Putting animals down

[GeoffM]

I had a flashback today:
Sometime ago, my childhood cat got very sick, and she had to be put down.
After grieving in the vets office for sometime, we finally agreed to have it done.
The nurse offered to give her the shot and let her die in my arms.
To me and my mom, this was a horrifying prospect. We of course had her taken away and put down.

Thinking about it today, I don't know what I would've done differently.

• Having her die in my arms would've been bad, but it would been me she
  was seeing at the end of her life. 18 years of raising her all coming to a end,
  right in my arms.
• Taking her away spares me the grief of losing this loved companion in my
  midst. But, then she dies either in the arms of a stranger or on a operating
  table. The person she's come to trust after 18 years nowhere in sight.

What would you/have you done?
This is the sort of things that keep me up at night.

[CyborgGT]

My mom's chihuahua that had been in the family for ten years was just put down on the first of this month. I miss him, for sure. He used to sleep in my bed at night, after all. When we went to the vet, they did it right there in front of us - he was actually laying in such a position that he was looking at me the whole time. He was in a lot of pain (his heart was swollen pretty big) so we didn't want to make it worse for him by taking it in turns to hold him again, but at least in my mind, us being there with him had to have been some source of comfort. He had always shown himself to be a pretty smart dog. There was no way I was just going ignore his passing.

Kinda makes me not want to ever have another pet, as much as I love animals.

[Jarrett]

I'm an animal person far more than I'm a people person so here's the way I see it.

Your pets adore you. Their world revolves around the time they get to spend with you. You have work, school, family, friends and your hobbies. Our pets only have the time they get to spend with us and the rest is just filler. They want to be with us every waking hour of the day. It's the least that you could do to show them support and be with them when they need you the most. It shows them that you want to be with them also. They don't understand that the situation is too hard for you to bear and that it's "better" for you not to be there. It's the scariest moment of their life and they can sense it coming to a close. They need the only safety net that they've ever known in order to be as comfortable as possible as they say goodbye.

[RyanD]

i had a parakeet die once right in my eyes. i cam home and he was just lying on his side in the bottom of his cage. i picked him up and tried to put him on his perch but he just fell over. he would barly move. i came to the relization that he was dying. i was 12 at the time. i layed him on my pillow. i had to take a crap real bad so when i went to the bathroom i was sure he would be dead by the time i got back he would be gone. to my relief he was still there....still breathing. i layed down. my head nedt to him talking to him softly and rubbing him with the tip of my finger. he was looking at me and i was looking at him. i will never forget watching his eyes close and his breathing stop right in front of my 12 year old eyes.


I loved that bird and he loved me. he would do back flips and front flips on his perch. he would crawl over to what ever side of of his cage that my finger was at so he could give me love nips and let me pet his head. i could put him on my shoulder and walk around the house with the windows open and everything and he would be right there chillen with his bud.

I miss that bird

i named my car after him...Lucy

[Honda_Lady]

I actually just had to have one of my cats put down on the 15th. She was in bad shape and we couldn't afford the $500 diagnosis it would take just to find out what was wrong and then add on top of that what it would cost to get her the treatment she needed. I didn't think I was going to be able to watch her passing but I didn't want her to die with strangers so I was petting her as she went. This was very hard on me but I wanted her to know she was loved and would be missed in the end.

[bobbycos]

our cat Petey died in my wifes arms after 17 years of life/love

she cried for hours but they were together until the end

he was her baby and was by her side more than any dog would ever be

[RyanD]

to answer the OP i would have opted to have the cat die in my arms for the exact reason bobbycos said. together till the end

[deevergote]

I honestly don't know which I would prefer. I suppose I'd like to be there. Maybe not in my arms, but right there.

My dog is 14 or 15 now, and though he barely shows his age, he's old... even for a chihuahua. I'm dreading the day when I have to make a decision like this.
I also work long hours, and I'm afraid I'll come home one day to find that he died alone, in the dark, waiting for me.

[toycar]

Ive had dogs my entire life, so, naturally I've had to cross this bridge a time or two. Personally, when they die in your home the memory is harder to digest. I had to put one of my dogs down too(all by myself) and that was probably the hardest.


We were hunting, probably 10 miles from my truck. My dog got into it with a racoon while pheasant hunting. Bascially, the coon tore my dog up. It was soo shitty. By the time I caught up with the dog and was able to shoot the coon, my dog was spilling out all over the place. No way he was making it back to the truck. I tried. It was so fucked up. The sounds alone would drive someone crazy. Not to mention the visual side of things.


Anyways, I ended up shooting him there on the spot. I burried him there, and still stop by his pile of rocks occasionally. Dog died at 6 yrs old. Not exactly young, but far from done. It was really hard.



After that, I have had to put a couple dogs down and its just not as hard as it used to be. Taking a dog down to be euthanized is much more humane than allowing the dog to just die all on their own(in my opinion)


Its all hard. If it wasn't hard, you'd have no heart.

[wildBill83]

I always hate losing a pet, but if I were in their place I would prefer if my master was at least in the room. No one likes to die alone, or with the feeling of being abandoned.

[Bullhorn7]

My little Red tick I held her in my arms when she had parvo and I fed her with a syringe full of gatorade and spoon fed her chicken and rice along with her shots.. I held her all night and made sure she got better now shes always by my side... if I had a choice when the time came id definetly want to hold her till she passes. To comfort her and make sure shes with the one she loves so shes not scared.