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In an old episode of “The Office,” Dwight puts his girlfriend Angela’s beloved cat in the freezer. He does so because the cat is ancient and has so many medical issues that it’s barely alive. Dwight lives on a farm, and as he tells a devastated Angela, “sometimes farm people have to do what city folk are too weak to.”
Obviously Dwight’s actions on the show are horrible (and played for comedic effect), but they raise an interesting question: Dwight genuinely thought he was doing what was best for the cat and he did it in what he considered a humane way.
While there’s no question about whether or not Dwight should have did what he did, it makes one wonder: are there situations in which it is O.K. to put down your pet, even if the vet says we might be able to prolong its life?
Nowadays we have fancy veterinary procedures and comprehensive pet insurance plans. When 20 years ago we might have faced a situation where we couldn’t save a pet from an illness, we might be able to do so today. Sometimes the fact that it’s all possible masks the fact that it’s very difficult.
There might be a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital out there that has the technology and know-how to save my pet, but it’s on the other side of the country and will cost thousands of dollars (and that’s not considering travel/hotel costs). Pet insurance plans exist to help soften that blow, but I’ll need to have enrolled in them before my pet got sick. They often don’t cover routine vet visits and many entirely refuse coverage to an animal it’s identified has preexisting health problems – of the sort that would necessitate the coverage in the first place.
We live in a culture where sometimes it seems like we’re made to believe that if we don’t do anything we can to preserve our animal’s life, even if just for a few months, then we’re bad pet owners, or at least don’t love our pets very much. Maybe others don’t feel this way, but due to my volunteering with shelters and other interests I often run in circles that hold this opinion.
I’ve heard of terrible incidents where pet owners don’t want to take care of their animals anymore, or maybe the animal is just a little sick, and they want the vet to put it down. Almost all, if not all, vets refuse. However, there’s a difference between that and spending thousands of dollars to prolong a pet’s life, particularly if that animal is suffering and won’t gain that much more time anyway.
I don’t judge people who do so for their pets. But those who don’t, already under tough circumstances, shouldn’t be judged either. I speak from personal experience, the problems we had with my childhood cat Boots, and from watching friends go through similar hard times.
I have a friend whose dog is very sick, and sometimes she wonders about its quality of life, if they aren’t just prolonging his suffering. He became blind a few months ago and that’s on top of several other health problems. Now he can’t do almost any of the things he previously enjoyed in life.
The key in any of these situations is to talk about options with your family and your vet. If your vet is at all trustworthy (and hopefully you’ve already determined that), they’ll help guide you to what is best both for you and your beloved pet.
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*(This image by pjhudson is licensed under the morgueFile Free License.)