Should I be in the room when my dog is put down?

“Making this decision is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”source ↗

“I’m looking for any reason to not have to do this. But she can’t walk, can’t eat. I never wanted this for her. She is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I need to do my best to make sure she’s not suffering.”source ↗

“I took my boy Dean for a checkup, and I too came home with an empty carrier.”source ↗

“I took her to the vet to see if it was time to put her down because she was suffering and they denied the procedure and then she went in her sleep less than 24 hours later.”source ↗

“I've had the cat for exactly half of my life and she had a really good run.”source ↗

“So I came home with an empty car carrier after going in for what I thought was something simple.”source ↗

“I spent 48 hours mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to my soul cat. But he’s doing better than he has been for the last two months.”source ↗

“Making medical decisions for our cats is hard because they can’t tell you where they are at.”source ↗

“My girl had to be put down suddenly while I am out of the country, the vet found fluid in her lungs and a tumour.”source ↗

“I am just distraught and in tears knowing that I couldnt be with her in her last moments.”source ↗

“My boy did this when his brother passed. He would also walk around the house crying out for him for about a week. Broke my heart everyday because they were so close.”source ↗

“I had to make the decision to put one of my best friends down just days before his sixth birthday, and a day after mine.”source ↗

“I chose to end his suffering and euthanize him.”source ↗

“I still feel like I made the wrong decision and it’s so final. I’m in shock that he’s gone. I don’t know to how to cope with the loss and the decision I had to make.”source ↗

“Happened to me too. I just about died myself.”source ↗

“They called me maybe 10 minutes later to let me know they were starting CPR that she didn't respond well to the anesthesia. My little Francis never regained consciousness after that.”source ↗

“I'm lost and broken. She trusted me to care for her and I failed her.”source ↗

“By morning he moved less and complained more, obviously gotten worse.”source ↗

“I have two cats of my own and this is breaking my heart so bad. It’s my first time seeing an animal getting put down and I don’t want to show my husband’s family that I’m crying so much. I’m alone crying while writing this. I just wanted to post here so I could express my feelings. 😭 I’ve been crying all day.”source ↗

“My sweetest girl, Aphrodite aka Didi was diagnosed with heart disease today.”source ↗

“We are doing every test and treatment we can but I'm just scared and sad and angry.”source ↗

“It all happened so quick and everyday I feel worse about it she was so sweet and kind and came to me for help and that was the end result.”source ↗

“Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Everyday feels worse and every time I go to the basement of my job I the pain comes back.”source ↗

“My wife's cat of 14 years, Garfield has cancer. Found out today. We have an appointment Wednesday to have him put to sleep. We are totally devastated.”source ↗

“I just don’t know what to do. I want him to live for as long as possible. I want him to get better, and I can’t stop crying.”source ↗

“For those of you who have been through something similar, how did you know when it was time? What signs did you look for when deciding whether your cat was still having a good quality of life?”source ↗

“Is this the right decision? Could we have done anything differently to help her?”source ↗

“Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about how she reacted when she was sedated.”source ↗

“My family didn’t let her stay like that for very long (giving the nurses the Okay to put her down), but it absolutely destroyed me to see her so scared. I keep crying thinking about it. Like a lot.”source ↗

“Today I was brave enought to help my cat cross the rainbow bridge, it was something I'd been putting off for several weeks because I didn't know when the right time would be and I wanted to spend time with my sweet boy as long as possible.”source ↗

“Was it mine to make? I feel like I took away his life; what if he wanted to keep fighting and enjoying our moments together? I’m still in shock that he is not here anymore.”source ↗

“Im so scared putting him down was the wrong option and that I should’ve asked for more tests maybe it was a wrong diagnosis and he had something else”source ↗

“Fry's time is coming soon. He has a mass on a kidney, not eating much and dehydrated even though he is drinking a lot of water. Any options would be too risky due to his age condition.”source ↗

