In the past euthanasia was often carried out ‘behind closed doors’ in a somewhat ashamed and furtive manner. Clients were discouraged from attending, as veterinary staff believed that they would find it too stressful. No harm came to these pets, but it gave the image of ‘secret vets business’ and something to hide. As a result many current pet owners have extreme anxiety about euthanasia. These days most vets see euthanasia less as a failure and more as a gift that we can offer a suffering animal.

Euthanasia is often the best death possible for an animal, and usually the hardest possible for the owner before it occurs. Afterwards many owners are ‘pleasantly’ surprised.  Their fears were so much worse than the reality. There are so many ways that we as veterinary professionals can make the whole process easier for the owner, and multiple ways to improve things for the pet.

A pet’s death by euthanasia is always the hardest choice for the owners, and often the one that causes the most grief. However it is important to remember that it is often the ‘best death’ for the pet. Not all ‘natural’ deaths are peaceful. Remembering this may help you with your decision-making and with your grief. Euthanasia can be the end point of chronic disease, or acute trauma disease or toxicity.

Sometimes euthanasia must be carried out for reasons other than pet health (aggression, other behaviour problems, inability to care for the pet etc). Grief at pet loss can, in these cases, be compounded by guilt at having been the decision maker; ‘I killed my dog’.  This can be an enormous decision for some owners and they may seek veterinary help and advice on this issue. In this case we must always look at the primary issue, which is the pets quality of life.

This is easy to consider in the case of chronic illness, or acute injury, but can be less easy to see with behavioural issues. We are always sad when a pet is euthanased for behavioural reasons, however sometimes we have to look at the alternatives. What are the realistic chances of good quality of life for an aggressive dog? In some cases, the best-case scenario is that they end up in a poor quality run for the rest of their life. Likewise for the intractably destructive or barking dog. Some of these dogs end up shunted from home to home to home, never to be in a permanent loving environment again.

Now in MOST cases, humans have caused these problems, and the pet is placed in this situation because of human failure (and the author has been guilty of such a failure in the past). BUT regardless of the cause, if the problem has become intractable, then the pet is clearly suffering; after all dogs do not bark incessantly, or destroy the house because they are happy, and if no alternative can be found to place the pet in a happier environment, then  in some cases, a humane euthanasia is a kinder option.