People can be so cruel at times...

But maybe the dog wasnt his so there might have been no attachment. Id feel sorry for his kids, tho.

It's also possible that maybe he wasn't in a position to pay for surgery.  Still, I think I might have asked the vet about finding him another home.  I guess you just never know what's going on with people.

Joyce

I just got back from the vet and overheard one end of a similar conversation... "No sir, we don't have payment plans....To euthanize him?  $38 if you take him with you...well the vet can decide if he needs surgery, the exam will be $34....you can talk to the vet and see about paying half now and half later..."

I try my best not to judge people I don't know.  So sad (for the dog and the people, I think). 

That was how we got Curley -- an adorable little schnauzer mix we placed years ago.  My vet, Dr. B, saw this old guy come in with an older dog and  a pup.  The pup had it's shots, exam, etc. ... and when Dr. B bent down to greet the other one the guy said "Oh, he's probably got cancer or something -- put him to sleep".

 Dr Bailey didn't want to do that but knew most other vets would.  So he told the old guy to give him the $90 euthanasia/disposal fee and he would take responsibility for the dog.  The old guy paid the $90 fast and left and Dr. Bailey neutered Curley and we helped find him a home.

We've had several animals the vets convinced owners to sign over rather than euthanize. All were eventually healed (surgery performed, etc) and rehomed.  I got my own Ginger in that way, as she had a history of diarrhea and her owner was going to take her to the shelter. (and our shelter is possibly one of the most awful I've seen) That stomach ailment was cured by a switch from grocery store canned food, by the way.

It is one thing to be unable to afford a surgery, but some compassion for the pet would be nice.

 We euthanized someone's elderly pet the other day and they just dropped it off at the side door

Kyda

That is pretty sad to hear someone give up so easily on a dog. :(

But maybe the dog wasnt his so there might have been no attachment. Id feel sorry for his kids, tho.

 Even the stray that is not mine and that I cannot afford surgery for would have me standing with him, and for sure if it was my dog and for some reason I could not afford the surgery I would be with him.

 The fact that the person did not stay with the dog until it was done tells me well enough where their heart is.

dgriego

Kyda

That is pretty sad to hear someone give up so easily on a dog. :(

But maybe the dog wasnt his so there might have been no attachment. Id feel sorry for his kids, tho.

 Even the stray that is not mine and that I cannot afford surgery for would have me standing with him, and for sure if it was my dog and for some reason I could not afford the surgery I would be with him.

 The fact that the person did not stay with the dog until it was done tells me well enough where their heart is.

Absolutely! At the Vets I have worked for and when I worked at the shelter I saw this ALL the time. It's tragic and heartbreaking. There was NEVER, and I do mean NEVER a dog or cat euthanized without loving arms around it when I was on shift and each boss knew that was the deal when I was hired. One got upset because it always made me cry, but he got over it. NO animal should have to die without someone petting it's head and telling it was a good boy or girl and treating it with respect and love. If the owner couldn't (or wouldn't) do it I did. Including 'vicious' unloved shelter dogs. Poor puppy

For all we knew the man cried the entire ride home. Some people shut off completely when things like this happen, and vent their sorrows in private...some people never feel okay...about showing grief...or regret. Heck some people cannot ever be around death or impairment of any kind. Cruel...I don't have near enough info to make that call.

rwbeagles

For all we knew the man cried the entire ride home. Some people shut off completely when things like this happen, and vent their sorrows in private...some people never feel okay...about showing grief...or regret. Heck some people cannot ever be around death or impairment of any kind. Cruel...I don't have near enough info to make that call.

I agree completely. Some people won't stay, some just can't. I am not that way, but I am me, not them. My father is that way. He wouldn't shed a tear at the Vet's when he had to put one down, or when of ours died, but when he returned from burying it you could always tell he'd been crying. If you had seen him at the Vet's or when he discovered one of our animals had died in the night (several dogs and cats did when I was a child as they were up there in age already when I was born) you would have perceived him as cruel, he is anything but......

There is that saying "Men cry in the dark". Most sayings come from someplace!

Very sad to hear about the dog tho. In these times of money being so scarce for many...I hope such choices and scenarios don't become commonplace

What's bothering me isn't that he wasn't crying and emotional.  It's that he didn't even try for a different option. 

I can really feel your pain over this.  I am on call for our vet, When a situtation like this comes up I go in, I whisper gentle and loving things to that animal , among them I tell them, Your Mom/Dad wanted to be here but they were afraid you would not relax, that you would fight because you knew how much this hurt them.... Sometimes it's true and othertimes people are just wrong.

as much as it worries me, and as hard as it will be I can not imagine letting my Soul Puppy go without my arms around her and my love being whispered into her ears... She was there for everything with me, and the fact that her last year will be beyond hard on both of us sdoes not let me out of being there... I have my therapist on call for that awful day and I have finally adjusted enough I Have stopped telling the family when she goes , I go.... we have more than history.

I have friends who I believe did the worng thing for one of their furkids. She was old, really old and a pit mix, her name was Annabelle , a brindle looking odd junk yard dog who came to  rub elbows with dogs valued at 10's of 1000s. Annabelle developed cancer on her rear right leg ( if memory serves)  I would have had her gentled across the bridge, this was aggressive and painful. Instead my friends had the leg amputated. Annabelle was able to get by as a tripod, she managed to get from place to place, but wher ehr owners and I totally differentiated, I would have put her down, they amputated but then moved her out of the house that had always been her home since joining the family and into the very , very chic and expensive kennel.  The kennel is over 100 yards from the main house.  The excuse or reason given was it is pretty much all one level, There is a bedroom upstairs but the dogs all live on the bottom floor.... The main house has two levels.   Annie went from being at the center of her people's world to exiled to an expensive prison, She could not play in the puppy yard it was too difficult for a tripod to negociate. And she was not with her beloved Mom and Dad, instead she was with a couple of dog keepers , until my big brother took the job.  Annies last days were confused. Her folks came to see her but not as often as one would have thought.  They saved the cream colored carpet and broke Annie' s heart.                Sometimes the kindest thing one can do for a fur child well loved, is to say good bye on their terms , not ours. 

The folks with this little dog seem terribly callus and having been there I would imagine You have a better feeling for anything said than we would. we may want to think he cried all the way home but seriously, if YOU did not pick up on a very saddened man he most likely wasn't.  While it seems harsh to have put the dog down, it may simply have been his time.   I am a believer Life IS what it IS...... pretty flowers and sweet words will not change what life has and will be...........................

I have picked up several dogs this way,  Gee Heartworm Positive ?? PTS,    and while I have not been able to care for them all, as long as the vet said the quality of life is okay ............................................... when it wasn't I was there for them   All I can hope is when my day comes... someone is there understanding me as I have always understood dogs!

  Peace Bonita of Bwana

There is something about the way you guys talk about being there when a dog is being put down, saying certain things to it.  It really stirs mixed emotions in me.  I can understand why you want to do it-I think.  But, is that really best for the dog?  I just can't imagine a stranger walking in to me for the first time ever as I was dying, saying personal and private things to me and me welcoming it or feeling anything from it??  Or someone taking my place, putting words in my mouth, as my dog was being euthanized. 

I'm not saying anything against those that do it personally, but this issue just sort of makes me have a few different emotions.