Don't Know How Vets And Vet Nurses Do It

[RiverStar-Aura]

It must be such a hard job PTS someone's beloved friend, which I should imagine would be made even harder by seeing the owner's undying love and devotion to their pet.

When my family and I lost Poochie it was the most heartbreaking day of my life. We'd noticed she'd been having more trouble getting around than normal and had thought that perhaps the new puppy had jumped on her and hurt her back or something (she groaned/grunted when her back was touched). After a trip to the vets where she was given pain relief I thought all would be well. A week later she stopped eating -- and for our garbage guts, that meant something was very wrong.

So I took her back (and at this stage PTS wasn't even in my mind as she'd pulled through so much already eg. massive uterine/ovarian tumour the size of a rockmelon) to see what else my vet could do for her. He took a blood test, which sadly showed her kidneys were shot and her end was near. I had to call my family and deliver the bad news and the vet kindly allowed me to wait whilst they all arrived so we could make the decision together: to PTS or to try dialysis. I even called my mum at work to get her opinion because Poochie was a family pet and I felt she needed to be involved too and of course to ask if she'd be ok if we had her PTS without her being able to say goodbye.

In the end we decided it'd be best for my darling Poochie-Pie to cross the bridge as she'd feel much better even though I was losing my best friend. I was allowed to stay and pat my darling whilst it was being done but my goodness it wasn't easy. She was severely dehydrated and the vet had trouble finding a vein, which made Poochie distressed and snappy and I was upset even more seeing her this way. He ended up giving her a mild sedative for which I'm glad and the process went much more smoothly.

The moment I lost it was when he rolled her on her side to check her heart and I saw her usually so sparkly eyes and strong head, flop to the side as he said she was gone. I went nuts with grief and was crying so much I thought I'd die myself from the pain in my heart.

My family's most trying moment was to decide what to do with her because we'd never lost a pet before and as times have changed, there are a lot more options available. Our vet was so lovely in letting us know they'd be happy to hold onto her for us until we could reach a decision -- I couldn't even form a thought let-alone make a decision. It took 3 days for me to finally decide to have her cremated (my family and I had so many arguments over this (even longer story)) by Pets at Peace and placed in a lovely scatter box so I could scatter her ashes in her backyard because she would've liked that.

I received a card in the mail about a week later and the next time I saw him (for Zeus's yearly check-up about a month later) he asked how I was going and we talked about Poochie's amazingly long and fantastic life. I still get sad (I'm even teary as I type this) but I know that in the end, the right decision was made. I'm glad my vet was there to support whatever decision was made and I'm really glad for his input too. Whilst deciding I'd asked what he thought and he explained Poochie's chances with dialysis and her quality of life and what it could mean and even though most of it when straight in and out again, I appreciated the info.

I'm eternally grateful to H and all the staff for their kindness and support and I'm so glad they held onto Poochie for us so we could make a decision about what to do for her as a family. We were after all her family and it was only right she go with our support and love. :eek:

P.S. Sorry for the epically long post!

[Danois]

I do remember Stormie having to call me to tell me that their usual place was unable to take Angs' body as he was too big and giving me the options. In hindsight - I can imagine it must be hard to call a client on something like that

God I can imagine, especially because Stormie has become your friend but it's good that you could take some of the heat off by a light hearted moment.

Well this is the vet nurse that went and lay down with Angs in his room (he was set up in the spare exam room) and had a nap with him and did his nails so he was not alone. She (along with dogslife) were both there as I said goodbye.

[Kirty]

I am very lucky that in my nursing job, we very very rarely do euthanasias. I have been present for two in the time I've been there and both times I was OK at the time, but bawled my eyes out on the way home! We put a catheter in while the client waited outside the room, then they were able to hold the dog while it was PTS. In both cases it was very much the right thing to do for the dog but still very upsetting. :rolleyes:

[mita]

P.S. Sorry for the epically long post! :rolleyes:

It was a beautiful post! I read every word & felt along with you.