“I'm sorry I can't do more to help you.”source ↗

“I miss her so much. and I feel so much guilt for how things ended and regret for how I dealt with it.”source ↗

“watching her get sicker, skinnier, shaggier as she stopped grooming, stopped coming upstairs to bed, was the hardest thing Ive ever experienced. I selfishly held on because I couldn’t bear to let go.”source ↗

“I don’t think any decision could be harder than that one, for me. I still can’t believe I did that. I know it was for the better, but it feels awful.”source ↗

“I miss him every day. Sometimes I open these old videos just to hear him, see him moving around, and remember what it felt like when he was still here.”source ↗

“I don't think I have fully processed what happened yet.”source ↗

“I am so, so, so scared. I’m scared that it’s too early and that I should reconsider his euthanasia appointment later today.”source ↗

“I’m so scared that maybe it’s still too early to let him go. What if I reschedule the appointment?”source ↗

“I’m terrified that I’m making the wrong decision and that's it's still too early and that I’ll regret it.”source ↗

“I was so lost. How can I put a dollar figure on her life even though I cant afford that. I loved her. I was there as she passed, I feel like I lost a child but I feel I made a mistake.”source ↗

“They said her lungs would have gotten worse and cardiac arrest could happened but honestly I feel it was wrong of me to choose to end her life.”source ↗

“I’m so beyond heart broken and just am so sorry for what I’ve done.”source ↗

“Options were not good— another surgery was risky, she was not a good candidate for amputation due to the arthritis in her other legs, so we had to have The Hard Conversation.”source ↗

“I couldn’t put her through another surgery that might not work, and I also saw the bigger picture— there was no stopping this immune-mediated erosive polyarthritis.”source ↗

“Tomorrow morning we are going to put her down. This is hard for me because I love her so much but I know it’s the right thing to do because I don’t want to see her in pain anymore.”source ↗

“As much as I don’t want to say goodbye to ANOTHER family member this year, we will need to. It’s selfish of me to not want to go through this and avoid the situation.”source ↗

“She’s at the age where I cannot justify any life saving measures to prolong her life.”source ↗

“To be honest, I so wished she would pass in her sleep peacefully.”source ↗

“I just don’t know if she is suffering and she doesn’t have a lot of money to take her to the vet.”source ↗

“Wednesday morning I am going to have to say goodbye to him as the vets will be taking his pain away. I feel sick, I can’t sleep, I know he has had an amazing life and lived to a great age but my god this is so awful and hard.”source ↗

“How do you cope? How am I supposed to hold myself together in the vets on Wednesday morning?”source ↗

“We had to euthanize our 8yo cat Olly earlier this year after a long fight.”source ↗

“If in the next two days I can't get the diarrhea to stop I'm going to have to make the decision to either try and wait out the rest of this terrible storm or let her go before it all gets bad again.”source ↗

“I'm just having trouble reconciling the idea of putting her down when she looks to be improving.”source ↗

“I don't know what to do. My head and my heart are telling me different things.”source ↗

“perhaps I'm being selfish by not wanting to lose him, and maybe I should let him go. That worries me. Even though the vet says he's doing fine, I don't want him to suffer.”source ↗

“She isn't able to poop or pee on her own and we take her to the vet to get her bladder emptied.”source ↗

“The vet said she has a little feeling down there but that if she can't do anything on her own at least a little by monday we should put her down because it's not a life for a cat to be manually emptied, and there's nothing to do about her poop.”source ↗

“I'm desperate, I'll never get over the guilt from letting her go in the garden”source ↗

“My 18 year old Persian is not doing well, she has been rapidly declining in the last couple days and I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow morning, and I'm not sure what the outcome will be.”source ↗

“I don't want her to suffer of course but I don't want to say goodbye either.”source ↗

“My cat was just diagnosed with suspected FIP and I’m devastated.”source ↗

“There is a treatment available in my country, but it’s very expensive, and I simply don’t have the money for it”source ↗

