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I euthanize my own patients


I'm a veterinarian and not only a veterinarian, but one who does all house calls. So I get a lot of requests to perform at home euthanasias. Pet lovers often ask me how I can do them, especially as I've had as many as 3 or 4 to do on in one day. Well, it honors the human animal bond that they can go peacefully in comfortable familiar surroundings instead of at a hospital where some of them have a significant degree of anxiety built up over the years.

In fact, I did one tonight on an old 14 year old mixed breed dog who was slowly but very steadily and inevitably in decline. He had been doing worse over the last few months with severe arthritis, muscle wasting, incontinence, and possible cancer, but today he actually had a relatively good day. He got up and walked a little bit around the yard and still ate some treats. But despite being a little more alert than he had been the rest of the week, he still defecated on himself during our visit and couldn't rise from it. He was a proud tough farm dog. Never really accepting help from his owners and would even growl at them if they tried to boost him up or move him around when he went down. Until the last few months. He seemed to mellow a little and would allow them to keep him as clean as possible to prevent urine scald, ulcers, and sores. It was really hard on the owners, but I am glad they gave him a peaceful end with dignity before he was in a crisis at 2 AM.

He chose to lay down on his padded bed in the heated garage. The three other dogs and two cats in the house were all nearby, but were all resting and quiet. He was sedated with a combination of anti-anxiety medication, sedative, and pain medication, so he was comfortable as possible. Once he was resting more comfortably, I placed a butterfly IV catheter in his front leg so his owners could still be near his head and love on him. He was actually snoring rather restfully. When they agreed it was time, I first gave him an injection of propofol (a fast acting general anesthetic) through the IV catheter to put him completely unconscious followed by sodium pentobarbital. He gave a small sigh and within about 30 seconds, his breathing had slowed down and then stopped. After less than a minute, so did his heart and he was still for the last time.

Why can we not give ourselves the dignity that an old decrepit farm mutt is allowed?

You remember where the heart is?

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It seems so ridiculous to me that we can give our animals death with dignity when the time comes and with humans it's it's a different story.
We had a mobile vet come out to our house when our 13 yr old Am Bulldog, "Jane" needed to peacefully leave this world and it was amazing. She was on her bed, we all had our hands on her, softly petting her and the vet read a beautiful poem, lit a candle and gave us her paw print in clay.
That's exactly how I would want to go in my last days. It really was a beautiful, comforting experience for us all.

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Totally agree.

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I completely agree.

When our German Shepherd passed, it was at home, by the same method. My husband and I were by his side, kissing him and telling him we loved him until his last breaths. It was very peaceful.

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It's a beautiful kindness that you do every day (or at least used to do if you are retired). God Bless you.

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