hey guys
hardest question that
get as a veterinarian
is when people asked how do I know when
it's time to put my dog to sleep and
they usually asked me with tears in
their eyes and it's an emotional
conversation and it's a hard
conversation what I wanted to do today
is tell you what I tell these people and
just walk you through what I believe in
hopes that if you are having these
thoughts and having these questions this
might be of comfort and it might help
you come to your own decision on when is
the right time to use an eyes a pet a
couple of days ago I was putting an old
dog to sleep in its owners were there
and it was this really nice couple and
the man looks at me at one point and
said I bet this is the hardest part of
your job and I just kind of smiled at
him I'm just you know we were having a
good a good conversation I want to be
supportive of them the truth is it is
probably not really in most cases when
we come to the end of the life
euthanasia is a gift and a blessing for
dogs that are suffering or in pain and
so I don't see this as a terrible thing
sometimes I honestly believe in a lot of
cases honestly I believe that this is
the kindest thing that we can do and I
just want to say that up front
as far as the hardest part of being a
veterinarian from me anyway the hardest
part is telling people that the pet that
they love has got a terminal illness or
is suffering or will be leaving this
world and you see the emotions on their
face and and it's just it breaks my
heart
and it's a hard thing for me to do but
it's an important thing for me to do I
remember the first time that I had to
tell someone that I had to tell someone
your dog is going to die I'm worried
about your dog's suffering and being in
pain
it was there was this guy he was a
middle-aged guy and he came in with his
two children the first time and he was
great and his dog was an eight-year-old
Rottweiler and the dog's name was stone
and I liked stone
but stone did not like me he just he
didn't he didn't he didn't want to be at
the vet clinic and I get it
the owner brought stone in because he
was limping and that's when the guy
thought hey this might be a problem and
stone not a fan not a fan of mine and
when I pressed into his shoulder that
was the end of the opportunities for us
to be friends he would he was done with
me he was really painful in that
shoulder and so I took some x-rays and I
had to tell this this guy and and and
his kids and I was very gentle and how
and how I talk to the children of course
but you know one-on-one conversation
with with the man I said listen your dog
has osteosarcoma in his shoulder and
osteosarcoma is a terrible terrible
illness is a bone cancer it is hard to
treat they're kind of limited options
there are things that we can do but
they're not easy things and it's painful
bone cancer really hurts and he you know
for a couple of reasons we were not able
to to do surgery amputate this dogs like
we knew we were not going to do
chemotherapy or radiation like that's a
decision that we'd come to and that's
just where we were and so together he
and I decided that we were going to do
everything we could to keep stone
comfortable and to practice palliative
care and he said to me I don't want
stone to suffer when it is time I want
him to pass from this world because I do
not want him to hurt and I said I agree
with you I am with you and we will make
that happen and he said to me how do I
know when we're at that point when it is
time for stone to cross the Rainbow
Bridge and that was the first time
anyone ever asked me that question and
since then I have tried again and again
to get better and better at answering it
I got four ways that I look at this I'm
gonna lay enough for you every pet
illness and situation are different okay
what your dog is experienced is
different from any other dog so just
know that going in just because your mom
felt differently when it was her dog or
your neighbor did something differently
when their pet had this certain disease
or condition that doesn't matter
okay this situation for you is special
and so every pet every situation is
unique here's what I want you to do if
this is a medical condition there's an
illness that your pet has get as much
information as you can about that
illness right learn what you can about
the disease process is this progressive
does it tend to move quickly is it
painful is it uncomfortable what can you
expect in the future because that
knowledge is power and that will help
you see into your crystal ball what's
coming in the future and that will
empower your decision so know that your
pet and your situation are special
understand what is gonna happen as best
you can because that will help you make
this decision and the last thing that I
say to people that's a huge help I
believe is don't be afraid to get
perspective from an outside person get
someone who knows you and knows what you
what you care about and sort of how you
feel about things that knows your
relationship with your pet and see what
they think because they will not be as
deeply emotionally involved as you are
and we all know that sometimes having
that perspective that's a step away they
can have more clarity they can help us
see things in a way that we can't see it
when we're really in this decision so
don't be afraid to get an outside
perspective from someone that you trust
and who knows you and who knows your
relationship with your pet pets live in
the moment one of the most wonderful
things about our dog is that they are
fully involved in the present they don't
think about what the past and how things
used to be and they don't worry about
the future they are just here in the
present I think about my dog is this old
Vizsla and he was with me for years and
years and every time I came home he just
celebrated just through his own one dog
parade and it didn't matter that I'd
come home a thousand or five thousand
times before
the fact that I am home right
now that meant the world to him because
he was fully invested in this present
moment that's one of the things to
remember about the world of the dog when
our pets suffer their point of view is
on the present they don't think about
the great days in the past they don't
worry or ponder the future all they know
is how they feel right now that's their
perspective and that's what matters so
the question is how is your dog right
now ask yourself important questions
sometimes articulating or writing down
your thoughts can make everything so
much more clear when you go back and
read them some of the questions that
tend to help people that I work with are
things like why do I think it might be
time to euthanize what are my fears and
my concerns about euthanizing whose
interests beside my own am i taking into
account while I'm making this decision