“There is also the option of putting my cat to sleep (forever) in my country, but I don’t have the courage to do it.”source ↗

“I don’t know what to do. I’m at work right now, and all I want to do is cry my eyes out.”source ↗

“To this day I have crushing guilt. I feel like I rushed her getting put down when I could have at least spent a few more days or a week with her”source ↗

“Putting her down devastated me.”source ↗

“Anyone have any advice on dealing with this?”source ↗

“I’m heartbroken. I ended up crying at work, haha.”source ↗

“I do regret one thing, though, I wish I had taken more photos and videos of him. I wish I had more little moments to look back on now that I can’t see him anymore.”source ↗

“I’m trying to do the loving thing, to let her be at rest. But my human mind takes over, and says, “what if it was my father? Or my mother?” What do you do?”source ↗

“So many of us here have had to make that decision. It’s never easy.”source ↗

“i am definitely in so much pain. i wouldn’t mind hearing from someone who had a strong emotional bond with their kitty. i have always felt alone in this and it hurts really bad.”source ↗

“A sudden terminal illness is heart breaking as a pet owner.”source ↗

“My cat is being put down on Thursday, what can I do to make her last few days good?”source ↗

“I just feel like a horrible person she wasn't even 3 but when we went they said she had late stage kidney disease.”source ↗

“I just feel so guilty and sad. How do u guys deal with this heartbreak and that u had to make a decision to end a life?”source ↗

“I recently lost my orange cat and have this LEGO set waiting to be built, so maybe I'll end up doing this too.”source ↗

“Is there anything that can be done to help her live longer or at least have a chance of making her live longer?”source ↗

“I really don’t want to loose her since I have known her for as long as she has lived.”source ↗

“Decision to euthanise? Please help.”source ↗

“We are so torn and heartbroken as we feel the vets rushed us in to booking massive surgery and adding more medications on and we feel that enough is enough with him.”source ↗

“It cut me up to go ahead with it”source ↗

“I had to request the at home euthanasia be moved up to Saturday morning. These illnesses move so fast.”source ↗

“It might not be possible to get rid of the guilt and grief already so hard.”source ↗

“I still haven’t figured out how to deal with all that entirely, but I can’t fix it anymore.”source ↗

“I don’t know if we are making the right choice to say goodbye.”source ↗

“I’m still very concerned about his eating, I don’t want him to starve.”source ↗

“This back and forth is just killing me.”source ↗

“Im in a similar boat as i had to make the difficult choice to let my baby cross the rainbow bridge late thursday night. A lot of what you described is how he was behaving too. Its absolutely devastating and its been so hard”source ↗

“I just had to do the same thing on Friday. Same diagnosis too. It all happened so quickly less than 24 hours. He was only 7. My grief is turning into guilt. I miss my sweet boy ❤️💔”source ↗

“My biggest regret in life is not holding my baby boy in his final moments.”source ↗

“I really struggled with this with my boy last year he was 17. You don't really get over it.”source ↗

“Each time I struggle with the same feelings that you’re struggling with now. And each time I feel like I’m making a mistake…”source ↗

“I feel extremely guilty about potentially putting him down. Does anyone have advice or have been in this position?”source ↗

“I know for my cats they would love extra treats, real fish, playing cat TV all day long, and a heated blanket to cuddle on.”source ↗

“Give her attention. Pets, tell her you love her, she’ll understand.”source ↗

“I tried so hard to give him the life he deserved, I feel like such a failure with his untimely demise though 😔”source ↗

“I don’t have the extra money myself right now. I wish I could, it’s breaking my heart to see her like that and my sister thinks she’s fine.”source ↗

“My kitty was definitely confused and looked nervous after sedation. I replayed it over in my head a lot and thinking about those moments and the guilt made me literally sick to my stomach.”source ↗

“It's been many years. I still sometimes get a jolt when I remember how awful it was.”source ↗

