Schedule an appointment.
Reserve a time of peace and comfort for your pet.
This is a journey that is so very hard to embark upon. The decision to seek end of life care for you well-loved pet is a difficult one, It may feel that you are taking matters into your own hands, or betraying your baby.
Instead, I offer these thoughts:
This is not betrayal, but rather the ultimate fulfillment of your promise to love and protect your furry friend. Whether it is time to say goodbye, or to start a journey of hospice comfort care, you are proactively protecting your baby from the pain and suffering that their condition is causing them to endure.
Scheduling an appointment to say goodbye can seem off-putting, or even a bit dark. Consider this, however. When a family schedules their pet’s passing, they most often will avoid the sudden and severe suffering that can come from an emergency situation. Whether it is a fall that causes a fracture, a tumor that ruptures and bleeds severely, congestive heart failure that is making it hard to breathe, or any other end of life emergency, this is most certainly suffering that you do not want your baby to endure. These situations force urgent responses and last minute decisions. There can be regrets and guilt, and scary memories for children and adults alike. This isn’t the farewell we would want for our baby!
When an end of life appointment is planned before a pet has reached the bitter end, it allows a family to be better prepared. There is time to gather family and friends to say their goodbyes. There is time to explain things to small children, or to make arrangements for them to stay with grandma. There is time to make decisions on aftercare without rush. There is plenty of time to plan a peaceful passing for your friend in their own home, where they are most at ease, with their favorite bed or blankie or toys or treats, and their family surrounding them.
You are not giving up on them. You are not betraying them. You are granting them peace and freedom from a failing body. You are giving them the most selfless gift you can. You are allowing them to trade the pain that wracks their body for the pain you are taking on in your heart.
“Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality,”
“Death is not the extinguishing of the light. It is the putting out of the lamp because the dawn has come.”
“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows
of heaven, blossomed by the lovely stars,
the forget-me-nots of angels”
“Farewell, my good master,
homeward I fly:
One day thou shall gain the
same freedom as I.”
“When I look into the eyes of an animal, I do not see an animal.
I see a living being.
I see a friend.
I feel a soul.”
“If possible,
I would ask
for one more day
with you,
but, of course,
if it was possible,
one more day
would not be enough.”
“You don’t move on after loss, but you must move with. You must shake hands with grief, welcome her in, for she lives with you now. Pull her a chair at the table and offer her comfort. She is not the monster, you first thought her to be. She is love. And she will walk with you now, stay with you now, peacefully. If you let her. And on days where your anger is high, remember why she came, remember who she represents. Remember, Grief came to you my friend because love came first. Love came first.”
“and if i must love you
at this new distance
i will love you so fiercely
it will be felt in every universe
that lies between us.”
“There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.”