The big sleep.

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milefile

milefile

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Have you ever had to put a pet down for "the big sleep". My family did, twice actually, but I was so young and not very attached to the dogs. I remember my mom being a mess afterwards. And one time I was at a vet's office and a lady had to say goodbye to her cat. I saw her go in with her cat and then come out ten minutes later bawling like a baby with no cat. It was very sad.

My wife's dog is getting really old. And by now she is my dog, too. She has arthritis. Some days she is fine and is hyper like a Husky ought to be. Other days she is stiff, limps, takes a long time to lie down or sit and sometimes wimpers or yelps when she moves the wrong way. We give her glucosamine condroitin. I can't imagine how she'd be if we hadn't started that a while ago.

A few days ago I was watching her and she seemed to be the worst I've seen. She was really slow and stiff and looked pretty bad. For the first time euthinasia crossed my mind, out of pity for her. I pictured myself bringing it up to my wife who probably wouldn't arrive at that point as easily as I would. Then I thought "do I really want to ruin the holidays with this?" And I decided to table it until next year. Last night she (the dog) was better than I'd seen her in a while. I just know she won't be around that much longer.

Dogs don't live very long.
 
My dog's getting old. He still has te heart and joy of a puppy but he's getting really old (he's a large-breed and is already 10). I'm hoping that he'll last a few more years, at least until after I'm out of highschool. I love that dog...
 
That's a really interesting topic. And a tough decision to some people. Personally I don't agree with it in regards to old age. But if the animal is in significant pain early in life it becomes more of a possibility - though I still don't like it.

I try to treat pets as people because most families grow to love their pets almost as family members. My grandmother is 92 years old. Would I ever consider euthenatia? NO. Why would I for any other family member?

Animals in the wild live to be old and die on their own (or get eaten ...). The only thing gained by putting pets to sleep is to put the owner's emotions at rest. If you want to love the dog, love the whole dog from start to finish.
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
The only thing gained by putting pets to sleep is to put the owner's emotions at rest. If you want to love the dog, love the whole dog from start to finish.
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I agree. $5000.00 and permanent prescription drug therapy would give Bella (dog's name) a pain free life for the remaining two or three years she may or may not have.

So whad'ya say LM? Will you loan it to me?

I don't mean to sound defensive, but we never got health insurance for our dog. Everything is cash, out-of-pocket. Would you put a dog's needs before your kid's?
 
We had an old dog named spot when I was a little kid. When I was about 7 or 8 I remember him having a lot of trouble moving around. He, too had arthritis.

Soon he got so bad that he couldn't even walk up the stairs anymore and sometimes he just fell. My parents had a lot of trouble making the decision to put the poor guy to sleep since they had been with him ever since they got married. Eventually, my mom made the decision to put him to sleep.

To this day, one of my most vivid childhood memories was that day. I was getting off the bus from school in the afternoon, and my mom had him in the back of our van. All of the kids from the bus stop came up to the van and went up to pet him and say their goodbyes, then she went to the vet while I stayed over my friend's house.

Although it was pretty sad to lose my dog when I was a little kid, it was definitely for the better, watching him suffer through his last month or so was miserable. I say you do it, for the dog's sake.
 
ya i had a pit bull we had to put to sleep once. she had something wrong with her insides. i was little so i dont really know what it was. we even had surgery done on her. it would have been expensive but my dad knew the vet well so he did it cheap. but it didnt help. she was still messed up. eventually we had to put her to sleep because she was suffering. later on we had a chesapeke bay retriever. nice dog. but i saw her get hit by a car going really fast right in front of me. my dad had to shoot her in the head because she couldnt stand up and she was bleeding from the mouth. it was sad.
 
My Chihuahua: Tommy, had a Bladder Cancer forming on is Bladder. We put him down at 5 years old, last year one week before my birthday. I cried that whole week, he was everything too me.
 
I have had my childhood dog put to sleep. She was ancient, arthritic, in pain but happy. However, she broke her leg, and that was never going to heal. Plus the stress on the off-leg would probably have made her other knee blow out, too. It was really yhr best option.

A year or two ago, we also had to have our first cat put to sleep. She was also quite old, and suffering from kidney failure. She developed a cancerous tumor in her mouth which made it difficult for her to do anything. Again, it would never have healed is it could have been removed.

I have spent $500 getting a pin put in a cat's leg. If that meant my kid didn't get enough to eat, then the cat would have gotten a $20 shot instead. But if I can afford it, I do. But at a certain time, it's not just age but ability that comes into play. I would never have an old pet put to sleep, but I would have an old and helpless or hurting pet put to sleep.
 