“I wish they could show it. It’s insane how much pain they can tolerate and act like things are ok. Thanks for your reassurance with my decision.”source ↗

“I don’t want her to be in pain but I’m not ready to loose her yet☹️ I can’t imagine coming home and her not being there anymore.”source ↗

“My boyfriend couldnt bring himself to stay and I understand why, but I could not let him go feeling alone.”source ↗

“I had a similar experience being blindsided by a poor prognosis (heart failure in my kitty’s case) and looking back there were subtle changes but only a couple weeks of true illness and a day or two of not eating and hiding.”source ↗

“At a cross roads with letting my senior cat go.”source ↗

“Over these last few months I’ve had such issues with her health I don’t know what to do.”source ↗

“So terrified I’m ruining her last months on earth I’ve been failing to give her every dose she needs.”source ↗

“But now, all I can wonder is am I doing right by her? If she is now blind, which I will blame myself for, is it fair to make an arthritic, hard hearing etc. cat live through that?”source ↗

“I just wonder if there's anyone who couldn't bear to hold them for their last breath? Because, I confess that I couldn't do it for any of mine (19, 21, 23).”source ↗

“The guilt kills me but I knew I would not survive that moment being seared into my brain.”source ↗

“I'm so sorry for the pain and the guilt you're feeling. I lost my sweet boy a year ago too and feel the same.”source ↗

“This made me so sad I lost one of my babies around 3 weeks old she was so small I called her berry may they rest eternally making biscuits 🫶🏼”source ↗

“I scrambled her to an emergency vet and paid their $700 ransom for bloodwork only to find out she had feline leukemia and only a week or two to live.”source ↗

“I put down my best friend in January. Easily the worst pain I’ve ever experienced.”source ↗

“I was overwhelmed when it fell to me to have to be the one to make the decision to kill him.”source ↗

“I thought our poor old Marty had an abscess tooth. Turned out to be mouth cancer. We were devastated.”source ↗

“Awww take her outside, let her smell everything”source ↗

“My cat has breast cancer too. Its tearing me up inside to see her like that . Her sister died last year of the same thing still havent got over it. U gotta make the Decision if she is in pain to end her suffering.”source ↗

“This is the hardest decision I've ever made and I can't accept that I have to make it.”source ↗

“After getting back two sets of memory ashes, I noticed it was hollow.”source ↗

“were unsure whether to wait until symptoms start, euthanize right away or something else entirely.”source ↗

“We need advice on what to do with him.”source ↗

“I’m not ready to loose her yet but I don’t want her to live in pain either which is why I’m desperately looking for possibilities so she can live longer or to at least make her last time less painful.”source ↗

“Like you OP, he still ate and drank and would come lay on my chest while watching TV. It's such a hard decision, so I feel you!!”source ↗

“I have medical trauma from witnessing my family members take their last breaths and it is something that psychologically broke me and still affects me years after the fact, so it's a really big obstacle.”source ↗

“I witnessed my family members dying and I still have dreams of their last moments and wake up screaming from it.”source ↗

“this same exact thing happened to my hamilton, he was only 3. it took him so quick it was so heart wrenching.”source ↗

“Sometimes there's no choice that's going to feel right. You do the best you can.”source ↗

“I didn't for my first dog as an adult. It's been over 10 years.”source ↗

“I agree and I did. But it's been six months and it still haunts me. Miss you buddy.”source ↗

“My dog is a 14yo Great Pyrenees mix and I'm struggling to make the decision.”source ↗

“While our old girl is eating (she has always loved to eat!) and going potty outside, she is struggling big time.”source ↗

“It's the HARDEST decision ever, I feel for you. I have been there several times. In looking back, with my first dog, she started declining at 15 and her quality of life wasn't great. I saw later I was holding on for me, not her. And I wished I had let her go sooner.”source ↗

“Unfortunately, I waited too long because I kept thinking he was still having enough good days, and he ended up having a fairly traumatic end.”source ↗