Yuck yuck. You have a rough job. While I've never been the one to take the pet to it's last visit with the vet, I know it's a very painful thing and an awful decision to make. Knowing he's on death row is hard. A couple of things to remember: Your vet is right in saying that he is probably already in some pain. A cancer that invasive has probably wrapped itself around some nerves and is causing some pressure, not to mention disturbing the muscles it's attached to. Cats are uber-stoic. Do you want to wait until he is in so much pain that he actually starts to show it?
It is always, always always better to euthanize too early than too late. The few weeks or months of good life he might have had left are not worth risking even a day of that miserable existence that he might face if you wait too long. Too soon guilt is much better than too late guilt. You're doing the right thing by doing it sooner than later, and by making it a lower stress home visit.
It's sort of like the guilt people have when faced with end-of-life decisions for a family member who may not have been very pleasant. It'd be hard to pull the plug on my nasty, spiteful, backstabbing old aunt because I wouldn't know whether I was doing her a service or exacting my revenge. You just can't extricate that deep negativity enough to make an objective decision. Most animals know when it's their time. Humans are like that, too. They'll go down fighting, or they'll accept their fate, and you can't do much to change that, but he probably knows what's coming. Cats are perceptive like that. The look he gives you when he's breathing his last is just what you make it. You can see fear and hatred in his eyes, or you can see a quiet "thank you." Do what's going to make you feel comfortable. You're going to feel guilt and sadness, and although it sounds coarse, in the end, you're going to be the only one who has to live with it. So if it makes you feel good to spoil him, go for it. You'll know that he had a happy week and might have been happier when he died. You don't have to stay in the room while the vet administers the injection. Make the decision when you get to that point. You might talk to the vet about a little kitty valium to help keep him calm and happy for his last couple of hours.
Whatever you do, remember that you did the best you could. And he knows that, in his little wierd cat way.
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Date: 2005-11-01 05:22 pm (UTC)A couple of things to remember:
Your vet is right in saying that he is probably already in some pain. A cancer that invasive has probably wrapped itself around some nerves and is causing some pressure, not to mention disturbing the muscles it's attached to. Cats are uber-stoic. Do you want to wait until he is in so much pain that he actually starts to show it?
It is always, always always better to euthanize too early than too late. The few weeks or months of good life he might have had left are not worth risking even a day of that miserable existence that he might face if you wait too long. Too soon guilt is much better than too late guilt. You're doing the right thing by doing it sooner than later, and by making it a lower stress home visit.
It's sort of like the guilt people have when faced with end-of-life decisions for a family member who may not have been very pleasant. It'd be hard to pull the plug on my nasty, spiteful, backstabbing old aunt because I wouldn't know whether I was doing her a service or exacting my revenge. You just can't extricate that deep negativity enough to make an objective decision.
Most animals know when it's their time. Humans are like that, too. They'll go down fighting, or they'll accept their fate, and you can't do much to change that, but he probably knows what's coming. Cats are perceptive like that.
The look he gives you when he's breathing his last is just what you make it. You can see fear and hatred in his eyes, or you can see a quiet "thank you."
Do what's going to make you feel comfortable. You're going to feel guilt and sadness, and although it sounds coarse, in the end, you're going to be the only one who has to live with it. So if it makes you feel good to spoil him, go for it. You'll know that he had a happy week and might have been happier when he died.
You don't have to stay in the room while the vet administers the injection. Make the decision when you get to that point. You might talk to the vet about a little kitty valium to help keep him calm and happy for his last couple of hours.
Whatever you do, remember that you did the best you could. And he knows that, in his little wierd cat way.