Euthanasia

[tdierikx]

My vets always send a really nice card after our dogs are given their wings - complete with nice words about the dog in question by all the staff that knew him/her... it's a really nice pick-me-up when you are feeling a bit lonely and lost and get something lovely like that in the mail...

It's those little touches that make a huge difference...

T.

[tdierikx]

Ooops - double

Edited April 26, 2010 by tdierikx

[redangel]

Having worked as a vet nurse I have held many a loved pet as they got their wings. Having assisted in rescue I have also held some darling hearts that the world had turned their back on. Never got used to it, only better at handling my grief in order to be there for others. That being said I have always been there for my dog/s or friends dogs for that matter to 'be there' for them at their last steps in this world. My last girl, aged 18 was put to sleep at an emergency clinic in my arms. Before that my other oldie was put to sleep in my arms with my vet whom shared the history of her fight to stay. We both had tears. Personally I know that being alone in a clinic/hospital amongst strangers is very unsettling for me, thus I choose that not to be the last thought on my pets mind as they leave this world. That being said I cam sympathise with those who would want to be there but are too grieved to stay. The love of animals can be bittersweet at times.

[benshiva]

I did and it was the worst day of my life

However, I will do it again when necessary

[MavericksMission]

I stayed and held with my old girl Tinka as she passed over the rainbow bridge a couple of months ago and I will be there for any of my pets when their times come (hopefully no time in the near furture)

I wanted to make sure that the last thing she felt whilst leaving was love and comfort.

My auntie had her dog put to sleep two days ago and she didn't stay with her because she was too upset, so I really guess it is each to their own.

Sleep in peace Tinka, you are in my thoughts daily

[jackie_a1]

They have to sedate before euthanasia so the animal is calm and relaxed rather than fearful. Also so the animal isn't thrashing about in distress before the lethabarb takes effect. The last thing you'll want to see is your precious whimpering whining and thrashing about. The sedation is so the animal is calm and rested and the lethabarb can be gently injected to a still animal.

[newfsie]

I have always held/cradled my dogs.......I would never send my dog in alone. with our last newf Zacky, both hubby and i held him in the back of our Jeeep as he hated going to the vet, whilst he went to sleep knowing we were there with him. Our previous have been the same. we have had a couple of dogs die in their sleep, what a blessing, with old age. Only one newfie girl was put to sleep in Surgery, without us. It is twenty years on and I still feel terrible about that. But when they opened her up in exploratory surgery she was riddled with Ovarian cancer. It would have been selfish to wake her just to say goodbye. I still miss all my dogs, you learn to cope, but we will always miss them.

We also stay with our horses.....They are buried here too, five in all, one rescue. i would never send a horse away

Edited April 26, 2010 by newfsie

[nickyp]

I had my cat PTS last year. The whole family - OH, me and the two kids - went to say goodbye to him, then OH took the kids out and I held him while he was given the needle. Then vet left me with him for a while. I was so busy cuddling him and talking to him that it took me a while to realise he was gone. He was the first of my animals I've had PTS as an adult. The decision was easy to make as he was very ill and unlikely to get better and, even if he recovered his quality of life would have been much reduced. There was no way I was going to let him go without being there.

With my other cat and two dogs aging, I'm facing the prospect of doing this again at least several times in the next few years. I can't imagine not staying with each of them.

Everyone is different, though. In all the years my parents have had pets and had them PTS at the end of their lives, my mum has always stayed with them to the end, while Dad has never been able to. Dad doesn't love them any less, if anything he is always more attached to them than Mum, but he can't stand to see them go.

[The Ark]

I had my 17yo boy, Hamish, put to sleep 2 years ago this month. My vet came out to our house on a lovely sunny day and we sat in the garden with him feeding him treats. She gave him a quick sedative jab in the bottom and then I cuddled him some more as he got sleepy. When we were "ready" she injected him, and he was gone. The hardest thing I have ever done, by far. I couldn't face taking him into the clinic - I wanted him to pass at home.

Like someone else posted earlier, it is enormously difficult to decide the day and time that your pet is going to die. I thought I was okay when I dialled the vet's number to make the appointment, but completely lost it once she answered. It was all I could do to get enough words out to arrange everything. And the guilt between the day of the phone call and the day he was put to sleep was awful.

Hamish is in a small cremation box in our home. We see photos of him every day.

I also had to have a 5 month old Maremma pup, Inca, PTS due to horrible hip dysplasia, but wasn't able to be there as she had been under anaesthetic for the x-rays, and we agreed that if the news wasn't good the vet just wouldn't wake her up. All I could do was ask that someone cuddle her as she went.

[Cosmolo]

I have seen hundreds of euthanasias without sedation. If you are going to restrain and inject an animal once, isn't it more stressful to have to repeat this? This dog was far more stressed going through the restraint and injection twice than ANY dog (and i have seen many stressed or aggressive dogs pts) i have ever seen euthanased. JMO based on my experiences.

Lethabarb takes effect rapidly IME- i never saw a dog or cat thrash when pts- they literally peacefully went to sleep.

[animalia]

Through the years I have had to PTS many dogs, cats, birds and rats and I have been there for everyone, just like they were there for me.

Edited April 26, 2010 by animalia

[Risyntira]

The first pet I had to have euth was my cat. She was 3. She was in a bad way and needed her wings. I sat bawlling in the empty waiting room as the looked at her, then they come out and said, I'm sorry, theres nothing we can do for her" deep down I knew and stayed with her while she had the injection.

