My View on Euthanasia

Hector the Pit Bull, yesterday. 

Hector the Pit Bull died today. This news has hit me harder than I could have ever imagined. My heart hurts, I shed some tears, and I have the overwhelming need to hug my own dogs.

Hector was more than just a dog. He was a living, breathing icon for pit bull lovers everywhere. He taught us that former fighting dogs can actually like other dogs. He taught us that former fighting dogs make exceptional family pets if given a chance.  He taught us these important lessons just by being himself.

It's sad that Hector overcame the hard and painful first years of his life only to spend the last months of his life fighting cancer. Yes, he had a lot of good years in the middle, but it's not fair that he was taken from us, from his family, this way. His parents, Roo and Clara Yori, did everything they could to make his last days as comfortable and full of love as possible. No one loved that dog more than they did and I know exactly how they feel right now. Their very last loving gesture was to put him to sleep so he didn't have to suffer. He was having more bad days than good and they spared him the burden of enduring the downhill spiral he would have had to face if they waited for nature to take its course. 

Euthanasia is a touchy subject. Some people, like me, see it for the gift that it is for animals that are terminally ill. Others think that death should always be allowed to come naturally, even going so far as to bring in hospice care professionals at the very end. There are also many, many people whose beliefs are somewhere in the middle. Right now, I'm going to explain why I would much rather let my pets go a little too early than one second too late.

I love my animals with all my heart and soul.  When it's Jezebel's time to go I fully expect to experience grief so profound that I'll be out of commission for a couple of days. When I lost my Rottweiler, Chuck, in 2012 I physically felt like my heart was being squeezed. I went offline for a while, which for me is extreme because I'm forever on Facebook updating statuses and commenting on those of my friends. Chuck's death was not sudden. He started showing signs of significant pain in his shoulders even when he was just laying down. He would moan in his sleep. I was in denial about what I was seeing. On one level I knew I had waited too long and that he was suffering so I could have just one more day. But on that other level, the selfish one, I just couldn't allow myself to see his decline.  I promised him that I would pay closer attention to Jezzy and let her go before she got to that point, if she started to show similar signs. 

When I took Chuck to the vet I had decided to do one test to see if he had contracted Lyme. I knew that would cause him pain in his joints and would explain the limp you see in the video. I also decided if it wasn't Lyme, which is easily treated, I wouldn't put him through tests and pain management. I would do what was right for him and free him from his pain. 

The vet had other ideas.  He did not respect my wishes right away. He started talking about all the steps we could take to figure out what was wrong with him and then treat him so we'd be able to buy more time.  I practically had to beg this man to put my 9 year old Rottie to sleep. I knew chances were high that he had osteosarcoma. Rottweilers are very prone to it in their later years. Though I didn't know that's what it was for sure, what I was sure of was that he was tired, he was hurting, and he needed me to make the choice that would put it to an end.  I owed him that much.

Jezebel is 10 years old.  She is stoic and when she's in pain it's almost impossible to tell. When she was five she tore both of her ACL's at the same time.  She continued to run and jump, and she never once made a sound.  Not so much as a whimper.  She never limped. I found out when she tried to stand up from a sitting position one day and couldn't do it.  Because of this experience I know that if she starts showing any signs that she's in pain, I need to act quickly, because if I can see it she is suffering. 

Admiral is stoic too. The whole time we were trying to save his leg he had to be in excruciating pain, but he never once cried. Never winced. He always wagged his tail. I could see tension in his face and he always looked sad, but if you didn't know him you would think he was fine.

There are countless people who suffer from fatal diseases that wish they could be treated as humanely as we have the ability to treat our pets. It makes no sense to me to prolong life just because we can. Forcing an innocent creature to fight, knowing that if they win it won't be for a significant amount of time, is selfish and cruel. If Jezebel or Admiral ever find themselves riddled with cancer or painfully ill with no chance of a full recovery, I will keep them with me until they start to need medical intervention. When they reach that point I will be strong and help them exit this life so they can wait for me to join them at the rainbow bridge.  Some people will say I'm playing God. But really, if we use medical technology to prolong life, isn't that the same thing?