Putting pets to sleep

[Miss Chicken]

Have you ever had to euthanise a pet? If so for what reason - old age, illness, injury, behavioural problems, because you were moving?

A woman who used to live across the road had three dogs put to sleep at the same time. The dog-catcher had told her she had one dog too many (we are only allowed two dogs per household in my council area). The woman and her two adult children couldn't agree which dog had to go so the woman insisted that all three dogs be put down. I thought all three of them were acting immature.

 

[TGTheodore]

Not to mention what the dogs must have thought of her.

While I was housesitting for my best friends (who were in Hawaii), their cairn terrier Mari, who had been rallying before their trip, took a very sudden and deep turn for the worse. Trouble breathing, in slight pain ... it was very sad.

I had to call my friends and they told me to take her to their vet and have her put down.

She was calm on the trip up and would occasionally whimper slightly. I scratched her head and ears all the way to the vet. It was very simple and humane, and Mari just slowed her breathing until she stopped.

I was okay until afterward, when I got back to the car. I had helped my friend pick out this dog when Mari was just a puppy. I just lost it for awhile.

Not fun in the least, but the sweet little thing was really starting to suffer.

--Ted

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I had to have my 13 year old Budgie put to sleep. The pouches in her neck for storing food were no longer functioning correctly and they had clogged up with old food causing a large bulge on her neck which also caused her to stop eating and she started to become thin and weak and due to her age if they had operated she would have probably died anyway so we thought it better to have her put to sleep.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

The woman and her two adult children couldn't agree which dog had to go so the woman insisted that all three dogs be put down.

That's outrageous!

I've had to have several animals put down over the years -- all of them were elderly and very sick.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I had to have a dog put to sleep for behavoiral reasons.

I had got the dog concerned when it was an adult and had been obvious been abused by the people who had previously owned it. I think as a result she was psychologically disturbed. I had her for about her for about a year. She was an affectionate dog towards me and children but couldn't cope with visitors, neighbours or other dogs. She was a very agile dog and because she was a blue heeler she was a very good jumper and keeping in her in the yard was difficult. It was very difficult to take her for a walk etc.

Maybe someone like The Dog Whisperer could have modify her behaviour but in the end, after she went after but did not injurea very small child who had come onto my property I had her put to sleep. I didn't want to take a chance that one day she might harm a child.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The woman and her two adult children couldn't agree which dog had to go so the woman insisted that all three dogs be put down.

That's outrageous!

I've had to have several animals put down over the years -- all of them were elderly and very sick.

Even more outrageous was that I offered a solution. I told the woman that if she paid half the cost of getting her dog, which was the smallest and quietest of the three, desexed, and if she gave me some money towards feeding him, I would take him in and if one of her children left taking their dog with them I would then return the dog to her. She could have still taken him for drives in her car and seen him regularly.

However she refused my offer because I don't think she wanted to 'let her children win' or maybe she thought I would not have given him back.

 

[SeerSGB]

We debated on it with our cats (cancer, both times) and the vet didn't feel comfortable doing it cause the cats were still in good spirits and really frightened over him-- they usually loved their vet-- when he did their check up. So he gave us some meds for pain management and we just made them as comfortable as possible.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Not to mention what the dogs must have thought of her.

Food, going outside, licking himself. You imprint human emotional ideas of thought upon an animal with a brain and way of thinking formed very different from our own.



Have a friend with a 16 year old dog. Was going to have him put to sleep a week ago, but didn't. One comment was he "didn't like having such control" over the animal's life. Me thinking to myself: you already got control of where it lives, when it sleeps, where it sleeps, what it eats, when it eats, when it goes to the bathroom, where it goes to the bathroom, it's sex life, and you neutered him ... I think putting him to death would be the most kind thing you could do in comparrison to total control of every point of his life down to his balls.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

The woman and her two adult children couldn't agree which dog had to go so the woman insisted that all three dogs be put down.

That's outrageous!

I've had to have several animals put down over the years -- all of them were elderly and very sick.

Even more outrageous was that I offered a solution. I told the woman that if she paid half the cost of getting her dog, which was the smallest and quietest of the three, desexed, and if she gave me some money towards feeding him, I would take him in and if one of her children left taking their dog with them I would then return the dog to her. She could have still taken him for drives in her car and seen him regularly.

However she refused my offer because I don't think she wanted to 'let her children win' or maybe she thought I would not have given him back.

