Thank you all for your words of comfort. They mean so much at times like this. I will share your posts with my husband as I know he, too, will so VERY much appreciate your caring and kindness.
I couldn't bring myself to talk about this last night, but I will now. What made this even more difficult was the fact that after the vet gave her the injection, her diaphram kept on contracting, still trying to make her breathe!! Lily was given a sedative first, which put her completely out of it so she had no idea what was going on, thankfully. Her pulse was weakening, but the vet said her heart was so strong that . . . well, it seemed like forever before her body gave up. It was agonizing for us to endure this, but as I mentioned we knew SHE wasn't consciously aware of any of it, and that is the important part.
Yet, it made us feel like maybe she wasn't ready to give up her fight, and we were sending her to the RB prematurely . . . the vet reassured us that it was time because she was so frail and wasn't eating. If we let her linger on, her heart was so very strong that she would have suffered a slow and painful death due to starvation/kidney shutdown, and we wouldn't want her to go through that. If cats don't eat regularly, many organs are adversely affected.
I have had to watch my horse and 2 dogs PTS via injection, and it was instantaneous. With Lily it took about 15 minutes until the vet pronounced her gone.
I just want to let others know that if they are faced with having to put their furkid to sleep, it may be best to insist that the vet FIRST GIVE A SEDATIVE INJECTION, before the lethal one. (This may be common practice, however my vet gave me the OPTION when Shasta was going to the RB, which leads me to believe that administering a sedative beforehand is not neccessarily a prerequisite to euthanasia.)
With sedation, if there are problems finding a vein, or the pet lingers as Lily did, it will save you additional agony in the midst of the heartache and sadness such an experience creates. The sedation renders the pet virtually comatose so they have no awareness of what is happening.
Blessings to you from Lily and her family.
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