Putting Animals "Down"

[Death God]

So I myself own a Yorkshire Terrier and lately there been nothing but sad movies about putting dogs "down" and it usually involved their owner to do so. Now, I'm not the kind of guy who likes these tear-jerker movies but I was watching "I Am Legend" and I forgot about the part where Samantha gets bit and he has to put her "down" himself. So, could you put your beloved pet down? Not necessarily in the brutal way "I Am Legend" did but you were told, your dog will die sooner than he/she was meant to and the doctor gives you the choice to put your dog down yourself. I for one could not put my own dog down. I am way to attached to her and she and I do nearly everything together.

 

[BonsaiK]

I put my pets down quite a lot, when they do something stupid I call them "pooface" or whatever. Actually one of my cats now responds to "pooface" more than its own name because it's always doing stupid stuff.

EDIT: oh sorry. Yeah um.... I don't know, I don't really think about it because my cats dying is not possible so therefore it doesn't matter.

 

[Plurralbles]

my parents let our cat live until it couldn't move and pissed all over itself and was largely just extremely pathetic.

Our dog couldn't walk either by the time it was put down.

I could pu tmy dog down if its suffering is a great deal. It's the more humane thing to do.

I want a new cat so much...

 

[GrimTuesday]

No, I could never do it myself, although I think that if they were suffering I might be able to do it if I had a lot of times to come to grips with what I had to do.

 

[Omikron009]

Even though I hate my family dog, I probably wouldn't be able to put it down. That's just too far.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

We had to get our cat put down by the vet years ago. After being run over multiple times by people he went a bit nuts. Thankfully we have two lovely mild-mannered cats now.

 

[loc978]

I've had to once. My 13 year old rottweiler went dangerously crazy, started attacking strangers, any other animals who ventured close... we had her quarantined, but she was suffering badly. Only myself and two others could approach her safely, and she was starting to growl more and more even at us.
In the end, I dug her grave myself, put her in it myself, and shot her myself... in that order. I still get a little choked up thinking of it, but we didn't have a better option.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Could I do it myself, such as with a gun? Probably not. But my Husband could.

If it came to the point that one of my dogs was in a large amount of pain all the time, without the hope of getting better - then I'd take it to the vet to be put down. I'd want to be there when it happens though. I wont let her/him die with strangers.

 

[Dags90]

I wouldn't ever do it myself because I'm squeamish with needles and wouldn't want to muck it up, but I have no problems with euthanasia. We had to put our dog down because his hips went out and he couldn't move.

 

[SimuLord]

My dad fought cancer for six years before he passed away. For the last year, he suffered terribly, which prompted my mother to say something that I bring up whenever ending another life, animal OR human, comes up:

"If you made a dog go through what your father went through, they'd lock you up for cruelty to animals."

So yes...if an animal is suffering, I feel no moral qualms about putting it down. However, that does not for one second reduce the horrible, horrible feeling of loss I get when a pet passes away---see that little rat on my shoulder in that avatar pic? He passed away in 2008 (the picture was taken in the fall of '06), and I still to this day get a little sad when I think about the time I shared with him.

 

[DanielBrown]

My cat hard a really hard time breathing about two years ago, so we took her to an animal hospital where they claimed that she had a disease and were better off being put down immedietly. We hadn't had the cat for very long by then, but we loved her like crazy.
Instead of listening to the vetrinarians we went to another hospital to get a second opinion, and they found out it wasn't a disease but that her lungs were filling up with fluid. They did surgery on her and kept her with them for two weeks(hardest time of my life, I was worried sick constantly). We got her back and she hasn't had a relapse or anything since then.

There were side effects however. One of her lungs doesn't work, so she cant take deep breaths which I suppose makes her heart having to beat faster. When I lift her up I often feel the hard beating. She doesn't seem to suffer from it though, she's still just as active as before.

To answer the question; No, I couldn't do it unless I was sure the animal was suffering and couldn't get better. Not even sure I could put it down myself if the animal was dying in front of me.
I get easily attached to people and animals, so letting them go is really hard for me.

 

[Hatchet90]

If you love your pet, and you can tell your pet is in pain, then the most sensible and kind thing that you can do is put it down. As cliche and mean as it sounds one needs to let go and put said pet out of its misery.

 

[chadachada123]

This reminds me of my old dog. Got her when I was 5, lived until I was almost 18.

Me and the rest of my family were all there when she was put down.

Given the chance, I would have preferred to do it myself. If necessary to prevent her from suffering more, I'd definitely do it myself. It'd hurt like hell, oh holy crap would it hurt like hell, but her suffering isn't worth my emotional distress. It'd be for the best.

 

[LANCE420]

When my cat was dying(aggressive cancer, nothing could be done), I could tell it was in absolute pain in the way it moved and acted. I had to have him put down. I took him to the vet, but even if for some reason vets wouldn't put him down, I would have done it myself. It was breaking my heart to see him like that.

 

[LANCE420]

When my cat was dying(aggressive cancer, nothing could be done), I could tell it was in absolute pain in the way it moved and acted. I had to have him put down. I took him to the vet, but even if for some reason vets wouldn't put him down, I would have done it myself. It was breaking my heart to see him like that.

 

[M4A1Sopmod]

Yes. I could. Easily. Does that make me a bad person? I hope so. I am working up my evil repertoire in the hopes of someday becoming a batman villain. PRETENTIOUS MAN AWAYYYY!!!