Sometimes pets reach a point in their lives when they are just not able to enjoy their lives in a satisfactory manner; their pain and discomfort is too obvious and vet treatment is not helping; the cost of vet treatment and the accompanying emotional stress is too much for you; and in some cases when the pets become outright dangerous to society.

Euthanasia translates into “gentle death” and the advances today in medical science enable vets to accomplish just that. Sometimes, a gentle painless send-off to the happy hunting grounds is the best solution.
There is invariably a lot of thinking and soul-searching when considering pet euthanasia; however you have to look at the situation objectively and ask yourself a few questions. At the same time involve your vet in the decision-making process so that you can get a dispassionate view on whether it is really time to let go of your beloved pet.

For example, if age has made movement a pain for your pet and it is suffering from senility as well as incontinence, does it make sense to keep it alive in that state? If the animal is perennially in pain, unhappy and stressed because of illness that cannot be cured then should you continue to let it suffer?

As far as we understand animals do not really have an understanding of future time. What matters to them is the present and the quality of life at that point in time – if that quality of life is reduced to such a drastic level that the animal is withdrawn, in pain, and sad with no cure to its situation – for example in the case of a terminal illness, then the best thing to do could be euthanasia.

The procedure is a quick and painless one and it usually involves injecting an anesthesia overdose into the animal’s body. This renders the animal unconscious in seconds and death follows quickly afterward. There is no pain whatsoever. Vets are trained in administering euthanasia injections and can execute a procedure smoothly with minimum stress to the animal.

If you are planning to get a pet insurance policy you may wish to opt for a policy that offers euthanasia coverage.