Are you kiddin me?

[sparks19]

While I agree with this statement somewhat, I also disagree with it. Sometimes, an animals life can be saved, but at what cost. More pain for the animal? Major surgery? I for one, would never put an old dog through major surgery and cause it more pain then it already has, I mean, in the long run the dog is old already and older animals have a greater chance of develeoping more problems because of the surgery and their age alone. I don't think I'd put an older animal through major surgery unless there was a very great chance of him/her surviving.

Agreed.

I dragged poor Teddy into a man's truck and he suffered the drive to the vet and died just before we got there.

It tears me up inside to think that he suffered during that drive when ultimately my LOVING hand could have put him out of his misery immediately.

he was bleeding from his ears... His back was VISIBLY broken. I don't have to be a VET to see that. To see the blank stare in his eyes. to see that he was even unable to open his mouth to stop him from biting his lip to the point of bleeding.

while the dogs condition as described in the dogster page could have been to the point of extreme pain or not that bad at all... I will never say that it is completely wrong to shoot your dog to immediately end their discomfort.

how do you REALLY know that the injection causes them no pain? Cause the vet tells you? how do they REALLY know?

No visible signs? Teddy didn't show SIGNS of pain other than his bleeding and obviously broken back. I didn't want to give up on him but deep down I knew that even if they said they could do surgery it would be no life for him. he was so active and IF IF they could have SAVED him ... what would the cost be? A life of pain? not able to do the things he loved like jump around and chase the water hose? that's not a life he would have wanted to live. it would have been torture to make him endure that recovery if he hadn't died on the way. It would have been SELFISH... PURELY SELFISH. I woudln't have been keeping him alive for HIM... i would have been keeping him alive for MY selfish want to keep him by my side.

I don't have to be a vet to see how critical his condition was. there is NO WAY that if the vet had told me there was nothing he could do that I would drag his poor broken body to another vet only to prolong his suffering.

Sometimes I think we do these things for OUR selfish reasons rather than what we know in our HEARTS would be best for the suffering being begging at our feet

I took him to the vet for the selfish hope that PERHAPS he could be saved even though I knew deep down it would be SO hard on him. My heart weeps for him everyday. the vision of him in that truck suffering haunts me. the moment he took his last breath I even tried to give him CPR to revive him. I was selfish and desperate. I was unable to save him and looking back I don't know if I could look at myself if I made him go through surgery and recovery just so I could have a little more time with him

Not to mention... Not all people are minutes away from a vets office. If they lived out in the country they could have been over a half hour away from a vets office. Looking back I wish that I could have ended his misery immediately rather than try to prolong his suffering for my own selfish reasons.

I am not a vet but I think there is a point where you just KNOW that the animal you love just doesn't have it in him anymore to go on. that there comes a point when we must end their suffering because it is just to much for their poor bodies to handle.


So... why is it more cruel to shoot your dog than to drag them to the vet and have them PTS if you don't REALLY know how much pain they are really in? Even vets don't know 100%. Life is fragile and vets do their best to restore life but even they make mistakes and operate or treat a dog that later dies from their suffering. Sorry... being a vet doesn't give you 100% accuracy on LIFE.

I think I would rather PTS and wonder for the rest of my life rather than avoid it all together and let my BEST FRIEND suffer until they just can't take it anymore and die and then regret that I allowed them to suffer when they trusted me with their life.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I guess that is where we differ... I would rather take that drive...

And even if I was in severe pain, I would NOT want to be shot. Please let me die naturally, rather than put a bullet through my brain. Sorry to be so frank, but it is what it is...


AND- there is no guarantee that the shot is not painful, but if the animal is sedated first, which they are, then I can not see HOW it could hurt. And if it did, they would not know it....I mean, who is to say we can't feel pain AFTER death? I know that signals stop going to our brain, But prove it? We can't. Only God knows that.

[sparks19]

I guess that is where we differ... I would rather take that drive...

And even if I was in severe pain, I would NOT want to be shot. Please let me die naturally, rather than put a bullet through my brain. Sorry to be so frank, but it is what it is...


AND- there is no guarantee that the shot is not painful, but if the animal is sedated first, which they are, then I can not see HOW it could hurt. And if it did, they would not know it....I mean, who is to say we can't feel pain AFTER death? I know that signals stop going to our brain, But prove it? We can't. Only God knows that.

And again... whose to say that a bullet is more painful than an injection of chemicals that shuts our body down? Perhaps they feel that pain after death if they can feel pain from a kill shot after death.

Why is it wrong to kill a dog in other painless methods (not assuming we can feel pain after death) but not to have them put to sleep? If that is the case and they should die naturally you shouldn't be putting them to sleep either. that is just as unnatural.

but again... I will not make my best friend suffer needlessly for my own selfish reasons... so that I can feel better that they died from being injected with chemicals even though they had to endure an extra half an hour of extreme pain so you could get them to a vet rather than end their pain immediately.

that being said... I have had a guinea Pig PTS because it had gastric torsion (I think that's what it was called) I was heart broken. I honestly had hoped she could be saved but it just wasn't possible at that point. And I CRIED my eyes out.

but in a case like teddy's... I KNEW there was no way he could possibly survive and if some "Miracle" (I use that term loosely since it would be a miracle for ME to spend more time with thim but not a miracle for him to have to endure MORE pain) said that he could be treated but would have to endure lots of surgery and MORE pain and never be restored to the playful, healthy pup we loved I just could NOT have done that to him. He would be miserable.

[finn's mom]

I don't know that I could ever do it myself, but I don't necessarily 100% disagree with the method, either. Case by case basis, for me.

As for it being less humane than being put to sleep by injection...I have mixed feelings about that, too. Simply because it seemed like my dog, Bruno, was in pain when I had him put down. He wasn't writhing or screaming, but he didn't seem comfortable, either.