Advice|Life Lessons|Relationships|Animals
Euthanasia: The Hardest Decision An Animal Owner NeedsTo Make
Even when anticipated, the loss of a relationship can be a body blow. Here’s some advance thinking you might do to help with your decision.
Horses are remarkably fast and powerful animals. They are also remarkably fragile ones, with delicate legs and easily upset digestive tracts.
The lovely mare and I wandered the world together for 25 years. At age 34, she was the equivalent of a 100-year-old human, give or take a few years. Even though our previous winter was mild, she had a hard time eating enough to hold her weight. She colicked (a blockage in the digestive tract) twice but vet-administered fluids revived her both times.
It was obvious her arthritis bothered her more than ever, even as the weather warmed up. It took longer to bring her weight back up, even as soft grasses grew back in the pasture.
I had a nagging feeling that some planning before the inevitable happened, whether from natural causes or a health crisis, might be wise.
Euthanasia is the hardest decision a pet owner ever makes. A life-threatening accident may not give you much time to think about it. When serious health issues are involved, pre-thinking the cascade of decisions that you might need to make can help.
Here are some things you might think about and talk over with your vet before there’s a crisis decision to make:
- DIAGNOSIS. When your vet hands you a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition, ask lots of questions upfront. Google. Make a list.
- ACUTE TREATMENT. What treatments are available? At what costs? If you have pet health insurance, does it cover any of them? Some? None?
- PROGNOSIS. What are the best case and worst case outcomes? Where is your animal along this spectrum?
- ONGOING TREATMENT. What kind of ongoing treatments or medications might be needed? What kind of treatment, medication, or postoperative care will be needed? Can you manage these at home?
- QUALITY OF LIFE. How will your pet’s quality of life be affected going forward? How will you accommodate any changes in feeding, environment, or exercise?
- END-OF-LIFE ARRANGEMENTS. What are your options? Cremation? Burial? If you have an elderly animal, discuss these in advance with your vet. Does your community have and rules or restrictions about animal burial? Do you have contact information for people you might need for emergency help?
- EMOTIONAL ISSUES. How will the loss of your animal’s companionship affect you? Can you think of ways you might deal with the normal feelings that accompany grief in advance? Can you turn to friends or your vet for support? Animals create structure and routine in our lives. They are often a contributing factor to the social circles we run in. Can you develop a plan to deal with these social changes? Knowing where to turn for help is important when you lose an important animal relationship.
Winter still mild in mid-January when call came. Melodie rambling around the pasture with herd mates at 8 a.m. Now, less than an hour later, down on the ground. Struggling to rise.
Colic again? Call vet. Head to farm. Use hay bales to prop her up. Rest. Get her back on her feet.
Vet arrives 11 a.m. Takes vital signs. Heartbeat high. Temperature low. Place IV catheter to administer fluids. Insert nasogastric tube to pump fluids into gut. Dinner still in stomach. Bad sign. Vital signs not improving.
Internal rectal exam finds intestinal twist with parts pinched between internal organs. Gut completely blocked. Intervals between pain spasms getting shorter.
Iffy prognosis. Discuss transport to the clinic. Consider additional stresses. Mare anxious trailering. Paces when confined in stall. Squeals incessantly when separated from companions. More hours in pain.
Spend time stroking her face. What does she want? Worry wrinkles above her eyes. Posture resigned. Pain spasms longer, closer together.
Decision time.
Nod to vet. Walk out to back field. End pain 2:30 p.m. where she loved moving freely outdoors in the company of other horses for 15 years. Just being a horse.
Euthanasia is never an easy decision. But I was glad I listened to the nagging feeling about planning that started before winter arrived. End-of-life decisions often need to be made in the moment. “Pre-thinking” some of them reduced the emotional turmoil.
I like to think that Mother Nature validated the decision three days later when 14 inches of snow arrived and nighttime temperatures dropped into the teens for days.
Tucked under a deep white blanket, the old mare’s achy joints no longer had to deal with New England winters.
We navigate grief’s emotional roller coaster whether the end of an animal’s life arrives suddenly or slowly. This advice from the American Veterinary Medical Association may be helpful.
© Bonnie Kreitler 2021. All rights reserved.
Writer Bonnie Kreitler creates content to help fellow animal addicts build rewarding relationships with the critters in their lives. See more at www.ramblingdog.com
