, that they are constantly unhappy, miserable or crying or whining.
If my dogs are suffering, it is time. It is the only gift I have left to give them – and that is to let them go.
So, no one can decide for you. I’m sorry that you are in this place.
But respect your pet and LOVE your pet enough to let them go.
I wish you much love and affection and peace with whatever decision you make.
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I think one more should be added when it comes to senior dogs.
When they completely loose control of their bowels and bladder.
Linda, I felt that was number three…said delicately. 😉
A good friend of mine said: “When she’s no longer the dog you used to know then its time to let her go”. This came during my time trying to keep my Angel comfortable. But she would look at me with those big brown eyes and ask “mom why are you doing this?” then I knew I had given her the best 14+ years that I could and had to say goodbye.
Sadly from experience when the dog or cat cannot eat and believe it or not sometimes its just a look that something is terribly wrong – especially with the cats, they let you know. I’ve had feral cats that lived in my apt. for years and found them sleeping next to my head to tell me they are very sick and I’ve had to take them to the doctor for the last time. It’s never an easy decision and I always worry that I waited too long.
One of my cats, Theo, had Chronic Renal Failure – a disease that can be treated for years but will ultimately be fatal. I joined a group for people with CRF cats and it seemed like the consensus was “when good days are outnumbered by bad days”. It is very very easy to keep going with treatment in the heat of the moment and forget about quality of life. I find it is easier to sit down ahead of time and see what makes your pets life worth living, then when the time comes you have something to measure against to see whether treatment is something that will help them regain their lives, or just give them more days to endure. Towards the end of Theo’s life I was told he was a candidate for a kidney transplant. After 3 years of treatment I knew that the daily antirejection drugs he would have to take would be torture for him and that it was time to let him go. If I had been told that when he was first diagnosed I don’t know if I could have make that decision. Ever since my suggestion has always been to pay attention to what you pet loves the most – when they stop doing that and the vet says it isn’t a temporary ailment then it might be time to let them go.
you mention that you can let the pet live too long, until the point it becomes cruelty. But then you say that you cannot make the decision for someone else, and then that they should love their pet enough to let them go….
I think the idea of this post is a good one for someone that is on the fence… but really… what is wrong with letting God take one of his critters back? Hitting an animal is cruel, letting it breathe (or not) without any interferance, how can that be cruelty?
This is a gut wrenching decision, trust me, I know.. but by euthanizing, you are playing God and millions of animals died before lethal injections were around….
I don’t like the “rap” that people get when they actually want their animals to die a natural death. What’s wrong with this?
(again, this is not necessarily a disagreement with your post, rather an extension).
Erin, I have to disagree. I believe that when we take responsibility for the care of an animal in our lives that we also are responsible to not allow them to suffer. If an animal is clearly suffering or in terrible pain that can not be managed, then I feel we have a responsibility to them to let them go.
I wish we had that same options for humans too frankly. I wish that when I get to an age where I am suffering and can no longer be helped medically that I could also be eased into the next world, at my time of choosing, surrounded and in the arms of those that love me. I think that is what we must also do for our pets if we love them. Not leave them to suffer if there is not a chance for them to be cured.