Dog Lovers Discuss Why Canines Get Put Down When They're Not In Pain

A user wonders why they need to be put down when they lived a happy life.

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• Published in Interesting
• April 7, 2024

Animal euthanasia is a humane process that involves gently ending an animal’s life to alleviate any pain or discomfort they may be experiencing. This compassionate option is often chosen by pet owners who are grappling with the tough decision to say goodbye to their beloved animal due to terminal illness, serious injuries, or ongoing health challenges.

People don't easily decide to put down their beloved pet. First and foremost, they observe the pet's quality of life.

If the pet is experiencing pain or dealing with a terminal illness, euthanasia can be the most compassionate choice. Additionally, the financial aspect of treatment needs to be considered.

Sometimes, the cost of care can be incredibly high for the owner. Lastly, the emotional well-being of the pet owner plays a significant role.

For many, their pets are cherished family members, and the decision to euthanize can be emotionally overwhelming. Many dog owners opt for euthanasia when their pet's suffering becomes unbearable and there is no hope of recovery.

Over at Quora a different kind of discussion on dog euthanasia started when a user posted this question:

Why would someone put a dog down before it's actually in pain? Not discomfort but moderate or worse pain. If this has been your dog its whole life you know when he/she is happy & if still happy more often than not why put the dog down?

A user calls it "final kindness."

When a dog is no longer enjoying their life and is miserable, then is the time for the final kindness,

when their quality of life is no longer.

One dog enthusiast went deeper into a dog's common conditions that would affect the quality of life.

Moderate to severe localized pain isn’t a good criteria for deciding when to put a dog down. There are several late-stage, terminal conditions that can be managed for a while with lots of effort and planning, but what you are really doing when you do this is waiting until you are faced with an emergency and racing to the emergency vet, maybe in the middle of the night with a dog who is suddenly in horrible pain, when you could have planned a peaceful, dignified, pain-free end instead.

If your dog has congestive heart disease, you could keep going back to the vet and having her chest drained and hope you don’t come home too late one day and find her lying on the floor slowly suffocating. Or you could pick a day when she’s comfortable and let her die quietly in your arms.

If you have a dog with equilibrium problems, you could keep carrying him and lifting him off the couch and down the stairs, but you’re risking that one time the dog doesn’t wait for you and jumps down and breaks his leg. You could have chosen a peaceful end, but now you’re racing a screaming dog to the vet.

If you had a dog with Canine Cognitive Disorder, who is pretty fine all day but hallucinates and panics many nights, jumping on and off the bed, running through the house, terrified and shaking, you are again risking that the dog will break a leg or tear a ligament. If you’ve not seen this, it’s heart-breaking and just because the dog’s pain is cognitive and not physical, doesn’t mean the dog isn’t suffering.

If you had an old dog with an assortment of arthritic joints, diabetes, irritable bowel disease and autoimmune issues, you could keep treating her and also the side effects of the various drugs for quite a while, but it’s a losing battle and you will have to decide whether to let the dog die a peaceful death in your arms or wait until she starts having seizures.

A dog owner's personal experience:

I put down my Chocolate Lab at 11 years old. He was not in any obvious pain but he had a plethora of serious medical conditions which had made his life quite difficult and from which there was no recovery possible.

He was diabetic for most of his life and we managed that with ease. As he became a senior he developed laryngeal paralysis (common in Labs) and not long after that he developed megaesophagus.

That was pretty catastrophic for him. He couldn't keep food nor water down. We tried keeping him upright for meals.

I tried giving him sub-q fluids to keep him hydrated. And managing the diabetes through that was a challenge. He lost weight at a rapid clip.

When my formerly 85# dog dropped below 60# and he just looked miserable all the time I made the appointment and let him go.

So, there are reasons besides pain to make that decision.

A dog had to be put down because of trouble in breathing and eating.

People never put their dogs down lightly. My dog had collapsed trachea, and struggled to breathe most of his life.

He wasn’t in pain. But at the end, he couldn’t eat or sleep or drink, because he couldn’t do those things and also breathe.

That last day, he was miserable. My husband and I knew it was time.

His quality of life was nothing. We needed to end his immense suffering.

So we took him in, petted him the whole time, and the vet put him down.

Never ask a person why put the dog down. They have done everything possible to have the dog live longer.

There comes a point when there is nothing better that can be done. Why are you trying to make people feel worse than they already feel??

When it comes to putting the dog down, the owner has the final say.

How do you know how much pain a dog is in? Dogs hide their pain pretty well.

How do you know it’s still happy?

I would think the dog owner would be the best person to judge these things and decide when it’s best for the dog.

Based on the experts and the experience shared by users, the decline in quality of life is among the reasons why dogs are put down despite not experiencing unbearable pain.

Even if they've lived happy, fulfilling lives, their owners eventually decide to euthanize them out of a deep sense of responsibility and love. Owners often consider factors such as loss of appetite, inability to move freely, chronic discomfort, and decreased interest in activities they once enjoyed.

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