so last month I had to say goodbye to my
son of 11 years
Jimmy battled brain cancer from February
of 2019 to September of 2019 and as we
approached mid September I had to
confront the very real reality that we
were losing the battle to this tumor
towards the end of his life Jame had
multiple seizures daily was losing
mobility and his limbs circling
incessantly and stopped interacting with
me and his siblings I knew it was time
to put him down but getting to that
decision was incredibly difficult
Congress is eating right now I didn't
want to do I didn't want to do
euthanasia before I'd tried everything I
could to save him but I also didn't want
to extend his suffering if death was
inevitable just because I didn't want to
let him go so when you're deciding
whether or not to put a pet down there
are some factors to consider now there
are quality of life scales that exist
out there that you can look at or take
quizzes of most of them have very
similar variables but before I jump into
that I do want to take into
consideration financial situations I
know that I'm in a really privileged
position I was able and willing to pay
thousands and thousands of dollars to
try any treatment for Jimmy that the vet
recommended but having worked in
veterinary hospitals my teenage years I
know that that is not an option for
everyone so of course if your pet is
terminally ill you may have to put them
down before you feel comfortable doing
so and if that's the case it's okay and
why you know it's okay you can measure
your pets quality of life with five of
these key concepts one do they have more
good days than bad this was huge for me
and once Jimmy started having more bad
days than good I knew it was probably
time it's also helpful to track this
with a calendar or something so you can
gain more objectivity in this very
emotional time to mobility how well can
they move is it difficult to just get up
and eat can they clean themselves cats
in particular are very prideful animals
so once Jimmy started losing a lot of
his mobility we knew it was going to
affect his psyche
cats want to hide pain and be dignified
and the inability to do that along with
the confuse
no longer having control over their
bodies to the humiliation of falling
down into their own feces or urine it's
gonna have a huge negative impact on
their mental health on top of the
physical difficulty that they're
experiencing 3 are they in pain that's a
big one
my vet said you can usually tell an
animal's in pain when they completely
stop interacting they don't do the
things they love anymore they don't seek
you out for pets or cuddles if that was
their normal behavior prior to illness
they isolate usually in a closet or
under a bed they completely withdraw for
how well are they eating and drinking
our meals difficult do you have to
hand-feed them or convince them to eat
are they rapidly losing weight I mean
this is a red flag for obvious reasons
and the final factor 5 is you this one
was hard but a lot of friends and also a
lot of vets that I consulted brought
this up how is this affecting you are
you financially able to support your pet
down this road is it a more
compassionate choice for the both of you
to end the suffering now does the
illness require you to be at home all
the time to monitor them I work from
home so I was able to be there more
often for Jimmy and track his seizures
throughout the day but I know that this
is not a realistic option for people
with a 9 to 5 and I've had a lot of
friends who went down the road of trying
absolutely everything to save their pet
and only turning to euthanasia when they
had to and I can say that they all
regret it because even though they
suffered their pet suffered more and
those friends wish that they had had the
strength and the bravery and the
compassion to end the suffering for
their pet before it got that bad and
it's hard because it feels like when you
choose euthanasia you're killing your
baby but euthanasia is and can be a gift
I chose in in-home euthanasia because
Jimmy hates the vet I mean who doesn't
and I wanted him to be able to just pass
peacefully in the house if you go this
route just so you know what to expect
someone will come and there are three
injections that they'll do the first
injection is to relax them the second
one is an anaesthetic which will just
completely knock them out and make them
stop feeling all together and the third
injection that they get stops their
heart
I was really lucky I had a lot of
friends come over and support me saying
goodbye to my son
and I chose to cremate him and I'll show
you actually what you get I chose to
cremate him and you get you can choose
also to get like a little paw print like
this and it usually takes like 14 days
to get this back this is actually Phoebe
my first cat but Jimmy will come home
soon and if you're watching this video
because you're in the position of
wondering is it time first time I'm so
sorry you have to make that I remember I
was googling I was google searching when
this first happened to me and she
automatically crying she's like this is
such a horrible thing to like have to
deal with but what I found most
comforting and this time is the
following words from my therapist Jimmy
found a loving and wonderful mother and
you that is a part of life that
transcends time and gets to be yours
always your time with your pet is yours
always and you'll know when it's time to
let them go it's a very brave
compassionate and really hard decision
but I and your fur baby trust that you
will do right by them who I'm at a Cana
go adopt a couple of [ __ ] cats and
love them for me go back