Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

A few years ago I had a dog come down with cancer of the thyroid.  Although she'd been with our family and loved tremendously, she was a terribly timid thing and was terrified of cars, vets, strangers.....  A friend of mine at the time was a visiting American vet who understood Milligan's problems and did the diagnosis with the least possible interference.  Jan also gave me a bunch of expired sodium pentathol that she couldn't ship home with her and didn't want to throw away, along with the needles I would need to do the job when the time came.  Milly lasted until sometime during the summer, she wasn't in pain but had to eat massive amounts of food to keep her system running.  One day she lay down under one of our trees and didn't want to get up.  She let me know that the time had come and my daughter and I cuddled her while I put her to sleep.  This dog who would never let anyone near her with any sort of needle lay there calmly and quietly while I set up the IV.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but at the same I knew that she appreciated being able to die without fear. It's very hard but I figure that it's one of those things we owe the creatures around us...to be there at the end.

Maryanne
Cairo

On Friday, Feb 28, 2003, at 07:49 Africa/Cairo, Suvut@xxxxxxx wrote:

> " I have six of my best buddies buried in my yard.? All were tranquilized
> before the final shot was given.? I never saw any adverse reaction other than
> a sleepy horse sagging to the ground.? It was over and done in less than a
> minute and I do not feel that any of them suffered in that minute.? I hope
> this brings comfort to those that have choices to make. "
>
> Julie, I had the exact same experience the one and only time I was forced to have a horse euthanized.? My vet tranqed her and then delivered the fatal injection.? She dropped sleepily to the ground and never moved again.? It was an absolutely horrible thing for me to have to go through, but I felt that by being with her and petting? her, I kept her calm until the end.? She was a 6 year old mare that I had bred and delivered and raised, and I thought it only fair to be with her as she left this world as well.
>
> Susan Vuturo (#1108)