Putting pet to sleep

[meliz]

Has anyone had to do this? Did you take the pet to the vet? Hold them while they were euthanised? Make special burial arrangements?

Just wondering 'cos a good friend just had to put BOTH of her 16 year old cats down (one had liver cancer and one kidney disease) last week. I heard the saga today... and it was sooo awful! The whole process was not peaceful at all. One cat growled and hissed etc as the needle was inserted... the second cat took two doses before she finally succumbed. Not a peaceful thing at all for her. I feel so badly. She is distraught and is second guessing her decision etc. She loved those cats. She is also having them creamated and put in an urn too, which is something I have never heard of for a pet, but I guess when you've had a cat baby for 16 years you don't want to part with them.

[Trina]

Yes. I had to put my 3 year old Maine coon kitty (Bella) to sleep about three years ago because of kidney failure. :( I will never again purchase a purebred animal--there are just way too many health ailments that go along with many purebred species... I have no idea if that's what caused her disease, but she was awfully young to have that problem.

I held her as she passed away--it was peaceful, but that may have been because she was sooooo incredibly weak by the time we took her in.

I ended up having her cremated and bought a special (personalized) bisque "urn" for her ashes. However, now I wish I would have just bought a tree to plant in the yard and put her ashes underneath it instead. I have NO IDEA where to place her ashes in the house... it's a little too strange (for me) to display a pet's ashes that has been dead for three years. I suppose having the special place to put her ashes kind of helped me cope with her loss... I was extremely distraught for quite a long time!

[Deana]

I had to put my cat Norton down about 10 years ago. He was our family pet forever, then he became mine. He was the best cat, I loved him so much. One day he started having seizures and they found an inoperable brain tumor :( . He was about 11 years old.
He was really out of it when we put him down. Two of my best friends came with me, and I was so out of it, I cried the whole time. I held him - he just put his little head down and went to sleep. The vet was wonderful and told me to take as long as I needed with him.
Ugh, I hate thinking about it. I wouldn't call it peaceful, b/c I had such a hard time with it, but he was not in ANY pain and he just went right to sleep.

[rdy2rac with]

I've thought about this more in the last year. Winston turned 8 yesterday & has shown sides of arthritis over the winter. I worry more about how Roni will eact to him not being around anymore. I don't want to be there personally. I think I will be a wreck. He has been my baby for 7 & 1/2 years.

[Lisa]

Dh and I had to put our dog Harley down this past July. It was one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make. We cried for days. Harley was already at the vets and we made arrangements to go there while he was being put to sleep. I could not stay in the room. It was making me sick. Dh stayed with him and said he just went to sleep, and it was very peaceful.
I know it was the right decision for us, but it doesn't make it any easier.
I am sorry things didn't go well for your friend. I am sure it didn't make the process any easier for her.

[FarmGirl]

We've had to put down 2 cats - Alex, a 13 year old tom cat, who had tumors. Wally, a 15 year old nut ball who also had tumors. They were the best of friends. Alex was put to sleep 4 years ago, and Wally was put to sleep just 3 months ago.

They are my cats growing up, but when I moved out years and years ago, they stayed home with my parents. My mom is the one who had them put to sleep. At the end, both were just so very, very sick, it would have been cruel to keep them alive.

My 6 year old cat Belle has colangiohepatitis, a kidney disease "common" in cats. We've had two scares so far, the first time we had actually decided that if she wasn't acting better in two days we were putting her to sleep - luckily she was doing better, and has given us another scare since then. I'm terrified that it won't be long before she gets another attack and we won't be able to pull her through her again. I know that if she does get very sick again, we will have her put to sleep - and we have a spot all set out for her to be buried - my old back yard, where she loved to run.

[CC21]

:cry: This thread has me bawling my eyes out!!:cry:

Our Kraut dog is only two and it already makes me cry just to think about her dying.

[Rissa]

Yea, this thread reminds me of when I had to put my animals to sleep. I've had so many through my life. At one time I had 8 cats. (I'll NEVER do that again.) I'm sorry to hear about everyones loss. It's so hard to do that without feeling sick to your stomach and wonder if you made the right choice or not. I couldn't sit in the vet room either. Thank God I had someone who cared enough to go with me.

[ratherbetravlin]

My first experience with putting a pet to sleep happened a few days before my 21st birthday (15 years ago...yikes!:eek: ) Cocoa was a seven year old chocolate point Siamese who was the first pet I could call my own. We'd had other animals, but he belonged to me...or I belonged to him. Anyway, he got feline leukemia and we tried a full blood transfusion to get it to go into remission, but it didn't take so I had to put him down. I didn't go in the room with him, but I lost it when the vet picked him up and turned to leave the room. Cocoa tried to crawl over his shoulder to get back to me and that is still one of the most painful memories I carry.

I have two feline friends now, Pebbles, a 15 year old orange & white tabby, and Laurel, an 11 year old chocolate point Siamese. My heart aches when I think about the fact that Peb is getting up there. He's been with me through several family member losses, and both of them carried me through a tough divorce. I keep saying I won't be getting any more after these two are gone...but you know how that goes! :rolleyes:

[HeavenLeigh]

Yes. My poor baby Lady *a hound* and my Rebel *a brittney* and another Brittney named Lillian.

I had Lady from the time I was 6 (in 1st grade) until I was 22. I loved that dog like no other. Rebel I had from the time I was 12 until I was 22 1/2. Lady and Rebel were my best friends. They were wonderful companions. Both were old and in pain. My dad took them and stayed with them. Lady had to go first. The whole family mourned. About 6months later Rebel had to go. It was like having another death in the family. My Dad brought them both home and burried them in the yard, crying the whole time.

I got Lillian a few years ago. She was the cutest lil pup. Such a good dog. She got Parvo when she was 6-8months old and I was with her while they put her down. I cried and had everyone at the vet's crying too. Everytime I passed that clinic for months after she died I would cry. I couldn't bring her home because my ex a/hole husband went with me and wouldn't let a "nasty dead dog" in the car with him. I should have had him creamated and brought my dog home to burry her.

If anything ever happens to Lexi I will die. I am so attached to that dog it's unreal. Losing a pet is like losing a human family member.