what are the fears and the concerns that
the people around me have what are they
saying or what are they worried about
just so I have it in my mind and the
last thing is am I making this decision
because it's what's best for my dog or
am I making a decision because it's
what's best for me and those are
questions that I put to people just to
get them thinking and there's no right
or wrong answer but walking yourself
through those questions can provide a
lot of clarity and the last thing I like
to think about is try to measure quality
of life quality of life is just simply
how good is life right now and that is
hard to figure out sometimes when we're
dealing with dogs that they can't talk
and they can't tell us how they feel
there's four different techniques that I
like to use to help me get an idea of
what is this dog's quality of life in a
walk you through the first approach that
a lot of veterinarians take in assessing
quality of life is called the five good
things and so the way it works is this
take a piece of paper and write
the five things that your dog loves to
do more than anything else his or her
favorite five activities in the world
pay close attention to whether or not
your dog is doing these things the scale
that looks like this in some ways if
your dog stops doing one of the five
favourite things that's a big deal if
your dog stops doing three out of her
five favorite things we've lost a good
amount of quality of life and it may not
be worth going on at this point a lot of
vets say three out of five that's when
they start to really think about
euthanasia the second approach is good
days versus bad days and this is really
simple a lot of times I have pets that
have good days and bad days and people
say I don't know how will I know when
it's time and one of the things that can
help is to visually look at how many
good days and bad days are we having
because that gets lost in our mind
sometimes so go to the calendar get a
paper calendar the old school paper
calendar put check marks big check marks
on the days that we had a good day and
put x marks on the days that we had a
bad day and if you're looking and your
dog is having more bad days than good
days again that is a big indicator for a
poor quality of life the third technique
that I like a lot is from a doctor that
I have great respect for her name is dr.
Allison Villalobos and she has what's
called the HH h HH mm scale so five H's
and two M's okay
the HS stand for hurt hunger hydration
hygiene and happiness okay hygiene is
the ability to keep themselves clean the
M stands for mobility and more as in
more good days and bad days which is
what we just talked about so five H's
are two M's
dr. villa-lobos recommends writing down
these seven things and then give your
dog a score on a scale of one to ten
where one is they have absolutely no
quality of life in this area and ten is
they have perfect 100
quality of life they doing this
completely and they are happy doing it
score your dog on those seven things for
dr. Villalobos if the majority of those
categories are scored as a 5 or higher
then going on and continuing supportive
care is acceptable if that's how you
feel we should go however if it's less
than that this dog is probably suffering
and and needs to be put to sleep if you
want to learn more about this scale
there's a link right here and I'll put
it down in the comments for you as well
and the last technique that I like for
looking at quality of life is a pet
Hospice Journal if this is something
that you're wrestling with having it
down in writing and saying everyday how
was your pets behavior how did they feel
how do their appetite how well are they
sleeping and just making some notes
about those types of things that can
really help you track over time and see
if there's a trend and see how quickly
our condition is progressing or to see
if we're losing quality of life as the
days and weeks go by there is a
fantastic online Pet hospice journal
that's totally free it's at Pet hospice
journal dot-com it also has an
integrated quality of life scale so take
a look at that or feel free to go the
old-fashioned way and just keep a
written log guys just so you know stone
didn't suffer when the time came and he
was obviously painful and we couldn't
control that pain his owner made the
right decision and he crossed the
Rainbow Bridge in the arms of his family
he was remembered with dignity he was
remembered as the strong protector of
those children and he was remembered
with love I remember his owner for being
a strong person and making the right
decision when it came time I hope that
you and I and everyone else will have
that strength to make that hard decision
because our dogs deserve it and we want
to protect them the most important thing
in life is koala
of life it's not about quantity and
getting the most days possible gang take
care of yourselves if you're watching
this episode because you recently made
this decision and you're second-guessing
yourself or you're wondering if you did
the right thing I want you to know that
those questions are totally normal the
fact that you've watched this whole
video and thought about all of these
things that says a world about how
seriously you took this decision I am
sure you made the right choice
also if you are thinking about this
going forward I'll tell you one last
thing I put my own dog to sleep he was
almost 16 years old it was last year at
the end of the year and I wrestled with
that decision so much and now I had the
same thoughts that I hear all from pet
owners all the time I have never had a
pet owner come back to me and say I wish
I had waited longer to make this
decision I never once I have had lots of
pet owners and I think I probably am one
who say I wish that I had put my dog to
sleep sooner because as I look back I
don't think he had quality of life at
the end of the year I don't think he was
happy thanks for watching this episode I
really hope that it will be useful for
you and for others in the future if you
have a story about your dog crossing the
Rainbow Bridge feel free to put it in
the comments and share sometimes it
feels really good to share I promise
I'll read what you write this stuff is
important and so let's be supportive of
each other if you think that this is a
video that would help someone that you
know please share it with them help me
get the word out and let's support
people as best we can because this is a
terrible experience to go through but
it's something that every dog lover must
go through I hate to say it but guys
this is the cost of admission when we
let the dogs into our heart we know that
they're going to pass away from us and
so let's be supportive of each other and
just do our best when that day comes all
right take care of yourself bye bye