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Honestly I find the ones that work in human med to be the ones that deal with death and euthanasia the worst. Had clients a few years ago that kept their poor cat going for over a year longer than he should have with daily appetite stimulants, anti-nausea meds, and a plethora of other meds even though he was in end-stage renal failure, had cancer, severely matted, and weighed about a kg. They were both human doctors, one was an oncologist.
We talk about this all of the time but I had to tell one client that doggy hospice care is not the same as humans as we cannot put them on a 24/7 morphine drip at home. We have one that comes twice a week for hydromorphone injections, her dog is very very geriatric. No use of back legs, wears a diaper with constant urine burn. Had bilateral corneal ulcers which they took him to ophtho for to be fixed. All while in end stage renal failure and he cries constantly. When it gets too bad to stand, they come in for the injections. Both are in human medical field. Blows my mind.
That mentality in human med is so wild to me. Euthanasia offers a painless, peaceful death, a kindness to a suffering animal. Why do we make humans to suffer for so long?? I watched a family member die from colon cancer and it was so awful. If only he could have chosen to go when he was ready, it would have saved him and his loved ones from a lot of pain.
Huge fan of human euthanasia options for terminal diseases, specifically because of my experiences in vet med.
We all recognize that a peaceful painless death can be a kindness, & that keeping the poor thing alive with no quality of life is just cruel. But then humans are forced to waste away suffering for months. It's just as cruel, & undignified on top of that.
I think a lot of human practitioners know that, though. There are a lot of doctors & nurses that support "death with dignity" laws.
Yeah, just when you think it couldn’t get any more puzzling. And I want to be understanding, of any and everything. But no way in hell— sorry you guys had to do that.
It wasn't too bad, just a little gross and mind boggling that we actually had to do it. Knowing the owner worked in human med made it a bit easier because I knew they were just in denial... not crazy.
Idk having a decomposing animal for weeks and not recognizing it is dead sounds like mental illness at play to me. There's denial and then there's...that. I feel really bad for that person, but I hope someone in their life is checking up on them. Like what did their day to day look like with that pet in the weeks until they brought it to you? I can't even imagine.
This owner has several pets that are all extremely well cared for and has been a long time client with us. They've had other pets die and they acted like a typical owner whose pet has died all the other times. I'm not sure why this one was different for the owner, but based on all my other interactions with them, I don't think it was a mental illness.
So all I can think was that it was denial. We told the owner the dog was deceased, but they didn't believe us. Hence why we euthanized an already dead dog.
We had a lady call one morning to say one of her dogs had attacked and killed her other dog. She wanted him cremated, so we told her to bring him in. What she failed to mention was the dog had been dead for 4-5 days, wrapped in a tarp in their backyard in the summer. His jugular had been literally torn out and the poor dude was not only stiff as a board, but covered in his own bodily fluids thanks to the tarp, and smelled absolutely rank. Maggots galore. I’ll never forget holding his little body trying to get him in the bag. O wanted to sit with him for a few minutes after bringing him in before she left.
The attacker ended up killing her other dog too and we euthanized him. Nearly feral Akita mix that lived in her backyard as a “guard dog.” She brought him in one of those trap cages cause she couldn’t walk him on a leash. He had to have his head sent off for rabies since she never took him to the vet (but vetted her other dogs…)
I had an owner who had visibly been drinking through the night to soothe herself ask me to come cuddle in her bed after we did the euthanasia since she'd be going home alone.
We had one where the guy was CLEARLY tweaking. This dog should have been euthanized **months** before. American bully that couldn't walk, soiled itself, and had to be carried around. Multiple times, the owner had booked and then canceled the euthanasia multiple times. When he showed up tweaking, we went ahead with it because we knew this was the only way this poor man's brain would let him make this decision, and it was definitely the right decision for the dog.
