They can answer many questions, describe what the experience should be like for your pet, and help address concerns you may have. These include resources that talk about the feelings you may experience before and after euthanasia. Some of the highlights are cited with each of the following questions. A good quality of life looks different for each pet. Is your pet able to do the following activities? Are they likely to still enjoy these activities in the future?
If surgery and recovery time lessen the possibility of a good quality of life, you need to decide the next step in their treatment plan.
Their discomfort looks more like anxiety. In fact, anxiety is worse than pain in animals. Pets at a routine vet visit may be more anxious about being in the office than the ailment that caused the appointment. Sometimes that pain and anxiety can be managed through a treatment plan, sometimes it cannot.
Your veterinarian may cry with you. In fact, it's common enough for this to happen that there's a kind of rule of thumb that the vet should ensure not to cry harder than the pet's owner. For McVety, even with the sadness, what she mainly feels is that it is "an honor" to be part of a family's life during this time. Cox shares this perspective.
You have a lot of options as to what you want to do with your pet's body after euthanasia. Your veterinarian can tell you about pet cremation services available in your area. You will generally have to specify if you want your pet cremated alone, and for their ashes to be returned to you. There are countless urns and other specialty memorials you can buy for containing your pet's ashes.
A chain of pet funeral homes called The Pet Loss Center is currently expanding through Texas and Florida; other similar operations may be opening in your city. In some jurisdictions it is legal to bury your pet in your backyard, and in some others , you can even make arrangements for you and your pet to be eventually buried together in a cemetery. But before all that, many veterinarians will allow you to spend time alone with your deceased pet — in the room at their animal hospital if that's where the euthanasia occurred, or in your home before the veterinarian takes away their body.
McCord said she's even had pet owners ask for their pet's body to be left at home overnight. McVety recommends saving a lock of your pet's fur, and keeping their collar, especially if you have other animals at home. They will smell these tokens, and it will help them grieve, too. But they get the circle of life better than we do," she said. So even watching your pet and how they get through the process is, I think, such a great example for us humans on how we can continue moving forward in life in a moment-by-moment basis.
Be sure, finally, to give yourself time and space to grieve. Consider joining a pet loss support group. A pet's death can be as traumatic and difficult as the loss of a human family member.
It was about five years ago now that I flew to Rhode Island — where my parents live, and where they had taken such good care of our beloved dog — to see Barky one last time. Barky's final day was bright and sunny. We spent hours outside with her in her favorite spot in the yard, so she could keep a good eye on all invading squirrels. Her face was white with age; her fur was warm from the sun.
We gave Barky as many biscuits as she wanted to eat. When the vet arrived that afternoon, my parents and I sat with Barky on the couch — where she'd napped so many hundreds of times that there were dog-sized white spots worn into the otherwise tan leather. My brother and his wife, who were living in Turkey at the time, joined us by Skype. After a long time of saying goodbye, while my family and I cried into Barky's fur, the veterinarian administered the shots.
We hugged her and told her we loved her as she left us. Maybe there are things we might have done differently today, given the chance.
We did our best. My mom claims to still hear Barky walking around the house from time to time. I still think of her daily. Sometimes I sit my other pets down and tell them about their Auntie Barky. Put the list away until the animal is undergoing treatment for a terminal disease, such as cancer. At that point, return to the list: is the animal able to chase a ball? Does the animal get excited about receiving a treat?
This strategy can be augmented by pointing out the differences between human and animal consciousness. Animals, on the other hand, lack the linguistic tools to allow them to anticipate the future or create an internal narrative of the past. Instead, they live overwhelmingly in the present.
In the end, managing euthanasia represents a major complication of the augmented status of pets in society. Ideally, companion animal owners should maintain a good relationship with their general veterinary practitioner, who has often known the animal all of its life, and can serve as a partner in dialogue during the trying times when euthanasia emerges as a possible alternative to suffering.
Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Bernard Rollin , Colorado State University.
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