Putting down an injured animal?

[curtis rosche]

Ever but down a severly injured animal yourself and then wish you had taken a different action?

[Ryan Mooney]

Nope not yet, although I pretty much always wish I didn't have to do it. There are a couple of times I regret not having made the call earlier to alleviate unnecessary suffering. Its never an easy call and no one enjoys doing it, but sometimes its just the right thing.

Have also gone through a few pretty heroic saves (on the vets part generally, not mine) which feel pretty good when they turn out (I have two little buddies in that class sitting in the room with me now).

[phil harold]

Yes but life goes on...
Go adopt the second shop buddy
"People that say money can't buy happiness have apparently never paid an adoption fee.

[curtis rosche]

Yes but life goes on...
Go adopt the second shop buddy
"People that say money can't buy happiness have apparently never paid an adoption fee.

I got a second shop buddy in the fall. What I was refereing to was a kitten that wondered up last night, its leg was broken with the bone stickin out, it clearly had been attacked a week ago, bone was out you could see its ribs in the wound, and you could see it was infected. It was less than 3 months old, still fit in your hand. But clearly small enough that the vet wouldve put it down, and it was too late at night for an animal hospital,,, it was clearly in pain,,,

[curtis rosche]

Nope not yet, although I pretty much always wish I didn't have to do it. There are a couple of times I regret not having made the call earlier to alleviate unnecessary suffering. Its never an easy call and no one enjoys doing it, but sometimes its just the right thing.

.

Not an easy call at all, and I dont think I will ever forget it looking me in the eye down that barrel,,,,,,

[Kevin Bourque]

We have lots of deer on the farm and invariably one gets hit by a car and is lying injured.
I've gotten used to shooting them with a shotgun to the head to alleviate their suffering.
That's pretty much a way of life around here.
In the city they would probably take the same deer to a veterinarian,
spend thousands nursing it back to life,
give it a cute name,
and do a news story about it.

[Larry Frank]

It is never an easy thing to do with any animal. However, with a wild animal, once they are injured there is very little chance that they will make it. I try to make it quick and tell myself I did the right thing.

With ones pets, it is very difficult and heart wrenching decision. Usually with a vets help, you can make the right one but it will hurt awhile.

[curtis rosche]

It was a stray cat, so at least it wasn't someones pet,,, but i hope i never have to do that again.
Kevin, kinda strange thing is, I'll hunt and target shoot, never felt bad hunting cause you dont really think much of it and you eat it,,,, there was just something about the fact of a kitten and that face staring up the barrel of the shotgun....

[Ryan Mooney]

What I was refereing to was a kitten that wondered up last night, its leg was broken with the bone stickin out, it clearly had been attacked a week ago, bone was out you could see its ribs in the wound, and you could see it was infected. It was less than 3 months old, still fit in your hand. But clearly small enough that the vet wouldve put it down, and it was too late at night for an animal hospital,,, it was clearly in pain,,,

You made the right call. If the bone was out there was a really high probability of a bone infection which is really really hard/low probability to recover from and if the ribs were poking out.. well... after that long the little fellow was pretty much a goner so making it quick was good.

I put down a kitten that had been kicked by a horse over 20 years ago and I still remember it. He wasn't going to survive and it was the right thing, still didn't make it easy.

[Ed Aumiller]

Had a co-worker late coming to work one day... Seems his cat and a possum got into a fight in the back yard..... Somehow he got the possum into a box and took it to the vet in the middle of the night... They saved it and had it in a cage for a few weeks with follow up vet visits..... Set it free one night.... Two days later it was in the middle of the road & no vet could save it then... This was in the late eighties and vet bill was not cheap.... Will never forget that incident.....

[curtis rosche]

You made the right call.
.

Thats what I was hoping to hear, I was afraid i might get attack by some animals right people, but I just wanted to know that what I did was right.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Curtis, I'm a veterinarian and you can't save them all. When you think about the pain the little guy was in, you made the right call.

[Phil Thien]

Thats what I was hoping to hear, I was afraid i might get attack by some animals right people, but I just wanted to know that what I did was right.

Nope, you made the right call.

[Jim O'Dell]

Agreed, right, no make that the only call. Jim.

[Brian Ashton]

In such a circumstance I wouldn't have hesitated. It was the only thing you could have done. I still regret some of the methods I've employed when putting down animals but not the fact that it needed to be done.

[Ole Anderson]

Other than my dogs at the vet, only had to do it once. A cat had crawed under the hood of my van and got caught in the fan belt. It was 10 minutes before the kids started congregating at the bottom of the drive to catch the school bus. Not fun.

[ray hampton]

you made the right call

[Bill Cunningham]

Your right, and did the right thing..
As for the animal rights people! No one puts down more kittens/cats/dogs every year than PETA!

[John Coloccia]

It's the way of the world, Curtis. Everyone and everything dies. You and me too. Human's can't relate to animals. All of the thoughts that are going through your mind don't apply to the situation. The cat didn't know why it was in pain, it didn't know what your gun was, and it was probably delirious from fever, sickness and starvation. We've bread them to be cute and lovable, but at the end of the day it was a cat. It has no moral sense...it has no concept of life and death other than instinct to preserve itself. It's cute because when it nips and scratches it happens to be small enough that it doesn't take off a limb like bigger cats do.

You did the right thing. My own dog is getting on in years, and the end is near. My wife and I love him because of the joy he brings us. I doubt he will make it to the end of the year. He was a rescue from a very abusive owner and he's been with me for 10 years (and with my wife almost 12 years). It will pain me to put him down because I'll miss him, but I won't feel bad about the decision when the time comes. I know I did the best I could. It's not human. In it's time of sickness, it doesn't take comfort in the company of relatives...sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. It has no comfort in chit chatting and reliving the good times. It doesn't have any wisdom to pass on, and it has no concept of anything to come. In the end, he will do nothing but suffer with no comfort and no choice. Just pain and confusion.

At that point, you put it down...which you did. So stop second guessing yourself. Even the cute and furry ones are just animals and no matter how much we love them and are attached to them (and Lord knows I am), there comes a point when you need to snap back to reality and realize that we're in a position to make these kinds of choices for them because they can't make them for themselves. I would go as far as to say that it's your duty as a decent human being and good for you for not wimping out and making it suffer for no good reason.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Not doing what you did would have been cruel. Right call all the way.

[curtis rosche]

Thanks for the replys,,, I knew I had to do it, and I did it fast before I could rethink it. I guess you always second guess after something like that, but it was the right thing to do. Hopefully wont have to do it again soon, we have multiple stray cats from the farms and such, and we have a very nasty possum and a fox on our property, and some large birds of prey.

[Rick Fisher]

Pretty natural to second guess yourself but the fact is you where alleviating suffering. That is a noble act, no matter how it felt. Examine your own motive for your choice and it will tell you if you made the right choice.

[Mike Henderson]

Read the poem "Hurt Hawks (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hurt-hawks/)" by Robinson Jeffers. It's somewhat appropriate to your situation.

Mike