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Six [Animal Pet] euthanasia trends you didn’t know about
Veterinary News ^ | Aug 01, 2018 | Dani McVety, DVM

Posted on 08/29/2019 11:11:34 AM PDT by COBOL2Java

Pets are family, and whether you’re walking a veterinary client through their first euthanasia or their fifth, these are the most important things to keep in mind.


When I first started Lap of Love (which, for perspective, was three months out of veterinary school), I thought everyone made the decision to euthanize their pet the same way. In short, my lack of experience let me assume it was simply when the family couldn’t afford the care or the pet was actively dying. In many cases, this is true.

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 ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Pets/Animals
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1 posted on 08/29/2019 11:11:34 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
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To: COBOL2Java
The last dog we lost, we had a person come to our home and put her down while we all comforted her.

Then the person took the remains for cremation, and provided us with a clay paw impression.

2 posted on 08/29/2019 11:19:06 AM PDT by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: COBOL2Java

What’s the cost of a .22 round these days?


3 posted on 08/29/2019 11:27:09 AM PDT by voicereason (The RNC is like the "One-night stand" you wish you could forget.)
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To: Yo-Yo

Thanks for the post, our 14 year old golden has started to show the signs...


4 posted on 08/29/2019 11:27:23 AM PDT by orlop9
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To: Yo-Yo

Vets prey on pet owner to get them to pay way to much money to put a animal down.

Out in the country it’s swift, painless, and cheap.

A 22LF to the back of the head and hole in the ground.


5 posted on 08/29/2019 11:29:03 AM PDT by riverrunner ( o the public,)
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To: riverrunner

LR should be LR


6 posted on 08/29/2019 11:29:56 AM PDT by riverrunner ( o the public,)
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To: voicereason

Very tough to look a pet in the eye and do that. I put one in a large paper feed bag once and took care of it in that manner, but it was no picnic. I only did it that way because we were dirt poor and couldn’t afford an alternative.


7 posted on 08/29/2019 11:31:12 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: riverrunner

Not everyone has the stomach for it, and in a lot of cities and suburbs, there are ordinances against discharging a firearm within city limits that would preclude the ability to legally do so if one was so inclined.


8 posted on 08/29/2019 11:32:41 AM PDT by jurroppi1 (The Left doesn't have ideas, it has cliches. H/T Flick Lives)
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To: orlop9

Ditto. 14 YO Golden. Has GOLPP (Geriatric Onset Laryngeal Paralysis and Polyneuropathy). Starting to really have difficulty walking. I am absolutely dreading the decision I am going to have to make.


9 posted on 08/29/2019 11:40:28 AM PDT by MIDad23
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To: COBOL2Java

I have a bunch of stories like this from over the years; all of our animals have gone to one particular clinic for that decision. Even after we moved over an hour and a 1/2 from that clinic we still go back to that same clinic.


10 posted on 08/29/2019 11:44:11 AM PDT by Spacetrucker (George Washington didn't use his freedom of speech to defeat the British - HE SHOT THEM .. WITH GUNS)
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To: MIDad23

My Son-in-Law is a Vet Tech, and one time he was working with a dog who was dying from cancer. The pet’s death was imminent, and all they could do for him was give him pain meds to ease the passing.

The owner picked up his old friend, and tearfully said to my Son-in-Law, “Guess I’ll bring him home, sit him down in his favorite spot, and give him his last hamburger.”

After the owner left, Son-in-Law had to excuse himself from the pet hospital and step outside with tears in his eyes.


11 posted on 08/29/2019 11:51:12 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (Hillary Clinton: Just like Joe with only half the dementia.)
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To: voicereason
"What’s the cost of a .22 round these days?"

Make sure you use a pistol. It will be easier to hold against your head that a rifle.

12 posted on 08/29/2019 11:52:26 AM PDT by mosaicwolf
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To: COBOL2Java

My old dog is 13 years old. Nearly blind with cataracts. Can’t hear neither.

But he can get by. Sense of smell I guess. And he can still get on the couch and up and down the back steps.

So I guess “that day” is not here yet.


13 posted on 08/29/2019 12:03:12 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: riverrunner

“Vets prey on pet owner to get them to pay way to much money to put a animal down.
Out in the country it’s swift, painless, and cheap.
A 22LF to the back of the head and hole in the ground.”

I’ll be dam*ed if I ever shoot one of my dogs. Yeah, last thing I want to remember of them rest of my life is their head being blown off.


14 posted on 08/29/2019 12:05:04 PM PDT by setter
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To: voicereason

Had a chow when I was 14 get gored by a hot and tore off most of his skin. Found him bleeding and crying with the skin all peeled off. My parents were at the heart doctor in Shreveport about 2 hours away. Had to go to the old .22. hard to do looking your favorite dog in the eye, but he was screaming and crying and I couldn’t bear seeing that much suffering. Ended it quick as I could


15 posted on 08/29/2019 12:10:00 PM PDT by This_Dude
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To: This_Dude

Hog not hot


16 posted on 08/29/2019 12:11:48 PM PDT by This_Dude
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To: riverrunner
Vets prey on pet owner to get them to pay way to much money to put a animal down. Out in the country it’s swift, painless, and cheap. A 22LF to the back of the head and hole in the ground.

I've spent thousands on my dog from care, food, boarding etc. The cost of a peaceful death is of no concern to me.

17 posted on 08/29/2019 12:13:07 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: setter

Blowing their heads off isn’t the last thing you remember. You remember why you did it and how much you loved the dog and what drove you to do it which would be a good reason, generally. I know from experience.


18 posted on 08/29/2019 12:17:21 PM PDT by This_Dude
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To: Spacetrucker

I always swore I wouldn’t allow my faithful friend to suffer. If he was dying of old age, I would have let him go naturally. But when he couldn’t find the water bowl with his tongue despite lapping at it, when the weight fell off of him in just days..75 lbs doen to 40 lbs, when i couldn’t seem to hand feed him enough pedialyte and he wouldn’t take solids, when he walked on the tops of his feet and his eye went askew, and when my poor old puppy wanted to sleep with me as usual, but ended up slinking away in the night..and all of this happened over the course of a week or two, I knew he needed to be put down.

I never, ever want to see a dog euthanized the way this one was. He wasn’t euthanized, he was executed.

If I ever have to euthanise an animal again, I would rather hit the streets for heroin mixed with fentenal and shoot him up myself.

The vet who did my dog gave him something to relax him. Well’ why then didn’t she give him enough to kill him?

Then she gave something to paralyze him so basically, he struggled to breath. You could see the panic and fear in his eyes and it took him some time to die.

I’ve seen animals euthanized before and it was nothing like what my poor dog went through.

Folks, find out what the process is before you need it. Beware however’ they make it sound so easy and peaceful which is why I gave you details as to what was promised and what was delivered.

I had put down another animal and they gave one shot...in seconds that animal was gone, no suffering’ to useless attempts to struggle...just droop and gone in seconds.

What my poor friend endured was horrible and traumatic for everyone concerned. They charged me 106.00 and 6 bux of that was the meds they used. This was about 7 years ago. I never, ever wanted another pet of any kind, ever again. But it didn’t work out that way.


19 posted on 08/29/2019 12:24:36 PM PDT by PrairieLady2
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To: riverrunner

Our vet charges nothing if you are taking home for burial, which we always do. Not one red cent. That said just going to the vet and having the line started is stressful. But shooting them here is against the law.


20 posted on 08/29/2019 12:42:41 PM PDT by MarMema (breeding tauntauns in northern Michigan - soon to be for sale!)
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