Originally posted by neon_duke


I have spent $500 getting a pin put in a cat's leg. If that meant my kid didn't get enough to eat, then the cat would have gotten a $20 shot instead. But if I can afford it, I do. But at a certain time, it's not just age but ability that comes into play. I would never have an old pet put to sleep, but I would have an old and helpless or hurting pet put to sleep.
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We would probably spend $500.00, if it were only that cheap. My wife would without questioning it for a second.
 
I've never had an animal put to sleep - I have, however accidentally driven over a pet in our driveway. We had an old blue point Siamese (Samson) we'd taken in when he was was about 8 or 9 (no-one knew his age - bit of a street cat). His kidneys were ruined (as you often see with Siamese) and he'd lost most of his weight and slept most of the time.

We came home from a party (I was living at home at the time), and I parked the car to open the garage. I know for a FACT he was not in the driveway when I parked the car. I opened garage door, jumped back into the car, and drove the passenger side front wheel over the top of him. Unless I'd specifically looked there I'd have have never seen him - and we were fully aware he liked to sleep in the driveway. To this day I'm convinced he deliberately put himself there. He died in our arms, which is probably what he wanted.

I'm not looking forward to the inevitable with our gruesome twosome - Tabby's just over 6 now, and Paris 4 or 5 (I forget). They're a very important part of our lives - nothing like coming home from a crappy day at work and opening the door to find someone genuinely pleased to see you.

If they were old and in considerable pain (arthritis, or some other untreatable condition), yeah, I'd bite the bullet and do it. It's not a question of cost - if one of the guys got injured now and we could get it fixed for a couple of grand, we'd get the op done.
 
It's absolutely the worst timing, not that there's a good time. Our cat (Bean) died 2 days before Christmas and my wife and I still mourn to this day. That was 3 years ago and this month has been silenced by the weight of that loss. Not having children may have made this worse due to him being our family, but my hope is that your pet lasts till after the holiday season. Atleast then you can mark the event for what it is(the death of a loved one) and not as a holiday marred. I say this as a pet lover who understands what this means to your family unit.
 
Originally posted by milefile
I agree. $5000.00 and permanent prescription drug therapy would give Bella (dog's name) a pain free life for the remaining two or three years she may or may not have.

So whad'ya say LM? Will you loan it to me?

I don't mean to sound defensive, but we never got health insurance for our dog. Everything is cash, out-of-pocket. Would you put a dog's needs before your kid's?
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Well it's also not required that you spend that money. It's an animal. They get old. Old animals hurt. It's part of their life. Personally I wouldn't spend the money unless I was REALLY attached to the animal. I also wouldn't spend money at similar magnituid on myself. So take that how you wish.
 
Yes, we terminated our dog's life a few years ago. Actually, right around this time 4 years ago I think.

Terminated.

It was the right thing to do. He had one eye, no hair on the back half of his body, he could barely walk, and he had been hit my several cars. What a useless beast.
 
Why the hell do they call it "put to sleep"? :odd:

When criminals are executed are they "put to sleep"?
I understand we are not executing them really, but it is the same damn thing.

I guess it still sounds better then "Shot full of **** till their body shuts down and dies from massive organ failure" though.
 
There was a very heart wrenching story in Field and Stream, or Outdoor Life Magazine penned by one of the staff writers about putting down a beloved family dog.
I never got to read the story, but the response letters were enough to bring back memories of the day we had to put down Max, my Manx. He was suffering, and sick, and covered in bugs. I think we did the Humane thing.
Now, I wouldn't Euthanize Grandma. But I would have talked to her long ago about an "Advance Directive" so when she got too sick to make her own decisions, They would be in writing, and the Nursing staff would know how vigorously to "code" her.
 
Originally posted by vat_man
I'm not looking forward to the inevitable with our gruesome twosome - Tabby's just over 6 now, and Paris 4 or 5 (I forget). They're a very important part of our lives - nothing like coming home from a crappy day at work and opening the door to find someone genuinely pleased to see you.
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I can agree with you there Vat 👍 It's pleasing to know that someone loves you, even if it is just for food.

My cat is about 1, my sisters cats are about 3 - I don't think I could handle losing either of the three. I've come to know them at my time of life when my memory is good whereas with our older cat (who was 12 and died on Christmas Eve about 5 years ago) I never really knew him.

But I remember dad driving out of the driveway with our dog Goldie (golden labador) in the back and asking mum where he was going. She said he was never coming back, I guess I was too young to know what was going to happen (I was like, 3). I remember my dad walking in the door with his eyes full of tears wondering what the problem was. It took me a while to figure out what had happened.
 
