Hey just wanted to say that while I'm sorry to make people recall their
own sad experiences, I do appreciate hearing people's feelings on
situations like mine. Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

dgk wrote:
On 13 Jul 2006 10:35:12 -0700, wrote:

Sad to say I euthanized. Given the concurrent congestive heart failure
that they were balancing against while giving him glucose to keep his
blood sugar at survivable levels, the critical care vet said she
expected him to die in a day or two. She recommended euthanasia saying
all it would do is end a few hours of anxiety and pain. I was very
reluctant never having done something so final as that. I asked to
bring him home so at least he could die outside on the porch where he
loved to be but I was worried he wouldn't survive the car ride and his
last moments would be stuck in awful rush hour traffic so I ultimately
agreed to euthanize there.

He was pretty out of it but gave me a final weak rub with his head
which made me desperately want to call the thing off. The vet was
experienced but I'd be lying if I said I don't have doubts about
whether she was mistaken about his chance for recovery and am haunted
by fears I unnecessarily cut his life short. My first time dealing
with this. What a brutal decision to have to make and thing to
experience.

I know death is inevitable and with the underlying heart disease and
risk of future clots his life span probably wouldn't have been very
long even best case scenario. But damn if I don't worry that I made a
horrible mistake.




We just can't win on this. Either we regret making them suffer too
long or we regret euthanizing them too soon. You made the right
decision on this one though even though it hurts. My thoughts are with
you.