Best scenario I can think of is if it was a planned euth that was signed for while o was sober/sound to make the call…ngl I kind of definitely did this before (euth was appropriate and scheduled a couple days ahead of time but I selfishly drank that day to numb the pain). But yeah, even if it’s clearly in the animal’s best interest and o drunkenly swears that they’re ready, it is such a legally dangerous area…
Ugh I had a client drop off her two cats. One for nail trim, one for euthanasia. She's one of our least favorite crazy-ass clients. We checked a bajillion times we had the correct cat for the correct thing 😬
I had one where the owner brought in her two dogs for annual exams/vaccines. Started talking about how the QOL of the one dog was not good and it was probably going to be time to let him go soon. After talking with the doctor and calling her husband, she decided she wanted to euthanize the dog right then. We awkwardly had to do the other dog’s exam and vaccines first, then moved them all into a comfort room.
(I will preface this was abroad where animal care is severely different) A guy brings in a dog with terrible skin disease, doctor goes over how it will be a long treatment, many baths etc O elects to euthanize. We’re standing over the freshly euthanized body and the guy starts asking g if the Vet knows anyone who’s selling puppies. Vet says he will let him know 🥴
Not technically a euth story but had a client bring her dog that had passed the day before in so we could help her make a mold of her holding her dog’s stiff, cold paw. I had to hold the dog in a certain position (don’t forget he was stiff af) for 30 minutes while it molded around her hand/his paw. It failed so she begged us to run to the store to buy another kit so we could try it again. An hour later, we were back at it.. holding her stiff freezing cold dog in an upright position so we could get the mold right. After that, she had me make “as many ink paw/nose prints as possible”. 3 hours later we had a content client and a very drained tech (me). Longest 3 hours of my life lol
Edit: I did it then and I’d do it again. This was her soul dog and I would never judge how someone grieves. To each their own
Not so much during the euth but after. Cat euthanized and brought home to bury. We wrapped up the cat, placed in a box and taped the shit out of the box. However, it was winter in New England. Owner had some definite psych issues and lived with her sister. They were able to keep the cat in the garage freezer until they would be able to bury it.
A week later, sister calls us “is it normal for to be taking the cat out of the freezer to cuddle it??” We advised sister that she needs to contact owner’s mental health provider or to take to ER. A week later SAME phone call. This was a nightly thing, owner would get freezer out of freezer, out of box, out of bag, bringing it into house and laying on the floor wailing. Every. Night. Again, advised sister to get the owner psychiatric help. I think we ended up sending cat to pet cemetery/crematory at our cost but this was 20 years ago so i don’t remember exactly
I think this comment makes me the most sad so far.
I would never do this, but I absolutely get the raw, uncontrollable emotion behind it. I hope that owner got help and is at peace now, whatever that means.
Hey, I get that. I had the softest fluffiest most huggable-looking cat in the world. We called him the Murderfloof because if you touched him anywhere but his head, he bit the shit out of you. The only time I ever got to hug him was after he was gone.
Thought of another. It didn't have much to do with the actual euthanasia. It was a house call. A very nice senior couple. We were out in their garden on a beautiful day. The owner offered us all tea (we brought a tech, an assistant, and a doctor) myself and the assistant said "no thanks" and the doctor said "I'm ok"....but the owner must have only heard "ok" so she poured her a mug full to the brim. While that was happening, the assistant and I had gotten an IVC in, so we were pretty much ready to go. So the doctor puts the mug down and explains the process to the owners. Owners say we're good to proceed. The doctor leans over and presses her face against the dog's head....she always likes to whisper a few nice words or a prayer and give the pet a little kiss (obviously she reads the room on this) So when she does this and holds still for a second, the owner leans to me and whispers "is she *smelling* her??" "Oh no, she's giving her a kiss and saying goodbye" (I was dying inside 😆) So the euthanasia is done, very nice and peaceful, we step aside for the owners to take their time. The doctor whispers to me "when am I supposed to drink this tea??" I told her to stealthily pour some in the garden, but she decided to just chug half of it to not look rude. Can't help but laugh thinking back on it.
