(melodious instrumental music)
- Hi, I'm Fran, I'm a vet for the PDSA.
In this short video
we're going to be looking at the sad subject of euthanasia
and making that difficult decision
about putting your pet to sleep.
- It's just breaking my heart,
I just couldn't see him suffer anymore
and I just knew he wasn't himself.
He didn't want to go out,
he was just sleeping really all day.
And he was still eating but not properly
and I tried everything with the food.
So I just knew that this time was right.
- It can be a really difficult decision
knowing when's the right time to put your pet to sleep.
We as vets will help you and guide you through that time.
We are always looking at the pets quality of life
and our focus is on their well-being.
When the balance tips to being more bad days than good,
not enjoying their walks, not enjoying their food,
or you think they're suffering,
that's when to make the decision.
It varies for each animal
and will personalize it to you and your pet
to make it the easiest it can be.
We may or may not give sedation
and that depends on how your pet is behaving,
whether they're stressed or anxious.
We may or may not put a catheter
in their legs to inject into,
again depending on your animal.
When we inject to put your pet to sleep
you can be there, you can not be there,
you can have friends and family with you.
The most important thing is to be calm
and make your pet feel at ease.
Sometimes if it's possible your pet can be on your lap
or you can be holding your pet while it happens.
Once they are put to sleep, once they've passed away,
their eyes stay open,
that's natural.
They sometimes will pee and poo
just because everything relaxes.
And the most common thing
that I always warn owners about is that they twitch,
and that can be quite distressing
if you're not expecting it,
so it's good to know that it almost invariably happens.
And those twitches can be around
the face, the ears, the feet
and it can be that they have little twitches
that made them look like they're hiccuping or gasping
and that's once they've passed away.
The injection that your pet will receive
to put them to sleep is painless, humane
and typically very quick.
- I have had another pet put to sleep,
so I had got a vague idea of what was going to happen.
So I knew that you know you could go in the room together
and stay with the cat if you wanted whilst you're in there.
Some people don't want to do that but me and my husband did,
we stay till the very end.
- It's really important to ask
for what you want in a euthanasia consult.
If you'd like to stay with your pet
and you'd like other people to come in, that's fine.
If you want to be alone with them with the vet, that's fine.
An alternative, if you don't want to stay,
that's absolutely fine, just tell your vet.
You can stay with your pet for as long as you like
after it's been put to sleep.
You know lots of people need time
with their animals to say goodbye.
And something else that some people like
is to take a little cutting of hair away with them.
If you want any of that and your vet doesn't offer it, ask,
we never mind.
Once your pet has been put to sleep
and you're ready to go,
they will be looked after by the vets
until you know what you'd like to do with them.
That might be that you take them home and bury them.
It might be that they're sent off for cremation
with all the other pets
and they're scattered in a pet crematorium.
Or if you want to have their ashes back
that's an option as well,
so you can have them individually cremated
and you have your own pets ashes back.
- Yeah, I knew what I wanted to do
once Elvis had passed away,
because he had such a tough life before I met him
and then not coming inside for a long time
that I felt, I just wanted him with me the whole time.
So we had a private cremation
and we got his ashes back a couple of weeks later
and they're in a nice little pet urn so.
- As a vet I actually feel very lucky
to have the option of euthanasia.
It means that when necessary
I and the owner have the power
to stop their pet from suffering.
- [Narrator] Your vet will support you
to measure your pets quality of life and well-being.
You can ask your vet any questions you have
before the appointment.
Bereavement support is available for anybody suffering
after the loss of a pet.
(mellow instrumental music)