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Dogs and cats are severely penalized when it comes to expressing their suffering. Having worked at a veterinarian clinic, I have often received phone calls from concerned owners asking if time has come for their beloved pets to be put down. Unfortunately, I was never able to give them the straight answer they ultimately craved. I never gave them a yes or no. I always faithfully stuck to my personal opinion that the owners knew best and having lived and rejoiced with their pets for many years, only they could ultimately tell if their pet's life was still worth living. "It's all about quality of life" I would tell them, advising to keep track and question if their pet had more bad days than good days.

These were those compassionate owners truly concerned about their pet's wellbeing. They were trying their best to cope with the idea that their pet's lives were coming shortly to an end and were gathering their emotional forces to be prepared for their final day. These were clients dealing with their pet's chronic diseases for years and willing to do all that could have been possibly done to help their pet manage sickness as comfortably as possible. When their pet's days were getting close to the end, as staff, we suffered as well, since we have seen their pets for many years and grew emotionally attached to them. We found ourselves in tears many times, hugging their owners as the pain and sorrow seemed to seep deep into the animal clinic.

However, every now and then we have come across some euthanasia requests that left us simply stunned and disgusted. These were the owners that were simply looking for short cuts, not even trying to give pets another chance or investigating further the source of their pet's troubling. We have sadly had owners try to put cats asleep because they were urinating on their carpets or dogs that were ruining their furniture or not getting along with their other pets. We had a client one day elect for euthanasia because his dog had mange, a curable skin disease but too time consuming and costly to treat. Fortunately, the vets I worked with were compassionate enough and cured the skin condition and requested permission to bring the dog to an animal shelter to be put up for adoption.

After these events I had learned that compassion was a far cry away. Compassion was the last thought on these owner's minds. The owners felt 0% compassion but we felt 100% compassion for their pets.

As staff, we then started questioning owners when they brought in a cat or dog for euthanasia that did not appear to be old or sick. And trust me, we have heard all the excuses in the world.

In conclusion, euthanasia can be the owner's ultimate proof of love towards their pets. It turns out to be the toughest decision of their pet ownership lives but yet the most caring and altruistic. Yet, even though this is the likely scenario most of the time, there are those times were the element of compassion is totally absent.

As pet lovers we would wish all creatures would go over the rainbow bridge when their time has come however, it seems that many pets get their too early in a total waste of God's gift of life.

Learn more about this author, Janet Farricelli.
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