Making the decision of when it’s time to put an animal to sleep is absolutely one of the worst decisions of your life. Almost everyone who has to make the decision feels very guilty afterwards, always wondering if there was something more they could have done. I know, I have been there twice — and with four animals, obviously, I will be there again.

Too many people, however, assume that nothing can be done, and do not want to “torture” their animals with treatment. They come to this decision, often, without consulting a vet, or joining a mailing list to discuss treatment with others going through the same thing.

And that’s sad. Veterinary medicine has made so many advances. Most animals are more resilient than we give them credit for. On one of the forums I frequent, recently, when a poster’s cat went blind suddenly (it had had mild kidney disease for a while), the poster just assumed that was it, and didn’t want to go to the vet and “torture” her cat by treating it.

Many people urged her to go to the vet. She did. Although they do not know why the cat went blind (high blood pressure is usually the culprit — and treatable — but not in this case), one reason it wasn’t eating well was because it had a urinary tract infection. Simple fix: medication, and the cat is already doing better.

Your vet has vast experience in judging whether or not an animal is in pain, and can also help by viewing your case dispassionately (we are so often blinded by our closeness to our animals).

No matter how dire things lo0k, please consult with your vet. Maybe things are as bad as your think, but so often there is hope. Many animals suffer in silence because their humans just assume nothing can be done for them, or that they will not tolerate treatment.

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