[1]
It started about two weeks before the end; our dog Max was not acting like himself and did more or less just moping around the house, not want to eat, play, or really do anything. When my mother would walk through the door, instead of running from where he was and meeting her, he just dragged himself over. As soon as he started getting worse we took him to the Veterinarian and they told us that he had a tumor in his brain. There was about a 5% chance that he would make it and even if he did make it the Vet told us that he would probably never remember who we were and would never be the same as he was before. I was at work when my mother found this out and she told me to come down to the Vet because they were going to put him to sleep. My father could not go down there because he had a hard enough time doing it with our previous dog Boscoe that he just could not put himself through that again. I could not really understand why he did not go down there until after this happened. Neither of my brothers could go because my younger brother was in school and my older brother was in
I went down there not really feeling anything. I was not sure what to expect when I got there. I just knew that I was going to go in with a pet and come out without one. I got there and my mom had me follow her into a room where Max was lying on the ground not moving. The Vet said that we could say our goodbyes and then he would give him the injection. I did not realize that for a death they used a sedative to put the patient out of its misery. I guess I did not really know what they injected people or animals with. This was the first time I had experienced death and euthanizing something that was very close to me and what that decision ultimately decided.
The term euthanasia comes from the Greek words "eu"-meaning good and "thanatos"-meaning death, which combined means “well-death” or "dying well". Hippocrates mentions euthanasia in the Hippocratic Oath, which was written between 400 and 300 B.C. The original Oath states: “To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death.” So what makes euthanasia so ethical in one case, but not in another? Is it not ethical in any case? Or is it ethical in both cases?
In the case with dying animals, I believe that euthanizing your pet is probably in your and your pet’s best interest. Euthanasia has evolved from being owner-directed -as in the Veterinarian puts the dog "to sleep" when the owner asks--to a more thoughtful, compassionate decision process between the client and the Veterinarian. Shelters have used euthanasia as a means to deal with homeless animals for decades, but it is now becoming more and more expensive as the number of animals increase. Guidelines have been developed by the American Animal Hospital Association to write a policy to help veterinarians with these difficult decisions. They will not perform "convenience" euthanasia, so they do not have to be put in the position of putting an animal to sleep just because the owner wants them to be put down. The Vets have been given a chance to set what they will do for certain animals so they can do what is in the best interest of the animals and not cross any lines that the Vet may not agree with. Dr. Anna Worth wrote this in a blog about her ethics and how she feels when she has to put an animal to sleep, “although the ultimate decision when to euthanize rests with the person who knows and loves the animal best-the owner-I have an ethical responsibility to help guide the decision[2]”. This is very true. We all have an ethical responsibility to do the very best for the animal as well as for the owner. I can only imagine how hard it is to tell an owner that they should not give their pet surgery because it will probably only put both animal and owner through more pain and suffering.
Some owners take this a little too far by keeping pets alive past when they really should be alive. Now that we are so technologically advanced Vets are able to give owners a longer period of time with their pets. Vets have the ability to help fight cancer, ease the pain, and even prescribe medication that will help ease separation anxiety. We have started treating our pets less like animals that do not quite understand what is happening and more like creatures that have some human form. Animals do not have the brain capacity to understand what exactly is going on, so to put a pet through chemotherapy because you believe that it will help save their lives and will give them more time with you is bordering on cruelty. Should you not question who you are really doing all of this for? Though you want to give your pet a fighting chance are you doing it for the pet or are you doing it for yourself? Just because we can do something, such as prolong a pet’s life, does not mean that we should do it. My dog, Max, had a chance if we would have let him go through the surgery and be in intense pain for years, but it seems that I would have only been keeping him alive because I did not want to let him go. Sometimes I think we are really looking out for ourselves and, yes, letting a pet go is very hard, but sometimes you just have to do it. You just have to wonder how ethical is it to keep your pet alive if you are mainly doing it because you do not want to let go. It just makes it harder for the pet in the long run.
(Two days worth of euthanized animals sit in barrels in cold storage at the Kern County Animal
A growing problem in the world is the fact that people are not spaying and neutering their animals and so more and more animals are reproducing and we do not have the means to help them out. “In 1997, roughly 64% of the total number of animals that entered shelters were euthanized -- approximately 2.7 million animals in just these 1,000 shelters. These animals may have been put down due to overcrowding, but may have been sick, aggressive, injured, or suffered something else[4]”. With those numbers it is also estimated that around 9.6 million animals are euthanized just in the
One can argue that saving a pet from prolonged pain and suffering is a less cruel, more humane, more ethical treatment of a pet. It is a hardship for the owner, but a decision to euthanize a pet can not be an easy one. The difference between doing this for a pet and for a human is comprehension. A human can comprehend that the treatment may lead to a better life, even if it means only being a temporary one. A pet can not understand this and depending on the treatment may not make the pet’s life better. We consider a lot of things we do on the thought process of ourselves and I believe that this is one of those things that even if it helps you out, you should be thinking of what it will do to your pet. A decision to euthanize, made in the pet’s best interests, is the hardest and most humane solution.
Word Count (with quotes): 1520
Word Count (without quotes): 1445
[1] Picture of Max and Justin. Personal photo.
[2] Pet Ethics [Web Site] (2008); available from http://petethics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=137; accessed
[3] Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/twisteduterus/352211196/
[4] American Humane [Web Site] (1997); available from http://www.americanhumane.org/about-us/newsroom/fact-sheets/animal-shelter-euthanasia.html; accessed
