Posted on 08/29/2019 11:11:34 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
However, helping hundreds of families say goodbye to their pets in a very short amount of time did lend a certain insight into minute familial differences that allowed me to better predict problems, concerns and “blocks” owners face during the decision-making process. Understanding these trends quickly shaped how I communicate and coach families through the end-of-life experience with their pets.
1. First-timers make the decision “too late.” To be clear, this isn’t my opinion. Rather, it’s what the families tell me after we’ve said goodbye. Families that have never been through the process of euthanasia before tell me they’re waiting for “a sign” or “the right moment.” After the pet passes, however, they usually comment, “I don’t know what I was waiting for—she didn’t need to go through those last few days or weeks—I wish I would have called you sooner.”
We can all empathize—we know what it’s like to search the house looking for that handwritten (or paw-written) note that says, “Mom, I’m ready now.” But it never arrives. In fact, I’ve asked hundreds of veterinary professionals if they knew exactly when it was time for their own pets. Just 1 to 2 percent of us do.
(Excerpt) Read more at veterinarynews.dvm360.com ...
We’ve had several blind dogs and they really don’t rely on vision like we do. Mostly smell.
No head being blown off with a 22.
Just pop dead critter.
Avg. 3 cents
1. First-timers make the decision “too late.”
I did. Had a big mixed breed Collie. Like a lot of large dogs her back legs eventually gave out on her. I thought she would go naturally soon after that, but she didn’t. Got a maggot infestation which was like all of the worst horror movies you’ve ever seen rolled into one.
I felt terribly guilty. I called a vet who made house calls to put her down. He consoled me by saying that he rarely sees dogs that size live to age 14 so obviously I had taken really good care of her.
Our first family dog, a Dachshund/Beagle mix named Heidi, was adopted by my parents in 1983. She had her first stroke when I was ten (1997), so I was exposed to caring for a geriatric animal early on. We hand fed her liverwurst or baby food until she recovered a few days later, and started her on baby aspirin daily. We would carry her up and down the stairs so she could do her business, and we continued ha d feeding as she aged and lost weight. She didn’t have another stroke for four years, but she did continue to have a couple of mini strokes here and there until the last major stroke, on my fifteenth birthday when she was nineteen. My Dad, my boyfriend and I went to the animal ER nearby and had her euthanized. Thankfully, it was peaceful. She just fell asleep. We have her ashes in my Mom’s living room.
Our second pet was adopted the following November, an American Eskimo Dog named Juneau. She came from an abusive home that went through dogs like mad, because once they were no longer cute puppies, they weren’t wanted. My brother’s friend’s home, sadly. She was three months old when we adopted her, and she was my primary companion at home when we found out that I was ill when I turned sixteen. As a pup she wreaked havoc due to her vast stores of energy, but she mellowed out and became an excellent dog. She became arthritic and lost her hearing, so we built her a ramp to go up and down the back steps for potty. Eventually she became confused and started going in the house, but otherwise she wasn’t in any pain. Once she stopped eating and drinking, and crawling under our dining table, we knew. We brought her to a different vet hospital for euthanasia, and it went equally smoothly. She laid in my lap and just fell asleep. She was sixteen.
I was the primary caregiver for both dogs. I now have an AmStaff/Boxer/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix named Greta. She’s not the family dog this time around, she’s solely my responsibility, and I dread how hard it will be as she ages. I hope that she goes naturally in her sleep, but I don’t anticipate it.
As mentioned earlier, it is illegal to discharge a firearm here unless it is self-defense. And much like I wouldn’t take my Grandmother out and shoot her, I won’t do that to my dog either. Greta is a therapy animal and service dog in training, and I can’t think of a more disrespectful way to euthanize a dog that came from inner-Chicago and is terrified of guns. If I take out my XD9 and hold it properly, she starts barking and cowering. She knows what it’s for.
The hardest thing I ever did was put my buddy down.
I gave her a burger, a couple snack cakes, and that was the last thing she knew.
She couldn’t hardly lift her head. Damned dog..
It’s almost 1PM MST. In two hours I have to take my mixed bloodhound/Doberman to the vet’s for her final visit. This article helped a little so thanks for posting. We’ve had her from a puppy ten years ago. All I can think of is that poem by Rudyard Kipling “Why Give Your Heart To A Dog To Tear?” God doesn’t make mistakes but the closest he ever came was assigning dogs such a short life span...
Dogs are the best. We keep a houseful or so. We take in seniors no one else wants and after one goes, a few months later we get a call.
Hopefully you got another dog eventually. There are tons waiting for homes.
Sorry to hear, it’s always a bad day...at least the few times I’ve gone thru it.
Tough times.
Sorry for your loss.
God put man and dogs together so the dog could inspire a person to be the person the dog thinks they are!
Man & dogs 70,000 or so years together. Man help dogs evolve to what they are today. Dogs are still working on evolving man!
Pretty sure that’s not gonna happen, but thanks for the suggestion.
setter, PL2 had a bad experience going to a vet. I did not want anyone but me put our dog down. I took him out to the country, to a pretty place, my wife stayed home. I was careful, my dog never saw my gun, it was over quickly (and his head did not move, you were concerned about that), and I was relieved and glad it was me with him in the end.
The Last Battle
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this — the last battle — can’t be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they’ll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We’ve been so close — we two — these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.
Unknown
Lap of Love is an incredible service. We have used them 3 times in the last two years. Very compassionate, very professional, can’t say enough good things about them.
L
I bet voicereason doesn’t get along with dogs. Dogs probably don’t like his ass. They’re intuitive about dickweeds like him.
GoGo seemed to always rally when the vet came to put her down, so I, two or three times, sent her (the vet) home. Finally the day came and I couldn’t get a hold of the vet. I waited way too late. A self centered series of decisions that added to the poor dog’s suffering while I hoped for a miracle cure or another month of life
“We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.”
Irving Townsend
“They say when you get to Heaven, all the pets you ever had will run out to greet you.”
Richard “Kinky” Friedman
“We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan.” ― Irving Townsend
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