coyotegoth | it's always hard to say goodbye

This began as a comment in ladybug007's journal; by the time I was finished, I realized it was an entry on its own.

Having been through this myself not so very long ago, I'm not certain I can completely agree with the first part of your entry. If you have allowed an animal into your life as friend and companion, then being there for the m at the end- when illness or injury makes said end unavailable- seems, to me, to be the ultimate extension of that friendship and compassion. You're making sure that you're the last thing your pet sees, and personally ensuring that their death is as quic k and painless as possible (say what you will about getting shot with a .357, it's an extremely quick death for an animal which, as you say, was old and suffering.

Now, please note:

a) I am NOT referring to the sort of fucker who, say, puts a pet to sleep because he's moving and doesn't want to deal with the hassle of finding a home for it. I'm talking about responsible euthanasia for a suffering friend, not exterminating a pet as though it was a pest.

b) There are people who get so wrecked by t h e death of a friend, even an animal one, that they simply can't function in this case (which is wholly understandable, and speaks well of your closeness with your pet). In that case, it's definitely best to take it to a vet- you'll be too upset to end y our friend's suffering appropriately, and your pet shouldn't see your sobbing, suffering face as its last memory.

c) Hunting is a whole different kettle of fish (granted that there are areas where, say, the deer's natural predators have been exterminated, and if the population wasn't regulated, the deer would simply deforest the area until they began to starve). I place recreational hunting- which often leaves the animal wounded, in pain, and slowly bleeding to death- in the same category as, say, bullfi ghting- it's simply a shitty, shitty thing to do.)

It hurts every time you have to say goodbye. There's no reason- and no excuse- for creating that pain unnecessarily.

To a degree, I understand your point. I'm not saying that dragging an animal out back and shooting it is automatically the response to infirmity or illness on its part- in the previous entry of mine to which I linked, I made it quite clear that the cat- Midnight- was euthanised in an animal hospital, with veterinarians present, supervising the action.

In ladybug007's post, no context was supplied for the situation- we aren't told whether the father lived in a rural situation, or was too poor to afford veterinary care (both not likely, but not impossible). There are extenuating circumstances such as these in which proper medical supervision is difficul t, if not impossible; in such cases- and only in such cases- gunfire is among the quickest, most painless options such a pwerson is likely to have available (although you're correct in saying that it's easy to misaim a gun, and I am certainly not advocat ing such an action). It's entirely possible that as someone who did once put a pet to sleep (as the linked entry discusses), I was reacting to that portion of ladybug007's entry, rather than fully addressing the specific case she cites.

As to putting Mid night to sleep myself- that's an essay topic in and of itself. Suffice to note that I did not make that choice easily or lightly, that I was distraught afterward (as the next few posts make clear), and that I didn't consider putting Midnight to sleep to b e "killing", as most people use the term. It was an attempt on my part to be as close as possible to a loved one in the moment of their passing, and to make their passing as smooth and untroubled as possible, by ensuring that the last thing they saw was a loved one's face. It's quite possible that you and I have different feelings on this particular choice- but I assure you, I didn't depress the plunger of that syringe lightly or callously. Midnight was- is- a friend, and what I did, I did out of the responsibilities of friendship, as I perceived them..