We had to euthanize one of our turkey-eating Rottweilers this morning. Eight-year-old Naughty, whom we got from NC Rottweiler Rescue four years ago, has had pancreatitis for nearly as long as she has been alive.
Despite medications, the disease caused her digestive system to stop extracting nutrients from her food and she was becoming more and more emaciated over the last couple of months. Yesterday she exhibited some paralysis of her rear extremeties and incontinence and I knew she was fading fast. This morning, despite my normally ear-perking "want a dog biscuit?" lure to the kitchen, only Rottweiler Frank and Pekingnese Chester came running.
Try as she did to get up, her back legs were completely limp. I finally took her biscuit to her where she had spent the night in front of the couch and made my decision just as the sun was coming up. Enough.
While at the emergency vet, an older couple walked in in front of me with a cat in a carrier. They explained to the receptionist that their cat was 16 years old and currently undergoing cancer treatments at NC State School of Vet Medicine in Raleigh for a tumor of the saliva gland. They explained how they traveled to the school twice weekly and how the cat had just finished extensive rounds of radiation and chemotherapy... and they were due back there tomorrow... but the animal was currently suffering with a bloody stool, and could the doctor please do something? They had a big, thick folder of medical records for the 24-hr doctor to pore over to help determine the best course of emergency treatment.
After hearing this couple relate the level of heroics, not to mention the unstated (but obcene, I'm sure) costs, involved in trying to add a few months to that cat's life - I knew I was doing the right thing by doing what needed to be done... even at 8:00 on a Sunday morning.
As I answered the receptionist's questions and questionaires about Naughty - right there in the waiting room within earshot of that desparate couple - I'm confident they heard me when I answered the last verbal question, "...yes, I want to be with her when they do it... she has been through enough and doesn't need to endure any more of this." And now, she is not.
I wish I could say the same for that couple's poor cat.
10:23:16 AM 
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