Pets are important members of our families, so it’s no wonder that we often feel grief when they die. But sometimes the decision to end a pet’s suffering is ours and this can lead to feelings of guilt. Knowing more about the process of putting a pet to sleep and how to deal with these feelings is an important part of the healing process.
Reasons why a pet is put down
While we often wish our pets would live forever, the reality is that, like humans, pets are not immortal. They are subject to injury and disease and eventually leave this life, with or without the help of humans.
Some animals suffer from incurable diseases, are unable to have a good quality of life, suffer from chronic pain, have organs that no longer function or are damaged beyond repair. These reasons and others may warrant a discussion with your veterinarian about putting your pet to sleep to ease his suffering.
How is a pet put to sleep?
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The most common way to euthanize a pet is to overdose on an anesthetic agent. This medicine is injected into a vein and the animal loses consciousness, cannot feel anything and its heart, lungs and brain stop working.
Pets are also usually sedated before this injection to relax them and help them stay still. Sedation can be administered into a muscle or vein. Owners often have the option to stay with their pet during this procedure, but are not required to do so. Aside from the needle stick, this procedure is considered painless.
Sometimes a pet is already under anesthesia and the possibility of euthanizing it arises due to complications or incurable conditions. The same type of injection is given to an already anesthetized pet so that the animal does not feel anything.
Is it humane to put a pet to sleep?
The word euthanasia means «good death» and is used to describe the act of putting a pet to sleep. Pets who are in pain and no longer have a good quality of life are often given the gift of stopping the pain and preventing any loss of dignity.
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The fact that we can provide this type of relief to our pets is seen as a positive thing by most people, and the way we do it is very humane.
Occasionally, overcrowded animal shelters and people choose to euthanize a healthy pet. This is often called conventional euthanasia because there is no medical reason to put the animal to sleep.
Lack of space, time, resources and other reasons related to the desires and needs of the animal and/or person determine the choice. Convenient euthanasia is a controversial topic and one that some argue is inhumane. Many vets will even refuse to offer this type of procedure.
How to deal with guilt
In most cases a pet is put to sleep for very good reasons. Your vet can help you determine when might be the right time to put your pet to sleep if you think he is in pain, as sometimes this is the only way to relieve his pain.
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It’s painful to say goodbye, but when you put a pet to sleep, you can find comfort in knowing that they are no longer in pain. Guilt is often a normal emotion when we have to make a difficult decision, especially if we are not sure if it is the right one. It is difficult to make a life or death decision and not question our choice, whether or not we could have done something else to prevent the loss of our pet.
We must remember in these times that we cannot always predict the future, so looking back and thinking we could or should have done something differently to avoid this outcome is not productive.
Feeling guilty doesn’t help the situation. The best thing we can do is reflect and learn from our past experiences. Any decisions we make for our pet are unlikely to intentionally seek to hurt them, so we can allow ourselves to feel guilty about whether or not we did something right.
In these difficult times, it can also be helpful to remind ourselves that we should love and forgive ourselves, as our pets often did. We can learn a lot about unconditional love from our pets, and offering grace and understanding is a good way to honor their memory.
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