Did we make the right decision.
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 1:59 am
We had to have our wee girl Holly put to sleep 3 days ago and I am racked with guilt.
Holly was somewhere between 20 and 24. Two years ago she began urinating in small amounts and frequently all over the house. We took her to the vet and she had an infection and was given an injection and it all went away.
Over time we have seen her get older, less able to jump up in chairs etc but she always seemed healthy.
A few weeks ago we noticed she was moving beds quite a lot moving from one to the other and also dropping herself down in the floor to spread out. We just assumed she was too hot and trying to cool down.
Then about a week ago she started having some trouble with her back legs and we thought she might have developed arthritis.
Three days ago she was having trouble walking, her back was arched and her paws were slipping away from her on the floor. She didn’t appear in pain but didn’t seem to have a lot of energy.
About 2am it was raining and I had put the back light on and she was looking out so I opened the door for her. She got up, sat at the door for a minute then went right back to lying on the floor.
The next day She lay in one position but was moving every 10-15 minutes. Then when she was getting out of her bed she fell (I think she got caught in the fibres) but she panicked a little. We thought she wanted to eat so lifted her through to her food dish. She just lay on the ground and wouldn’t move. At this point we thought we better make an emergency appointment for the vet.
When we lifted her up and put her on her box she just lay right down and all the way there she was unresponsive.
We took her in and because of COVID the vet took her to be examined herself then came out to tell us she had kidney and heart disease and that putting her to sleep was the only option.
We asked if she could give her a painkiller so we could take our girl home with us and let her pass away at home but she said no that wasn’t possible.
She told us because she couldn’t find a vein that she would sedate her and then she would have to give her the final injection through the belly.
We were allowed to spend a couple of minutes with her.
5 minutes later she was put to sleep and we were taking her body home.
My question is did we do the right thing? We just accepted what the vet said, we didn’t push back. We didn’t see her carry out any tests. We just accepted her verdict. It all seemed very rushed and in hindsight we should have demanded to take more time.
I can’t help but have this feeling we did wrong by our girl. That there might have been an alternative, that maybe the vet hadn’t done the right tests and just made an assumption and we put her to sleep when there might have been an alternative that might have kept her pain free for a bit longer.
Holly was somewhere between 20 and 24. Two years ago she began urinating in small amounts and frequently all over the house. We took her to the vet and she had an infection and was given an injection and it all went away.
Over time we have seen her get older, less able to jump up in chairs etc but she always seemed healthy.
A few weeks ago we noticed she was moving beds quite a lot moving from one to the other and also dropping herself down in the floor to spread out. We just assumed she was too hot and trying to cool down.
Then about a week ago she started having some trouble with her back legs and we thought she might have developed arthritis.
Three days ago she was having trouble walking, her back was arched and her paws were slipping away from her on the floor. She didn’t appear in pain but didn’t seem to have a lot of energy.
About 2am it was raining and I had put the back light on and she was looking out so I opened the door for her. She got up, sat at the door for a minute then went right back to lying on the floor.
The next day She lay in one position but was moving every 10-15 minutes. Then when she was getting out of her bed she fell (I think she got caught in the fibres) but she panicked a little. We thought she wanted to eat so lifted her through to her food dish. She just lay on the ground and wouldn’t move. At this point we thought we better make an emergency appointment for the vet.
When we lifted her up and put her on her box she just lay right down and all the way there she was unresponsive.
We took her in and because of COVID the vet took her to be examined herself then came out to tell us she had kidney and heart disease and that putting her to sleep was the only option.
We asked if she could give her a painkiller so we could take our girl home with us and let her pass away at home but she said no that wasn’t possible.
She told us because she couldn’t find a vein that she would sedate her and then she would have to give her the final injection through the belly.
We were allowed to spend a couple of minutes with her.
5 minutes later she was put to sleep and we were taking her body home.
My question is did we do the right thing? We just accepted what the vet said, we didn’t push back. We didn’t see her carry out any tests. We just accepted her verdict. It all seemed very rushed and in hindsight we should have demanded to take more time.
I can’t help but have this feeling we did wrong by our girl. That there might have been an alternative, that maybe the vet hadn’t done the right tests and just made an assumption and we put her to sleep when there might have been an alternative that might have kept her pain free for a bit longer.