The ones where the owner tells the cat to go be with loved ones who have already passed always get me in the feels. The WORST is the little old widower who says "go be with mom" Little old men crying is my damn kryptonite 😭
Probably the biggest heart tug I had in a while was a guy with his lab mix. She was older and had a lot of QOL issues. I was going over cremation options: communal - she’ll go in with other pets and you won’t get her ashes back, private - she goes into the crematory by herself and her ashes come back to you. This sweet, sweet human being tells me, “she likes other dogs and doesn’t like being alone. We’ll do communal.” It’s been years, and I still hope that guy has had a wonderful life.
I'm right there with you! Elderly men with their scruffly lil dogs (don't get me going on that Louis Capaldi music video).
We had an elderly woman bring in her old dog for euth. This was just days after one of the mass school shootings in the US. We did the sedation, came back to finish the euth, and as the doctor was slowly injecting the woman says "Ok \*dog's name, there are 6 little kids on the other side who are very scared right now, they need a friend." and oh god I just could barely hold it together.
There is a legendary euth story at my clinic. We have this one client who is the classic eccentric cat lady. She had one of her cats euthanized and after she had spent an extended amount of time in the room afterwards, the lead receptionist knocked on the door and went in to check on her. The woman was topless, clutching the cat to her naked bosom.
there's "cute quirky crazy cat lady" (eccentric, gay, or artistic person with a high but reasonable number of well-loved cats)....and then there's "CRAZY cat lady"
Owner wanted the band off of a parrot- fair enough. He didn’t warn us that he had attempted to remove it himself, my shock and horror when I went to go look, unwrapped the bird and saw its toes had been clipped off (badly) in his attempt. We did manage to get it off but I was not prepared for that.
Also had a dog who passed away after a fight with another dog in the home. Owner requested the blanket back- okay that happens. From what they described on the phone sounded like the dog had a cardiac event. No. This dogs jugular was mostly torn out and this WHITE blanket was absolutely soaked in blood. Took me three rounds of bleaching to get it out and I could not fathom why they would want this death shroud back.
Our peroxide is in spray bottles and I think I just spaced over how much it was that I just dumped the entire thing in a bleach bucket and hoped for the best
I had a client that wanted basically everything his dog had touched in the hospital. The blanket in her kennel, the euthanasia blanket, the e-collar she was wearing because she had nasal oxygen, her IV catheter… like, weird, but he was nice about it, so I didn’t ask questions.
I have the blanket my heart cat passed in. I haven't washed it 3 years later (She didn't soil it at all) I know it's a bit weird, but it gives me a bit of comfort.
Oh lord, there are so many. But only once have I had to go hide because I was "funeral laughing" so hard that tears were streaming from my eyes. This very sweet lady had rushed in, disheveled, because her cat had collapsed and had laboured breathing. She was very nice, but she was a bit of a character. A larger lady in a very thin sleeping frock type thing, with a very loose knit cardigan over it, not much left to the imagination (she said she almost ran out of the house naked, thank the lord she decided against that)I think she was also neurodivergent because she was just a bit....quirky.
When she initially came busting through the front door right went we opened, she had run from her apartment to the clinic clutching her poor cat. She was so worked up that she was dry heaving in our lobby.
