Zoomin Groomin'

Dachshund

Brain surgery, kidney transplants, pacemakers. Thanks to expanding veterinary treatments, end-of-life decisions have never been more wrenching.

Plenty of people are mystified by the determination many of us have to save our animals. So much money for just a dog or cat …or a rabbit? Animals are capable of bringing out the best in us – our humanity. We don’t know why this is, but science has shown over and over again that pets add value to our lives – they can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, provide higher survival rates after heart attacks, and calm us in stressful situations.

We all want to keep our pets for as long as we can. We agonize with the decision of wanting to do anything to buy more time for those we love. There will come a time when you might have to make that end- of- life decision.

I myself had to make that decision. My family and I could not longer watch the painful deterioration of our family dog. It was a humane decision and we really feel that our dog let us know in his own way that it was time.

Share with us your experiences with this decision and how you or your family dealt with it.

Hope to hear from you. It might be helpful for someone else to hear how you might be dealing with this situation right now.