Do you know why?

[momcat]

A number of years ago a dog we took for a friend suffered a stroke. Our vet advised that the humane thing would be to put Shane to sleep since he no longer had the use of his hindquarters. When the time came, Soncat and I were asked if we wanted to be with him as he passed. We stayed with him, the vet gave us some time with Shane after he passed at no charge. The entire staff was sympathetic and comforting to us.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

my vet always asked if you wanted to be present for euthanasia and never charged extra if you did... or if you did/did not want to take the remains home.

My guess is that the extra fees were just because it was an emergency vet. If you stay there with your pet you are taking up time and space if they were busy. Not saying this is right or wrong, that's just my guess.