3 months later I recieved a letter in the mail from the same vet clinic, You cat is due for her booster.

[matty]

I am one of the ones that cannot do it.

I was an emotional mess when i had to do it to my boy and I just couldn't be there for him at the end.....i absolutely know that him seeing me like that, he would have known something bad was happening.

Just thinking about it again makes me an emotional wreck. OH stayed with him, and he was a mess, but he can keep it together during the process, but i just can't.

Yep, I am weak, but i can think of him as he was, alive and happy.....I just couldn't be haunted with visions of the end result.

Each to their own, everyone is different. Such a wreck again just thinking about it

On the flip side, if it isn't mine i can stay and hold a paw......i just can't seem to manage it for my own.

[KitKat]

I've had one dog put to sleep - and i stayed with him the entire time. My vet has a great mix for the job tho...one second for the injection, another second and the animal relaxes, 3rd second the animal has passed quietly. Not sure i'd go anywhere else to have one of my mob PTS - i've heard too many horror stories of pets freaking out, fitting etc etc during the process.

I've also held two dogs that weren't mine while they were PTS, for one the owner couldn't cope and i had already been treating the dog so i stayed with him. The other dog was a perfectly healthy older BT - the owner just wasn't interested in the dog, let alone staying - mind you he wouldn't let the Vet rehome the dog either.

[Loraine]

I've always stayed with the pets I have had to have euthanised. The last one was my beloved Coco (RIP). My vet had a lovely room where I could sit in comfort and be private for the last minutes with my beloved boy. I could sit as long as I wished, the dog was given a shot of valium. We cuddled for about 25 minutes and then my wonderful vet came and gave the final shot. My boy went to the in my arms. I was allowed to stay with him as long as I wanted to.

I was crying and very upset, as was my vet and his nurses. The Beloved One will be with me forever, and the memory of his passing is not to horrible to bear as I was with him all the way.

[jackie_a1]

I have seen hundreds of euthanasias without sedation. If you are going to restrain and inject an animal once, isn't it more stressful to have to repeat this? This dog was far more stressed going through the restraint and injection twice than ANY dog (and i have seen many stressed or aggressive dogs pts) i have ever seen euthanased. JMO based on my experiences.

Lethabarb takes effect rapidly IME- i never saw a dog or cat thrash when pts- they literally peacefully went to sleep.

They insert a catheter into the animals leg first as they did with my Lucky, I don't know of any vets (although their may be some) that don't insert a catheter first before sedation therefore it's the one injection so they are not being continually injected. Once the catheter is inserted its as simple as injecting it into the catheter. Then once the sedation takes affect they use lethabarb, and it is relatively quick but animals don't just get injected and die straight away. It needs to be absorbed into the organs and blood stream first then the pet passes. Sometimes it can take 30 seconds sometimes it can take longer regardless the animal still has time to thrash about and become frightened. Lucky was sedated and he still thrashed and fought the sedation. Had the vet not sedated him before he was euthanised he would have been seriously distressed as would I have been. And you are wrong there Lucky didn't peacefully go to sleep he whined and whimpered and didn't close his eyes. Some euthanasia's animals don't close their eyes so it's not like literally peacefully going to sleep. I don't sleep with my eyes open.

Just my own opinion.

Edited April 26, 2010 by jackie_a1

[Cosmolo]

Different opinions based on different experiences- i appreciate yours, but they are very different to mine. I would now always not want sedation because of what i saw in the one dog who was sedated vs hundreds who were not.

ETA I never saw a dog thrash around once injected with the lethabarb and we held onto them until they were gone. I never saw it be anything but peaceful (and these were animals who were in a strange place with strange people- they had every reason to be stressed) until i saw it with sedation first.

Edited April 26, 2010 by Cosmolo

[Leithy]

The first dog we had put down was our family dog Gypsy a fox terrier, who had a back injury that wouldnt heal due to being kicked by a stranger. I wasn't there but had told mum over and over to let me be there, but done it on her own one day while we were at school. Cried for so many hours, she was such a funny dog.

Never had to put our cats down, Puss is five years old this year and still going strong.

When I did work experience I saw kittens get put down because a new litter had come in and they thought that they wouldnt find homes. I didnt cry during the procedure but afterwards cried my eyes out. It's sad thing to watch and i'm glad i will never have to do that, respect to those that do.

I dnt wanna think about putting my girls down, luckily they r young and i dnt need to consider that. But I know I will be there when the time comes, as hard as it may be. I can understand how people cannot be there- its an emotionally draining and stressful experience.

[jata]

Different opinions based on different experiences- i appreciate yours, but they are very different to mine. I would now always not want sedation because of what i saw in the one dog who was sedated vs hundreds who were not.

ETA I never saw a dog thrash around once injected with the lethabarb and we held onto them until they were gone. I never saw it be anything but peaceful (and these were animals who were in a strange place with strange people- they had every reason to be stressed) until i saw it with sedation first.

+1

I vet nursed at a shelter as well as a private clinic, of the thousands of animals pts, both homeless & owned, we never once sedated first, never had one thrash about, never had one problem. It was quick and peaceful.

[PooMother]

Over the years I have had a few done and yes I stayed and then either brought them home or had them cremated. Have never had a vet sedate any of mine although when I worked as a vet nurse at the RSPCA many moons ago in QLD they would sedate dogs but not cats. Was still quick either way and they didnt use catheters. Just depends on the vet