Hi Lorn.

I felt empty...like a zombie..after I had our Mist pts a year ago. She had been my 13th birthday present and was nearly 15 so went through all my teens and most of my 20s with me also. Fortunately, she didn't suffer for long, she only took the bad turn the day before we had her put down.

*Mops eyes*...

Anyway, she never lost her appetite and wolfed down her very last meal which I'm glad about. She went with a full tummy, lol.
I also stayed with her when the vet did the deed because I couldn't bear leaving her on her own in her final moments. Seeing that life disappear out of her eyes as she went unconscious will never leave me. It haunts me to this day. I knew that was it and I was never going to see her alive again. I did feel like I was giving up on her and letting her down. Still, something else happened to a human family member which helps me feel a bit differently.

My nan had a major stroke in August last year and has been not much more than a vegetable ever since. The number of phonecalls we recieved saying she was really bad and everyone trying to prepare and then she'd improve again and then another bad turn and just up and down, up and down for months...until the 8th of this month when it finally came to an end. Nearly 5 months of her just laying there not really being aware and laying in a state of total indignity.
Before the stroke, she was a very strongly opinionated type who was very much against people being kept alive in such states when there was no hope of recovery and even wrote a living will to not be kept alive if this should happen to her but there was too much grey area and confusion over the will and so she ended up remaining in this state for all those months for no reason other than to finally die at the end of it anyway.

It makes me realise that our Mist didn't have to suffer in the way my nan did and it was also emotionally draining for family members...just waiting for her to finally pass on because we knew it was the best we could hope for her and what she would have wanted.

For this reason, our elderly pets who become ill beyond hope have it better than humans who become ill beyond hope. Thats how I know you did the right thing and I'm sure everyone else here will agree.