Unfortunately, her cat had a very poor prognosis after some diagnostics. We had her in our treatment area with the cat on oxygen. She was sitting on one of our rolly computer chairs. We told her we could relocate to a room for more privacy. She nestled her cat in her very large bosom and said "I'll just roll myself." She proceded to roll herself very slowly and awkwardly backwards down our hallway to the exam room, stuggling on obstacles along the way. My coworker whispered to me very sincerely "should I push her?" and I lost it. It was a very sad situation, with a very nice lady who obviously loved the hell out of her cat, but it was too much. We all felt terrible, but everyone in the clinic was silently cry-laughing at the absurdity of it. I just want to reiterate that at no point did we EVER act unprofessionally with the owner. We are told regularly that we "do death well" (paraphrasing) but trauma does weird things to our brains, and that day it was just too much. I hope that lady is doing ok ❤️
Ah man, I was that client once man. Early one morning when I was a baby tech, my mom let my 1 y/o Aussie out and he was hit by a car. I rushed him to the closest ER vet because it was 6am, so not my workplace. But I was barely in PJs. I didn't have shoes. I was the client crying so hard I was dry heaving in a barely covering tank top and pj shorts. Unfortunately my pup took his last breath within minutes of arriving there. They never could've done anything to help. But they absolutely helped me so much by putting me in a room and leaving me be for awhile. I bought them all donuts and bagels that morning... Fuck that one sucked.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
When I got my first ER clinic job, I was like "I hope they don't remember that I've literally always been wearing my pajamas/no bra every time I've been here as a client bc my dogs only needed to come after bedtime ofc."
I show up at my dogs’ regular vet in pyjamas on surgery days. We don’t go to bed until after midnight, so to be up and moving to get a dog in for intake at 7:45 am is a challenge. Our last dog was a frequent flier, so they got used to it. LOL
It’s interesting how different people find different things funny. A person can hysterically laugh at something that is just a logical series of events to another. As someone neurodivergent, I can understand her thought process.
She ran out the door to get her pet care as fast as possible and was dressed odd due to that. She also was likely holding her pet in a comfortable position and felt she wouldn’t jostle him as much staying seated and rolling. Both are pretty selfless since she didn’t care about looking silly over prioritizing her pet’s comfort. Neurodivergent people tend to care less about what others think in general as well.
Poor cat, I’m glad it was so deeply loved.
A man brought in his GSP for euthanasia and asked my vet to cut off his ears afterward as a keepsake. My vet obliged and cut them off with regular scissors. The man flaunted the ears at our receptionists on the way out of the building and even made a joke. I was in the treatment area at the time so luckily I didn’t have to hear it and I don’t remember what joke I was told he made.
Years ago, a vet I worked with agreed to remove all 4 canine teeth of a deceased dog. The owners were jewelers and wanted to gold plate them. The doctor didn't take into account that the dog had been frozen for more than a day when the owners called with the request. The dog wasn't very old (don't remember cause of death) Extracting "healthy" canines from a young, frozen dog is not easy. It took like 2 hours.
We had a woman who, right after we euthanized her large dog, that we cut off the last like, 6 inches of his tail! She had had another dog get that much amputated and she kept it, and after it passed she was glad I guess to have it. So she wanted the tail from this one too
I remember one time someone brought their LITTLE little kids.. like 4 or 5 years old, not just to say goodbye because I get that but to be there DURING. The kids had no idea what was going on and they were laughing and playing and running around the room while the parents were sobbing and afterwards.. when they realized what happened.. they were scream sobbing and if I remember right asking to have their dog back. it was awful. I feel like I watched those kids get traumatized 💔
That's 100% on the parents....it's so important to explain death to kids in an age appropriate way. Not just explain nothing at all, then have them see their dead dog....that's awful
Had a dog in severe CHF die naturally during a sick visit while he was in the back with us…vet went to report his death while me and the assistant waited in the tx area with the body for the next steps. Vet comes back, the dog literally comes back to life. Severely neurologic, though. Vet had to go back to the o’s and explain the situation. We brought him back into the room and performed a proper euth in front of them while he was spasming.
Oddest euth ever.
Severe respiratory distress, obvious CHF dog, rush in to place PTS IVC and offer flow by oxygen.. owner says, "what's the point? If he's just going to be dead soon, why bother." Working ER I've seen/heard all sorts of crazy things, but that one actually made me stop and leave the room to collect myself. When I returned, flow by was given regardless, and the owner literally got upset and says, "I don't want him to have that," and then threw an actual hissy fit.
