HOW WILL I KNOW IT'S TIME TO SAY FAREWELL?

It can feel like a terrible burden to make the decision that your pet's life must come to an end.  

A wise yogi once told me early on in my career, when I was struggling to find meaning and sense after euthanasing a healthy dog at a kill shelter, that it is not our burden to decide who lives and who dies. That decision is already made by a higher power, or mother nature. It is our appointed duty when the time comes to carry out the task to the best of our ability and with love and compassion.

So how do we know when it's time? Sometimes we just know deep in our gut and our hearts. Maybe a friend or family member says something that strikes a chord and then we know. 

Sometimes we need some objective guidance to help us, such as the following factors that indicate a pet is suffering unnecessarily: 

• the pet has difficulty standing up and needs assistance to walk, stand, or go to the toilet
• the pet seems to be in pain in spite of already being on pain medication
• the pet may have a diagnosis where sudden deterioration with suffering and death is expected to occur at any time
• the pet has episodes of struggling to breathe that prevents it from carrying on with usual activities like eating or drinking
• the pet soils itself so regularly that it spends time lying in urine or faeces and you have to bathe it multiple times a day
• the pet has wounds that are open and oozing or infected and cannot be healed without surgery, e.g., tumours, pressure sores
• the pet is no longer eating or drinking
• the pet has chronic vomiting and/or diarrhoea
• the pet no longer interacts with the family and does not want to be petted or becomes snappy when petted

Your own well-being is also important. You may feel constantly worried about your pet, or that you can't make any plans to visit friends or go on holiday because it's too unwell to leave in the care of others, or you're constantly having to help it up, help it go to the toilet, bathe it or treat its wounds, or you may feel overwhelmed and worried that you cannot adequately meet its needs physically, financially or emotionally. It may be putting strain on your relationships, which is completely understandable.

There are various quality of life scales and calculators available on the internet that can help too. (See the "Useful Links" page).