Put it to sleep. I still have my childhood dog, for which I am very thankful. A cocker spaniel by the name of peanuts. Hes goin good on his 12th year. He isnt the most active thing in the world unless you have food around, and he's hopping around like crazy, same thing if you let him in one of the 'forbidden' rooms of the house. I love him to death.
 
you have to get the dog put down milefile, its the only 'kind' thing you can do.

We have always had a pet dog in our household and i love them and i know that they think about our feelings too.

if its any comfort to your wife then she has to remember that dogs dont treat death the same way as people do, its something he has to do but he's domesticated and cant make that decision by himself. If he were in the wild i think he would have already found a nice quiet stop and and lay down to fall asleep..

good luck buddy..
 
I had a dog when I was little and I dont know if it really did get sent to a farm or if it died! One of the dogs I have now has 3 legs, we had to amputate one because it got hit by a car and its leg got mangled!:( But he's ok!:)
 
yeah radicool, dogs are a lot more resiliant that we give them credit for for....theyre natrual survivors and can adapt to most situations...even 3 leggedness...
 
I have never had to put a pet to sleep but growing up we had several put down because of age . It's a terrible thing to go through if you are close to that pet.
About 2 years ago we did have a dog die. We were on the other side of the state for the day and on our way home I got this weird feeling something was wrong with our dog. When we got there she was in the basement dead. I don't know what killed her but it was terrible to find her like that. The worst thing about it was that she died alone.
 
I believe that it's about quality of life. If the animal is suffering and its quailty of life is significantly impaired with no sign of resolution, I think that it is the most caring thing to do to end that suffering.

A lot of people keep their pets alive out of selfishness. I couldn't inflict suffering on a human, and I couldn't inflict suffering on an animal.

I also feel that a lot of people enter into the business of keeping pets without fully considering the consequences. Both the wife and I would love a dog, but we're out all day, and will not conscion the idea that the dog should be left on its own all day, every day.

We have a responsibility to our pets, to make the best decisions for them, not for us. If I had to go without luxury items in order to get treatment for a pet, there would be no question about it, the pet would be treated straight away.

Make the best decision for the animal.

Oh, and Milefile, two things:
1. let the vet broach the subject of euthanasia. Otherwise your wife could end up blaming you in her grief.
2. Consider buying your dog a copper collar. My family have always used them, and the difference is immediate (well, a couple of hours, rather than days) and startling.
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie

1. let the vet broach the subject of euthanasia. Otherwise your wife could end up blaming you in her grief.
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Good point.
2. Consider buying your dog a copper collar. My family have always used them, and the difference is immediate (well, a couple of hours, rather than days) and startling.
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Surprisingly affordable, too. I think I'll try it.
 
My mom ran over our cat when I was a kid. He was allowed to be outside. One day it began to storm and he didn't come home, which was unusual. She decided to go look for him and ran him over in the driveway. He died on our next door neighbor's porch. She cried for days over that. I couldn't watch Tom and Jerry for a week. I remember my sister, who was three at the time, insisting the cat be taken to the vet to be "fixed". I remember the look on her face when she finally understood that death was permanent, and that the cat was dead. The she started crying. Poor kid.

We also had a dog named Daisy. She got sick one day and we took her to the vet. He wanted to keep her overnight for observation and tests. When we called the next morning to see how things went they told us she'd died. That was a shocker, from well to dead in less than 24 hours. She was only a few years old, too. I can't remember what the cause was anymore.
 
We had a Siamese cat since I was 4 years old, and when it was time for it to go, my parents decided to wait until I was away at college to "put her down" (as they say in the vet industry). I'm kind of glad they did so, because it wasn't a decision I could make when I was 18. My cat, Gingerbread, was crying a lot, in pain, slept a lot, making a mess everywhere...it was time to give her quality of life, not quantity.

My wife was in the veterinary biz for several years, and she says the euthanasia process is quite literally like "going to sleep." The animal is dosed with a pill to make them relax (some of them suddenly "fight it" because they are in a strange place like a vet clinic), and then they are given a varying dose of a phenol-barbitol (depending on the size of the animal).

Now, Kathy tells me that you know it's time to give the poor animal peace when it dies from the initial dosage to relax them...
 
My parents haven't had to put any of my pets to sleep. However back in 1999 my aunt had to put her dog to sleep because she had cancer on her spleen and would've died anyway even if my aunt took her into surgery....... :(
 

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