pet euthanasia should a child be there?

olibrofiz

Sad times OP I think over 12 would be ok, if your kiddie wanted to be there, but maybe not one younger.

My DD was 14 when our Doberman had to be PTS. I explained what would happen, and she insisted she wanted to be there. We both cried buckets as we sat on the floor with Fizz and they injected the 'blue-dream' into her leg vein. She drifted peacefully away within seconds and IMO it helped knowing that we were there in her last moments, the last thing she saw and our hands stoking her soft fur. Ahh, crying now!

I had to be there, I read this line you see

And be with me on that difficult journey when it’s time to say goodbye. Everything is easier for me when you are there.

And afterwards, as I cried, my DD hugged me and said 'it's ok mum, she's not in pain anymore, I'm glad we were with her'. We loved her so, and miss her every day

chiefpossession

It was my cat who was injected into the heart - please do not think that is all that happened. She was anaesthetised first but reacted to the drug - I don't want to go into details but it was not pleasant. The actual injection to euthanise her took much longer than I was expecting - it isn't something I would want to witness again - but accept that it is part of having a pet. However, that is my responsibility as the adult and I could remain calm. I would not have wanted any of my children to have seen that.

My cat knew nothing about it (that was very clear) and I have every faith in my very experienced vet who has looked after all our animals for many years. I just wanted to make the point that the end isn't always a gentle slipping away and you don't always know what will happen.

sassyblue

olibrofiz wrote: »

Sad times OP I think over 12 would be ok, if your kiddie wanted to be there, but maybe not one younger.

My DD was 14 when our Doberman had to be PTS. I explained what would happen, and she insisted she wanted to be there. We both cried buckets as we sat on the floor with Fizz and they injected the 'blue-dream' into her leg vein. She drifted peacefully away within seconds and IMO it helped knowing that we were there in her last moments, the last thing she saw and our hands stoking her soft fur. Ahh, crying now!

I had to be there, I read this line you see

And be with me on that difficult journey when it’s time to say goodbye. Everything is easier for me when you are there.

And afterwards, as I cried, my DD hugged me and said 'it's ok mum, she's not in pain anymore, I'm glad we were with her'. We loved her so, and miss her every day

Such a sad but lovely story, it's got me in tears too. I loved that line. X

OP, how's it going?

m33r4

We had our Millie Moo euthanised at home. My 19 year old daughter agreed to be in the room but not my 16 year old son. I am glad he chose not to be in the room as it was not a pleasant experience as the vet struggled to get a canula in and it took having to sedate her through muscular injection into her back and then injecting the blue vaccine into her kidney. It was a lengthy and unpleasant experience for us to see a member of our family go in this way. At one point I told the vet not to do it but my husband reminded me of Millie Moo's pain with terminal cancer.

I don't recommend any children of a sensitive disposition to see this.

Pollycat

This is only my opinion, m33r4, but I just can't see why you've resurrected this thread which is almost 6 months old.

Sandhy

My two children were about the same age as yours (this was 18 years ago). They understood the reasons. The cat was 18 years old and had liver failure. I was a single parent and together all 3 of us said our goodbyes and cuddled and stroked him. We all cried buckets but I think I did the right thing allowing them to say goodbye and to see the end was peaceful and dignified. We dusted ourselves off and carried on as normal but allowed talks, memories and lapses of sadness and crying were ok too
Thoughts are with you <hug>