Could you be the one who does the euthanizing?

[xellil]

If you had an opportunity to help a small local animal control do more than warehouse and kill dogs - start spay/neuter program, build website withe adoptable dogs, start foster program, raise awareness etc.

BUT part of the jobs duties would be to perform euthanasia..

Could you do it?

The question is not entirely hypothetical.

[CorgiPaws]

No, I don't think I could.
I'm fairly certain it would suck the life right out of me. I have great respect for people who can handle it, and I've done my fair share of volunteer work ... but i cant handle th heavy stuff. Walking, socializing, and cleaning up after wonderful, yet homeless, dogs who might not live to see tomorrow is about all I can handle.

[Mondo]

I don't believe I could. Euthanizing as last resort, maybe. I'm not sure how widespread it is, but I do worry about pets being euthanized prematurely.

[xellil]

yes, I'm kind of thinking the same thing. I think I couldn't do it no matter what.

I wonder if people who do that job love animals or if they have to just not think about them as living beings.

[werecatrising]

I have euthanized more animals than I want to think about. The majority are too sick or inured to be helped and I know I am helping them go to a better place. The hospital I work at work with animal control and we do a lot of their euthanasias as well. I am never having to put down the completely healthy animals, but a lot of times it is an animal that could be easily helped. I hate it. It hurts and there are days it haunts me. However, I would rather be the one to do it instead of sending them back to the shelter to be done there. I know I am giving them the utmost love and respect in their final moments. I can at least have control over that.

[xellil]

I have euthanized more animals than I want to think about. The majority are too sick or inured to be helped and I know I am helping them go to a better place. The hospital I work at work with animal control and we do a lot of their euthanasias as well. I am never having to put down the completely healthy animals, but a lot of times it is an animal that could be easily helped. I hate it. It hurts and there are days it haunts me. However, I would rather be the one to do it instead of sending them back to the shelter to be done there. I know I am giving them the utmost love and respect in their final moments. I can at least have control over that.

Thanks. I've never known anyone that worked doing that. And the only euthanasias i've witnessed are my own dogs so that's not exactly objective nor is it, I don't think, representative of what happens at animal control.

[stajbs]

I have seen this type of work emotionally eat up one or two really good people I know. One of our sibes came from a shelter because the manager called us after knowing we had lost a sibe about 4 months before. She called practically in tears and asked if we were ready to open our hearts to another because she was at her wits end and could not put this one boy to sleep. We were ready thankfully, but when we got there with all our dogs and did intros she was a mess emotionally about this boy and a few others she was afraid she would have to PTS later that day. She managed this particular shelter for almost two years but then moved on to work for a vet as a tech.

Nope, don't think I could do it unless the dog was old, infirm and in ill health, and for lack of better words I could relieve them of their misery. Have total respect for those who can manage to do this in a humane and caring way.

[xchairity_casex]

i think i could but i cant say it wouldnt get to me. im one of those people who can disconnect my feelings when i want to or need to but i can only do it for so long before it comes back up to the surface to be thought about.

[tricia beaver]

I don't think I could. The vet I took my kitten Ninja too in his last months, you could tell he was trying not to cry when he put the kitten to sleep. the receptionist was crying.
thats why I take my pets there, I know they really care about every animal that walks through their doors.

[xellil]

I don't think I could. The vet I took my kitten Ninja too in his last months, you could tell he was trying not to cry when he put the kitten to sleep. the receptionist was crying.
thats why I take my pets there, I know they really care about every animal that walks through their doors.

yes, I have been at my vet's when people are putting their pets to sleep and the owner and the vet and the office staff are crying and then I end up crying sitting in the waiting room feeling like I am putting my own dog to sleep.