To be honest, I’m not sure I know where to put this. But I feel strongly about it, and I looked online for a group to join or something to do – and there is so little.
I have had numerous pets die in my lifetime. It’s only been in the past 3-4 years that it’s been me who has had to make the call for when they are in such pain, with little to no hope of recovery, that it is their time to go. For my kitten, Indiana, it was one of the hardest calls to make. But she could no longer walk, had cancer in one leg and in the opposite leg her paw had swelled and hardened along with the opposite front leg. They did not know why. So even if they removed her leg to get rid of the cancer, she couldn’t have recovered. She had lost a lot of weight and wasn’t moving on her own anymore…
So, it was time. The night before we let her sleep in our room, which she hadn’t been allowed to do in years. With the last of her strength she was a kitten again, slowly limping all around room to explore the place she’d never been. The next morning my husband and I took her into the Vet. I hugged her all night and couldn’t stop crying. I cried all the way to the Vet. Then, in the Vets office we held her, told her what a great cat she was and how much we loved her. I held her as the life left her body peacefully.
Recently we had to do the same for another loved pet, Loki. We were sad that we were not able to hold him as he left this world, but we were able to be with him, tell him how much we loved him, what a great ferret he was and he died in his favorite sweatshirt of Alan’s.
A few years ago my Grandmother died. I got to see her a week before her death. She was begging to die. With every bite of food she said “I wish this was poison”, with every drink “I wish this would kill me”. She died on New Years Eve… alone. My Uncle had a huge fight with her, he never got to make amends. There was more I wish I’d said. I wish I’d been able to be with her, holding her hand as she passed…
I am again and again struck by the unfairness of our laws. Why can we treat our pets with more love and thoughtfulness than our elders? If I knew I was going to die, if I was in pain, I’d want to set my affairs in order, say goodbye to everyone I know and love and be surrounded by them – holding their hands, their loving faces the last things I see as I leave this earth. But we can’t. We are not allowed. Instead our elderly go through all of their savings trying to repair themselves as best they can – whether they want to or not. They are put in cold hospitals, to lie in a bed that isn’t theirs, surrounded by people who do not truly know them, waiting for death.
It is cruel that our pets get a better death than our family members.