Do we have the right to take away an animals life?

[greywolf330]

I have a dog that is around 15, two years older than me. She is suffering from arthritis in the hips, and has lost muscle strength on her back legs. She takes two different pills, twice a day, which she sometimes refuses to eat. She sometimes falls down when she walking, and occasionally she can not get back up. Before, every since weeks she would be given a strong painkiller from her veterinarian. Now, she takes it whenever the pain starts to get worse, which is approximately every three to four weeks. My parents are considering putting her down, possible by January.

Do we have the right to consciously take away the life of an animal to end their suffering? I'm interested in Erin's response, as it is her article Why I Deplore the Death Penalty that made me write this. I must add, as I'm writing this, I can hear her crying softly, getting up and turning in circles, trying to find a comfortable spot.

[Wabi-sabi]

January!

I procrastinated also. It is a hard thing to do. You just hope the pet takes care of things on its own so you don't have to. I kept telling my cat to "go toward the light", "find the light" and stuff like that but it never did. You will feel terrible until it is over, then I felt as though I did the right thing.

I'll eat a dead chicken someone else kills with glee but if I take a pet to be put down to prevent suffering I consider if the act will send me to hell or not. Not very logical thinking.

I don't know if it is right or wrong from God's point of view. I think maybe it is okay to kill a pet to prevent suffering but not, say, your Grandmother in the same situation.

[fontduroy]

Maybe you could look at it this way:

Do you have the right to artificially extend the life of an animal that would most likely have died by now if left on its own?

[Lotus]

Well, let me tell you about the things I heard from hanging around the Feline Diabetes website. My 16-y/o Billy is a type-2 diabetic, although he's totally off insulin and controlled by diet. He's fine now, but there were days in the beginning... shortly before and after his diagnosis, when he was so weak and miserable that he'd camp out at the water dish, only waking up to drink, and sometimes he'd pee himself in his sleep. (A year on insulin fixed him right up, but there were times I thought that his illness would be too hard for him.)

When the bad days outnumber the good days... it's time to think about a really generous gift: letting go. The question is one of quality of life. If you're keeping her alive so that she can get her next pill... not because keeping alive enables her to play, enjoy herself, and just be a dog, then you have to seriously consider what she is getting out of life at this moment.

Is she still "talking" to everyone like she should? When you pet her and scritch her, does she thump her tail and get a dreamy look on her face?

I don't think the death penalty is the analogy here. We have human euthanasia, passive suicide, and active suicide. After I took medical ethics in college, I came to firmly believe that people who are seriously ill and in serious pain have the right to check out. That's just my humble opinion... because I've been seriously ill and in serious pain. But, I've always had a good prognosis.

So I would look at prognosis. I would ask myself:

*Is her existance dominated and completely coloured by her pain and suffering?

*Is there any chance of recovery? (Is this hip dysplasia or just severe arthritis? Either one is degenerative.)

*Is there any time when she has relief? Does she enjoy her life during these times?

*Can she sleep and eat in general?

I'm very sorry that your friend and your family is facing this. I'm not trying to push you onto one side or the other, but I want to help you see it from her side, because her's is the one that matters most.

If it's just a matter of "we can't really afford to keep treating her," then I would protest.

[MartialDev]

Whose suffering do you really want to end? Hers, or yours?

[greywolf330]

Thanks for the insightful replies. You're all very helpful, with some good advice. but I still have some questions about what will happen in the afterlife:

Do animals reincarnate? Could that new puppy that I'm getting be my old dog from before? Could my dog come back as another animal, or even a human? Could I contact my dog, maybe even speak to her? The answers will quell the fear of losing her, as I would never truly lose her if she is still here. Again, thanks for the replies. This is the best community I've ever seen.

[Adam]

The answers to those last questions depend on a lot of factors that we just don't know.

Personally, I have faith that all creatures reincarnate at a slightly higher level than before... Maybe your dog will reincarnate as a golden retriever, or maybe even go as high as becoming a cat. (alright, so I'm a little cat biased here... I'm just trying to throw in some humor.)

Regardless of what actually happens, I have a very firm belief that animals have as much of a soul as humans do, and some have much better souls than some humans do.

The chances of you seeing her in her reincarnated form, though, are extremely small. I wouldn't hold any hope of seeing her directly until your next lifetime, but between lifes, yes, you will see her.

[Andrew Brunelle]

If the cat or whatever is suffering, don't allow it to suffer. It's just like pulling the plug on a suffering family member who ways he/she wants it. Too bad cats don't speak English though.