Euthanasia: The Last Resort

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He said: “We cannot carry him through this process, it’s causing us difficulty in treating him, it’s better that we put him down to sleep”.

As a regular visit to my dog’s Vet, I came across a lady who had approached me in a shocking way and without sharing the history of her dog, she began asking me about, if putting her pet down to sleep was a good idea! It just struck me that how could she just decide to euthanize her dog? So many questions arose in my mind in just those few seconds. Before I could jump on the conclusion, I paused for a while and then approached her again, as she had rushed inside the treatment room and stood by her dog’s side. I sat outside in the waiting area and waited for her arrival. After couple of minutes, I saw the lady and her husband carrying a beautiful Russian Samoyed in his arm and walking towards another room. As I had my dog with me, I took my dog in the car and came back to the Hospital to the couple to have a word with them.

I don’t know why I felt that something is not happening right with the puppy. I saw the beautiful dog’s eyes, I knew he was in pain and was crying from the inside but the poor puppy didn’t have the energy to move and shout even. He just kept lying on the bed. I went by his side and found out that his name is ‘Bonzo’, I called out his name, I could see his eyes rolling towards me but he couldn’t move. The couple was adamant of euthanizing him by all means but the doctor was a bit hesitant as he wanted to try his best to keep the puppy on treatment and then to analyze whether his health is improving or not. I spoke to the couple and found out that, their first opinion by a famous Lady Vet had analyzed the puppy and pronounced him to ‘put down to sleep’ as the treatment would be just a pain and no results would show. After listening to their point of view and also what the current doctor was suggesting, I kept on pushing them to go for the treatment. (It’s easy to comment on others but it’s important to be in their shoes first then analyze their point of view). The hospital that I am talking about is one of the best saviors of animals. The doctor didn’t agree and suggested to get him on IV, and start his treatment then later the process shall be discussed. The couple finally agreed and left the hospital as the doctor and his team took care of Bonzo, as they want him to be a fighter and not looser!

Euthanizing is not the last resort and most of us know how the pet parents feel about it. I have been there and felt it, it wasn’t easy but I knew that we as a family, fought the battle of our ‘Blackie’ till her last breath and we knew that she won’t make it through. In our heart we don’t regret that we had to put her down to sleep as we knew, her time was up. She was alive because we kept her alive-but internally, she lost her eye-sight, she got weak and had lived for 12years. Her health deteriorated day by day and she started having seizures! One of the horrible sight that I pray none of the pet owners face.

We all love our pets! One of the reason, we should always go an extra mile to keep our furry friend safe.

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