Listen, you need to stop sending me all these pet death stories. I know you’re doing it because even now there’s this need for a sympathetic ear, and believe me I read them all and I do sympathize, but I am flooded, even with anonymous asks turned off. I can’t post and respond to them all. I euthanised three pets in the last 24 hours, and returning to dozens of more pet death stories takes a toll.
But tweets and posts like those above clearly cause a lot of hurt, fresh grief and fear, with pain reaching far beyond those that simply share them for some kind of shock factor, as those reduced to tears retreat into whatever dark space they find themselves in.
I can’t argue against a viral post at every place it appears, but if you know somebody is hurting I offer you my response instead, even if it’s only to copy-paste a reply if your own words are failing you.
We can take away the pain of our pets, and in doing so shoulder that pain ourselves. There is no need to make that pain worse for each other with attention grabbing over-exaggerations. Even if these posts were not meant to harm, they do.
Caption reads:
If you could take away the suffering of one you love and shoulder that
pain yourself, would you? We are privileged to be able to do this for
our pets, but the pain we carry with us as a result lasts a long time,
and careless words can reopen those wounds in an instant.Most
pets at euthanasia are not ‘frantically seeking’ their owners. Most are
so sick that they barely register what’s going on, and some are sedated.
But if the owner is not there, they all get a cuddle or a treat and are
told how very good and how very loved they are, cradled by a vet nurse as they drift into a permanent sleep. We have our favorite patients too. Sometimes they get an apology that we could not save them.Take it from this vet: we’re here because we want to minimize pain and suffering.
That includes at the very end. That should include the people who have loved and cared for those pets too