Holy Crap, I don't wanna do this.

Oh I feel for you and your sister. I sort of know how it feels as a few years back, our cat who was only 15 got a brain tumor and was in severe pain.

He was yowling and it made my cry and yet I just could not take him to the vet's to be put down, I mean we got him for my baby's 2nd birthday so he was exactly like one of my kids. They all grew up together.

If it makes you feel a tad bit better, my hubby had to take him and abruptly left leaving the kitty carrier there stating he'd return later to retrieve it.

He came home crying, yes that big bad Bill! As for the carrier? Still at Pytel's animal clinic to the best of my knowledge.

My best to you and your sister!

Terra

My heart goes out to you and your sister.

This is one of the tougher things to do. You know it's the right thing to do but it hurts like hell to let go of one of your closest buddies.

Not sure your view on the after-life but I saw someone passing on not too long back and the first 3 people/pets he spoke to in the last few hours of his life were his deceased parents and favorite dog. Reached towards them and everything, it was an awakening experience.

I'm convinced that what we call death is a hand-off between our loved ones in this world to our loved ones in the next, pets included. So as much as it does hurt, they'll see each other again.

Ryan

Ryan - I am a firm believer that this earth is only a small stop on a grand journey..........we all join again across the divide. You cannot destroy energy, it can only be transformed. There is no rhyme or reason to sentience if we don't survive death.

Still isn't helping at the moment, though. LOL. The right thing, just isn't always the easy thing. And this is one of those times. I don't have to be involved in this..........but that is NOT the right thing. So be it.

That is rough, Sal. It will take a while to pass as you know. Glad you will be there for her. I hope they have a little ritual to it which always helps me.

When I had to put my bunny, Blessing down, the Vet made this cute little ceramic paw print for me to take home (part of the package) - I still have it in a plastic bag with one of his favorite treats, a yogurt drop candy. It meant a lot at the time and still does.

I'll always remember that last minute I saw him. Bunnies are kind of snotty (aloof) like cats and he had been ignoring me while the vet examined him. But at the last minute I guess he knew it was the last so he did look at me as if to say, 'oh wow, this is scary, my mommy is leaving'. (and I knew he had loved me too).

I feel for ya. I do. But that's all I'm going to say, because I could hardly make it through your message (and I couldn't read the responses).

Be strong for your sister.

Oh you are definitely right, Gordon. Humans have a way of thinking that everything in this universe is "all about us". We used to think the whole universe literally revolved around us........later we got knocked down from that peg only to start thinking we are the only things in this universe that qualify for an afterlife. We're so self assured that we are destroying everything around us for our own pleasure.

Conversely, as if it had never been thought of before, NASA has done some whole earth grid studies, and gee, go figure -- when the ecology of an area becomes dessicated, so does the quality of human life. Um.......duh........it took expensive scientific study to figure that out? There will be no "save" for us until people get off their little psychotic "center of the universe" kick and realize we are just one part of a very intricate system and that each part is as important as ourselves, and possibly even more so than us.

We just got back. It was a sad thing, but I believe it saved the little guy much pain and suffering. She went out very peacefully and it really helped Sue to see her relax after the first anesthetic was given. And of course, when we got back there were the 9 other little kitties and two doggies wanting to talk to her -- little lives and souls that would have been lost years ago without here kindness and love. And that makes it much easier.

I'm so sorry...I feel your pain. We just had to do the same for a 13 year old bully that we rescued.

Thanks BGD, but my "pain" is all relatively selfish, although I did like the animal.
It's my sister who has the cross to bear. I think it helped her to have me there with her though, so that makes me feel a tad better about the situation.

Pain is pain.

The wife and I busted this bully out of doggy jail at 12.5 years old - he was already pretty beat up and we knew he didn't have long but had such a great heart we couldn't stand to see him die in there.

I knew we didn't have much time with him so his passing wasn't that rough for me. She's never lost an animal and was devastated...so, similar to your situation, my pain was also selfish - she let the process kinda drag on longer than I would have liked. Rest of the story is fairly long but you may see where I'm going with it.

LOL Kay - the tears were there. It's hard not to cry when the person who loved the animal so is sobbing. She was able to do the right thing but she is really crushed right now. I'm just staying out of the way now that the little one is "gone home" and buried she's in a housecleaning frenzy -- her way of coping.

That kittie really tied her to a time that life was simple and very good for her so this is an end of more than one sort for her. When I lost Munch, it was the same sort of thing for me - lost him and a whole past. At least I didn't have to put him down and was there at the end for him,too.

Hey - life goes on. She did the right thing, I did the right thing, and there are other little lives who look to us for love. Life goes on.