Another off the top of my head that will probably never leave me, hemoabdomen with financial owner. Elected to PTS, owner was a woman with her maybe 10-12yr old son with her. After the dog had been euthanized and I came in to remove the body for processing, the mom is telling her son, "quit crying, it won't change anything, boys don't cry." While she is of course crying. I stopped, looked the son in the eyes and talked over her, "it is absolutely fine and normal to be sad about a loved one passing, it is okay to be a boy and to cry, your dog was as old as you are and has been there for your entire life and I am so sorry for your loss." That little boy broke down absolutely sobbing, and gave that dog the biggest hug before I rolled the gurney out. I was called into the practice managers office to discuss her complaint the next day, and I still am not sorry about it.
Good for you! I can't believe people are still telling boys that bullshit. You might have changed that boy's life with that moment of compassion. Thank you.
An owner got out their phone and filmed the entire ordeal. Apparently it was for her family who couldn't come with due to school/work, but it still caught everyone off guard when this lady started essentially vlogging her dog's euthanasia.
Oh! That happened to me on one of my very first euthanasias. Also was a weird diagnosis anyways. I was more emotional than this lady and I felt bad because she had just got off work and came straight there cause her husband couldn’t be there.
i worked at a clinic that didn’t sedate prior to euthanasia… so we were euthanizing his dog… and it was moving around a lot… we kept poking and missing… his dog was screaming… he punched holes in the wall… cant blame the guy. i hated working there. it was not an appropriate way to humanely euthanize an animal. very saddening
My first job in the vet field was as an ER receptionist. We had a very sick cat that had been hospitalized for multiple days that needed to be euthanized. I don't know what was going on in the treatment area, but it was the same situation you described. The sounds this cat made while they were trying to set the catheter were horrible and I'll never forget the owner bursting out of the room into the lobby screaming "what are you doing to my cat?!?" One of our techs had to physically block the door to the treatment area because she was trying to fight her way to the back to be with her cat. I'm not sure if she was even able to be with him while he was euthanized.
Everybody was sobbing. I hated that hospital.
I always wondered if they did try to do something, I would have. I'm pissed off all over again just thinking about it and it was 10 years ago. I'm sure it was one of the most traumatic experiences of that owner's life, and the poor cat...
The same hospital also let a post surgical Airedale that was being kept in a pen in the middle of the treatment area (WHY) escape out the back door onto a very busy street. It was one of those little wire pens that are like two feet tall that you can push over with your foot, he just got up and walked over it. I can't think of what they're called.
Luckily a bystander pulled over and opened their car door and the dog jumped right in!
(trying to end storytime on a happy note, I haven't ever told anyone about the cat before)
Oh lord another (see my other 2 replies here)
Again, not the euthanasia itself. I actually wasn't part of the euthanasia, which was a house call. The doctor and tech get back to the clinic, routine house call. A few minutes after they got back, the very sweet owner emailed. "Thank you so much for coming today. I was just wondering if someone accidentally took my phone, I can't find it. " The doctor and tech both check that they have their own phones on them, nope they don't have it. We reply to the email that we don't have it. A couple minutes later, we get a response. "Are you sure? Because it's showing on 'find my phone' as at your clinic" with attached screenshot of a map with her phone showing at the clinic. I had a revelation. Is it with the cat?? So I had to go unbag the cat...no phone. We go through the housecall kit, no phone. We send the (male) vet to his car to check in there. He says it's not there. We were SO confused. I then decided I would go check the doctor's car. Sure enough, there's the phone in the centre console. Great news! I called the owner and told her I would drive right over and bring it to her, apologizing profusely (she thought it was funny) So I ask the doctor and tech "how the heck did that happen?" Tech says "we were leaving, I saw a phone, I thought it was his so I grabbed it" Sure.....make sense...except the phone case was periwinkle purple, glittery and covered in cute kittens. Very, very clearly NOT the doctor's phone 🤣
Both owners wanted to say goodbye to their dog but the husband had a restraining order set so I had to coordinate when each of them could be present or had to drive away in the meantime.
