Australia – Canberra “Global Testimonial”

I wanted to write and say thank you. Thank you for providing the most useful information I’ve read in regard to pet euthanasia.

Our Max is 15 and has a tumour on his toe, but we don’t know if it’s spread, or whether we amputate, or do tests to see if it’s cancerous and spread before we amputate. He does have arthritis, too – he’s getting skinny and bony, pants, licks, has trouble getting up and down, slips over, won’t let us groom him, and has recently started eliminating inside. But he is also exactly as your article describes – still alert, still eats, his tail wags. It wasn’t an “obvious” decision – I thought it would be much clearer to know “when the time is right” for euthanasia. I actually had to ask the vet if I was being selfish or over-concerned if we considered euthanasia. She said no, but I still felt like maybe we were cutting him off early. They never actually recommended it as an option for him.

I’ve done the quality of life scales – and it still wasn’t clear to me. He wasn’t “the worst”.

We decided that tomorrow evening, we would euthanase, but I still felt guilty and plagued with doubt. But reading your description of an old dog with arthritis – exactly describes him and his quality of life (or lack thereof). And I finally realised he is in significant pain and the meds and the antibiotics for his toe aren’t working anymore. He needs us to relieve him of his pain, probably about least a month ago.

So thank you. I can move forward knowing we are absolutely doing the best thing for him. He will have lots of hugs and treats and be with his pack as he goes off to sleep. I hope to share your very helpful advice because it was only luck that I stumbled over it, and I think it could help so many people.