Pathetic.

 

[Australis]

Our dog last year became sicker and sicker. In the ned he couldn't walk, became incontinent, wouldn't eat. Eventually my wife took him to the vet. I wanted to be there but she didn't tell me she was doing it.. Looking back, we should probably have taken him a week earlier than we did.

This year our cat got sick. We gave it medicine and tried to keep it going. but them n, just as my wife and son were trying to giver it a tablet, she suddenly stiffened up and died. Traumatised my son, he's 19 but has a serius problem handling death..

Next time,. I think I'll opt to go to the vet a little earlier, have a special day with the pet involved, say goodbye as best we can, rather than a rushed thing at the end.

But in truth, after the trauma of the last 2-3 especially, I'd rather do without pets than go through that again.

 

[Lindley]

My family had to put our first dog to sleep. She bit a couple of people. Nothing serious, but dogs which do that aren't given much leeway.

I couldn't bring myself to ride along on the trip to the vet.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Yes, it is a very sad thing. But who wants to watch a beloved pet suffer? Especially when there is no hope of recovery.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

We've got a black lab who's 13 or 14, we're not quite sure how old he is since we adopted him from the pound. He's been in our family since 98.

He's developed arthritis in his rear hips and knees and could hardly walk. He would still eat, was lively and present, he just couldn't walk because it hurt. He's been on an anti-inflammatory/ pain reliever for a couple of months and the difference is amazing. He almost runs again now.

I do know the day is coming, probably soon, where we will have to make that decision and quite honestly, I don't want to have to take him. But I know that at some point, life will be bad for him and that would be as bad to watch him suffer.

 

[Gertch]

I don't know what is worse, there being a 2 pet limit or these people putting all 3 down just because they couldn't decide.

We've had to put a couple of pets to sleep over the past couple of years. A cool cat, Simba, had cancer and after an operation it came back more aggressive.

A few weeks ago we put our dog Curtis to sleep as he was having a tough time walking and started with nose bleeds and seizures. So we decided to let him go with some dignity.

My wife isn't ready to get another dog but she does remark how she locks the door during the day and keeps the kids within sight more. And the 3 cats we do have wouldn't care who came into the house.

 

[Miss Chicken]

There is a two dog limit not a two pet limit. There isn't a limit on the number of cats one can own at least not in my council area.

Edited to add - in the semi-rural subdivsions of my council region it is possible to get a kennel licence and own more than two dogs. However one can't have a kennel licence in my current suburb or the suburb I previously lived in.

 

[Gertch]

Yeah, I just said pet and not dog. Still it's crazy, but it's a different country.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I took a cat home to die once, rather than do it chemically. It was a pretty intense experience, but not overly suffering for the cat. He only had around another 14 hours after the last vet visit, and was calm right till the last. He had a couple of minutes of struggling when it came, and just when I told him it was ok to go, off he went.

The timing and situation though was lucky, I don't think I would recommend doing that unless you know it can be a fairly smooth departure.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

The woman and her two adult children couldn't agree which dog had to go so the woman insisted that all three dogs be put down.

That's outrageous!

I've had to have several animals put down over the years -- all of them were elderly and very sick.

Mis Chickens neighborsshould be bared from owning any pets.
Couldn't anyone in the the area adopt one of the dogs?
gees just because they can't decide, thats low.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Mis Chickens neighborsshould be bared from owning any pets.
Couldn't anyone in the the area adopt one of the dogs?
gees just because they can't decide, thats low.

As I said I offered to take one of the dogs but with conditions applied. I thought I was being reasonable, especially about the woman paying for half of the desexing costs as that would only have been a little bit more than the cost of having the dog put to sleep.

If I remember correctly I wanted her to pay to register the dog's in my name for the rest of the year as she could claim back part of her registation fees that she had paid at the beginning of the financial year. I would have paid the fees the following year.

 

[Marc]

two dogs and one cat.

The cat had a bowel obstruction and even if he had the surgery he might not of made it anyway - though if I had the chance I would have coughed up the $500 for the operation.

Jenna was German Shepard we dad found at the animal welfare league. She was at least 10 years old at the end. Her health had been going down for a few years but she was still happy but then overnight she went blind and the decision was made to take her to the vets one last time (we'd hope she would of died naturally at home).

Second dog was our rottweiler aged 12 1/2 (the subject of a thread in here at the time) when his health collapsed pretty much over night and he showed no signs of recovering.