Growing up I had a number of animals in my house and all of them came to us as old, injured, mistreated or a combination of the three. We had everything from a rescued dog with internal problems to a toad with a broken jaw. And the thing that they all had in common, from the stray cats to the duck rejected by his peers on the village pond, was the compassion the animals needed.

The last in this long line of pets has recently died: a Yorkshire terrier aged nearly 20 who we took in when his owner was diagnosed with cancer and died soon afterwards. Robbie suffered for years with colitis and his nervous system was never the same because of the poor diet he was fed as a puppy. The last years of his life were blighted by deafness, blindness and imbalance, yet he still ate and went in the garden like any other dog and the vet said that he was in good health for his age.

It made me wonder whether he should've been put down a long time ago. It may sound a heartless thing to say but I think it's difficult to watch an animal who might be in pain or suffering. And the worst thing is, they can't even make decisions for themselves.

We knew when the time had come to call the vet out for one of our previous dogs when she started excreting blood. Is this really the right way to keep an animal alive? Surely the most compassionate decision to make is to give them a peaceful and dignified death. And this is the origin of the word euthanasia' - a good, easy or gentle death. It's about death coming at the right time.

If an animal is in pain or obviously suffering from an illness, the best and most humane decision is to choose euthanasia. Anything else would be selfish, however hard the decision is.

I'm not saying it's an easy choice because looking at those big, baleful eyes can easily sway my mind. But looking at sorrowful eyes as an animal struggles to eat or walk around is even worse. It may even appear cruel to end their life prematurely, or kill them, as some people prefer to say.

But the decision should be based on what is best for the animal and if stopping or easing their pain is best then euthanasia is right. In these cases I don't think it's murder or even an easy option; in fact, it's more difficult than sitting back and doing nothing.

When my wife's old black Labrador began to lose the use of her back legs, she was physically deteriorating but mentally still alert. We took her to the vet and asked what the best thing to do was; they said she had suffered enough and the best option was to have her put down. It broke our hearts but was preferable to watching her trying to drag herself, exhausted, around the room and there was no medication which was likely to work.

Euthanasia is never an easy option, but my experience shows me that's it's sometimes the better one. Having an animal is about giving them the most love and the best life; it's also about giving them the most love and the best death, free from as much distress and agony as possible. Anything else would be a lack of compassion.

Source:

http://www.helium.com/items/881926-growing-number -animals-house

Learn more about this author, Ben Hughes.
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