Dog Lovers Discuss Why Canines Get Put Down When They're Not In Pain
Some people call it “final kindness,” and one dog lover took that phrase way more seriously than most. In their view, the hard part is not the decision itself, it’s the moment you realize the dog’s misery has quietly become the new normal.
They started breaking down the common situations that get misunderstood. Moderate to severe localized pain, by itself, is not the only signal, because there are late-stage, terminal problems that can be managed for a while, then suddenly flip into emergencies. Congestive heart disease can mean repeated chest drain visits, right up until you come home and find the dog slowly suffocating. Balance issues can turn into rushed, panicked trips to the emergency vet after one bad jump. Even canine cognitive disorder can look “fine” all day, then turn into night terrors, shaking, and frantic pacing that raises the risk of a broken leg.
A user calls it "final kindness."
When a dog is no longer enjoying their life and is miserable, then it is time for the final kindness,
when their quality of life is no longer acceptable.
One dog enthusiast went deeper into a dog's common conditions that would affect the quality of life.
Moderate to severe localized pain isn’t a good criterion for deciding when to put a dog down. There are several late-stage, terminal conditions that can be managed for a while with a lot of effort and planning, but what you are really doing when you do this is waiting until you are faced with an emergency and racing to the emergency vet, perhaps in the middle of the night, with a dog who is suddenly in horrible pain, when you could have planned a peaceful, dignified, pain-free end instead.
If your dog has congestive heart disease, you could keep going back to the vet and having her chest drained, hoping you don’t come home too late one day and find her lying on the floor, slowly suffocating. Or you could pick a day when she’s comfortable and let her die quietly in your arms.
If you have a dog with equilibrium problems, you could keep carrying him and lifting him off the couch and down the stairs, but you’re risking that one time the dog doesn’t wait for you and jumps down, breaking his leg. You could have chosen a peaceful end, but now you’re racing a screaming dog to the vet.
If you have a dog with Canine Cognitive Disorder, who is fine all day but hallucinates and panics many nights, jumping on and off the bed, running through the house, terrified and shaking, you are again risking that the dog will break a leg or tear a ligament. If you’ve not seen this, it’s heart-breaking, and just because the dog’s pain is cognitive and not physical doesn’t mean the dog isn’t suffering.
If you have an old dog with an assortment of arthritic joints, diabetes, irritable bowel disease, and autoimmune issues, you could keep treating her and also managing the side effects of the various drugs for quite a while, but it’s a losing battle, and you will have to decide whether to let the dog die a peaceful death in your arms or wait until she starts having seizures.
A dog owner's personal experience:
I put down my Chocolate Lab at 11 years old. He was not in any obvious pain, but he had a plethora of serious medical conditions that had made his life quite difficult and from which there was no recovery possible.
He was diabetic for most of his life, and we managed that with ease. As he became a senior, he developed laryngeal paralysis (common in Labs), and not long after that, he developed megaesophagus.
That was pretty catastrophic for him. He couldn't keep food or water down. We tried keeping him upright for meals.
I tried giving him subcutaneous fluids to keep him hydrated, and managing the diabetes through that was a challenge. He lost weight at a rapid pace.
When my formerly 85-pound dog dropped below 60 pounds and looked miserable all the time, I made the appointment and let him go.
So, there are reasons besides pain to make that decision.
A dog had to be put down because of trouble breathing and eating.
People never put their dogs down lightly. My dog had a collapsed trachea and struggled to breathe most of his life.
He wasn’t in pain, but at the end, he couldn’t eat, sleep, or drink because he couldn’t do those things and also breathe.
That last day, he was miserable. My husband and I knew it was time.
His quality of life was nonexistent. We needed to end his immense suffering.
So we took him in, petted him the whole time, and the vet put him down.
Never ask a person why they put the dog down. They have done everything possible to have the dog live longer.
There comes a point when there is nothing better that can be done. Why are you trying to make people feel worse than they already feel?
When it comes to putting the dog down, the owner has the final say.
How do you know how much pain a dog is in? Dogs hide their pain pretty well.
How do you know it’s still happy?
I would think the dog owner would be the best person to judge these things and decide when it’s best for the dog.
The whole thing kicked off with that “final kindness” framing, and it only gets heavier once you picture the dog enthusiast listing what “acceptable quality of life” actually means.
Then the example of congestive heart disease hits, because it’s not just illness, it’s the repeated vet trips that can turn into a middle-of-the-night emergency.
After that, the equilibrium problems example makes it personal, since it’s the couch lift and stair carry that could turn into a screaming, broken-leg rush to the emergency vet.
Finally, the canine cognitive disorder nights, the hallucinations, the frantic bed hopping, and the fear that a terrified dog will injure itself, all land right on the same point.
Based on the experts and the experiences shared by users, the decline in quality of life is among the reasons why dogs are put down despite not experiencing unbearable pain.
Even if they have lived happy, fulfilling lives, their owners eventually decide to euthanize them out of a deep sense of responsibility and love. Owners often consider factors such as loss of appetite, inability to move freely, chronic discomfort, and decreased interest in activities they once enjoyed.
Nobody wants a dignified goodbye to become a midnight sprint.
Still unsure where to draw the line, read what a dog owner said after euthanizing her “baby” to end suffering.
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