Putting Pets to Sleep

[Cyan]

Cyan Wrote:

I wouldn't put an animal to sleep unless its death was imminent (few hours) and it was in pain (broken bones etc right now with no hope of help such as an uninhabited island)

Many years ago my cat Ralph had cancer in his mouth. He couldn't eat. He could have lived, hungry and in pain, for a long time. Instead I held him and loved him as I said a merciful good by.

Or, you could have taken her to a vet that could have tried to remove the cancer and give her sufficient medication to deal with the pain in the effort to give him a chance to survive. But mercyslaughtering of pets is still slaughtering of pets. Dont get me wrong I've had pets put down and I know that it isn't always the wrong choice but stepping way from the fact that you are slaughtering a friend, you damn well better be sure its for the right motivation. Personally, in your case I would have taken the cat to a vet and asked them to try to perform a surgery on the cat in combination with holistic anticancer medication. But its not my cat, its not my cat-a-lyst and its not my choice, so, we all have our own choices. No way to know for real which is ever right.

And the there was Molly my dog. Arthritis pain, I bought stairs to help her on and off the bed. She complained about having to walk outside to do her business. Old age allergies to everything, scratching herself constantly, and chewing on the bottom of her feet. Anemia, her gums were white (as was much of her fur), and as she lost blood, she also lost energy. Her anal glands had to be constantly expressed, because they kept hardening and no longer worked. I think I kept her alive for too long, and it would have been kinder to say good by sooner. When I did say good by, she knew full well what was happening, and she didn't take her eyes off me as she grinned at me with love.

I'm sad to hear you and your pet went through such hardship. I know that most people will say you did the right thing. But I can't. I cant say that putting a pet that can live to sleep before it dies naturally is the right way to approach the concept, unless we as a society also start to euthanize people with serious medical conditions on grounds that its hard to live around them and its just kinder to put people to sleep.

If that second option happens, and we start euthanizing people on the grounds of our emotions felt towards the person suffering, then I'd prefer to move to another planet anyway.

vervex wrote:

My point is the following; if we valued animals' lives like our own, we would not be having this discussion right now. It is only because we, as a society, still see animals as below humans, creatures of lower worth, that we wonder if we should put them to sleep when they reach a certain age.

I wish we respected each other human beings, as much as we do animals. Death does not exist. Another dimension of joy and love and wisdom awaits us when we die. We meet our soul group, our Teachers, our Guide(s), our Elders, our soul mate(s), our friends. I feel qualified to say this because of my near death experience when I was 25 (car "accident"), and because of the Life Between Lives (LBL) work I do as a hypnotherapist.

Do you really think we dont think that way too?

But there is a difference between knowing, and not knowing, and this is the DENSITY OF NOT KNOWING FOR A REASON.

Its not knowing for a reason called religious wars that went on for 10.000 years.

Using religion and personal experiences for what is beyond death as justification for societal actions while living is damnation.

But thats just a personal opinion.

People in their LBL sessions have often run and danced with their deceased pets.

I'm not suicidal, but I do look forward to my death. This knowledge serves me as a constant Light of joy in my life. Helping each other die humanely would be a kindness.

I've had various meditative experiences ranging from speaking with people who live on other continents and havign such experiences confirmed to me by them later to time traveling to past (alternate) life traveling ETC.

I do not look forward to my death, because the only thing that can happen afterwards is another birth. I'm already surrounded by my soul group, my soul friends and my higher self. I'm already taken care of in ways that would put any mock or mundane religious heaven to shame. Because I value life for the living and those around me. To me, all that can happen when I die is that I'll have to learn new names for all my friends.

Instead of calling my friends what I call them now, I may have to call them something vaquely astralic after I die. Not worth the hazzle of focusing on that event, at all.

I feel that helping anyone die would be killing, helping anyone you like die in a premeditated way would be murder, helping anyone you like die in a premeditated way because you think they'll be in a better place after they die is something quite different.

Anyway. It is a hard catalyst to have, pets and friends near death. But I stand by my opinion that hastening the death of another self is in all but the rares of circumstances a disservice and will result in a karmic bond.

*hug* I hope for all the best in all pet related endeavors!

---

A friend's dog had bloat and we rushed to the emergency animal hospital. The vet advised her of the various risks of surgery due to dog's age, and warned that she might not make it. The friend called a special hotline to see if she would qualify for a loan (specifically for vet-care). The dog's human companion didn't have the credit score to get a loan for the surgery. She made the decision to put her dog to sleep. She cared dearly for the dog and did all that she could. She exhausted every option. I think she made the best decision she could in that moment. We all wished we could help but none of us had the outrageous sum to pay for the procedure.

So I think various factors must be weighed:
1)The condition & prognosis of the animal's ailments (e.g., serious, life threatening, in a lot of pain etc.,)
2) The age of the animal
3) The human companion's capacity to access resources for veterinary care (loans or if there is time, to raise funds)
4) The companion's capacity to take care of the animal when/if animal recovers.
5) Exhausted all options (e.g., find rescue groups, fund raise, find volunteer vets to do surgery, etc.,)

Hopefully many of the options will be explored and the 'best' decision will be reached.

Zachary: Are you in a situation where you have to make this decision?

I had a pet rabbit that I loved that we got from the animal shelter, a mean old rabbit that no one wanted, was abandonded outside and half deaf when they found her and took her into the shelter. Even had mites in her ears.

We took her in and took care of her for 4 years and she warmed up to all of us. When we found that she had a growing lump on her side I consulted all the rabbit people I knew, then took her to a good hospital and paid for the operation and recovery. The doctor told me before the operation that due to the size of the cancer and the damage to the internal organs she is very unlikely to survive. I told the doctor that the chance of survival is irrelevant, what matters is that we try, because if she wants to die, she'll die.

so they took her to the OR, they removed about 1/3rd or 1/4th of her bodymass in cancer cells. I still have the pictures. They closed her up and put her in the waiting room and hoping she would wake up. She held on for hours and hours afterward and kept improving until she died.

Before they took her to the surgery she bit on my shirt and didnt want to let go. I know she wanted to hold on till the end and kept fighting like a brave girl. But, it was not meant to be.

About a year later when I was in the astral a huge white swan approached me on a beach and just swam back and forth in front of me for a very long time then swam away. It was during the filming for a scene in a recently released movie where the main char was hallucinating a happy ending to his story. I was playing a guy in the background waving at the main char as he drives his bike with his hallucination girlfriend.

All the co-actors were silent towards me and each other for the whole duration of the time between shots and the whole area felt like a strip of heaven. Everyone had 1920's to 1960's white clothes, almost no one spoke and the tune of the shooting was a hallucinated heaven.

I think I know my pets are quite alright.

EDIT: Before I have a pet, I have to figure out what its potential operations / expenses would be for all treatment options before I take one in, and then I hold the money in a side reserve until needed. So when a situation arises the money is at hand without any need to call people. I only need to call people to ask for their opinion on who is the latest best doctor in this pets field and what are the latest discoveries relating to medical science such as anasthesia or anticancer herbs etc.

But I'm a planner/architect personality. aint no disease getting past my defences and killing my friends or pets if I have anything to say about it. And I usually do.