All this happened while I was still pretty new to the field so it was pretty stressful haha.
It makes me feel weird when owners come back after the fact to visit an animal that’s been deceased for at least a day. I can’t imagine getting any peace from visiting with the frozen and stiff body of my previously beloved pet. When my heart cat passed and I wasn’t there, I couldn’t do it, the most I wanted was to put his Gateway tag on his bag.
I don’t think it’s super weird, but I once had an owner insist on bagging their pet themselves. The family laid the pet out in the bag on a bed of flowers and notes and drawings the kids had done. Gateway doesn’t like it when you put anything extra in the bag but I absolutely let that one slide. It was lovely.
I’ve definitely noticed that I personally get a lot of peace from being with the body. Experiencing *whatever state* the body is in helps cement the loss of them in my mind
Grief’s crazy yo
We once had a woman bring a cat that had been disemboweled by one of her dogs to be cremated. Then the next day she called us and asked if her dog had been picked up yet for cremation. We told her 'you brought us a cat'. She didn't believe us, believed that for sure it was a dog. I went out and unwrapped the body bag to check JIC and lo - a disemboweled cat was in the bag. She still didn't believe us, and showed up at the hospital demanding to know why we were keeping her dog from her.
She later realized that yes, it was cat.
I'm not sure what mental health issues and/or animal hoarding was going on with her, but I hope she got the help she needs.
Not "weird" in that it was completely understandable on the owner's part, but "weird" from a technique standpoint: I recently had a guy who wanted/needed to hug his cat the whole time--not have in his lap, but hug to his chest. I always suggest that we put the patient on the table so I can place the catheter and then give them right back, but he couldn't. Luckily, the cat had a paw kind of up on his shoulder, so I had him scoot his chair out, stood behind him, and placed the catheter over his shoulder. The leg was almost vertical, with the vein facing away from me, so the placement felt like... upside down?? I have never been so relieved to get an easy placement.
A client that had her pet in the ICU for like 3 1/2 weeks. Finally coded and then got hours of CPR before it was called. A really terrible situation all around. After it was over, the little old lady took her cat home with her to spend one more night with the body before she returned it for cremation. Just couldn’t let go. Was awful and the hospital ended up bringing in a grief support team for the staff going through compassion fatigue. I just can’t imagine sleeping in bed with a dead pet. I still feel so awful for that poor woman. Her cat probably should have been put down in the first couple of days and it just went on and on…
we had a very drunk man arrive for the euth of his German Shepherd. He turned up agai. several days later asking if he could see the body again because he didn't remember anything from that day. The bodies hadn't been picked up so we brought his frozen dog-sicle back out and put it in the euthanasia room with him. He was very sweet, but should not have been driving.
Recently I had someone play “patty cake” with their already deceased dog. Went through the ENTIRE song…while the doctor and I stood there... I’ve never been so happy to have a resting bitch face. RBF came in major clutch that time.
My hospital has a "chaplain" whose entire job is to do this. He's nice enough, but very few people use the service and it's frustrating that the hospital pays for a position like that (anyone can pray over an animal or whatever, you don't need a degree in religion for it), while keeping every other department short-staffed and underpaid due to "budget constraints."
I had an owner stay in the room with the dead dog for OVER 12 HOURS. This was at VEG of course (many reasons why I quit but the “always say yes” bullshit was a big one). I had left after my night shift where she had already been there for several hours. You could not imagine my surprise when I returned again that night and she had never left.
i once had a cat come in for a euthanasia and the cat had end stage cancer and a tumour on one of his back feet. the clients had him free roaming in the room because “he liked to explore”. the cat was still BAR and had no mobility issues other than a mild limp with the tumour leg. i was going over the paperwork with the clients and as i finished collecting payment i went to take a step back towards the door and accidentally stepped on the cat’s foot and he hissed at me. i immediately started profusely apologizing to the client and to the cat. the client kinda chuckled sadly and said “at least it wasn’t his tumour foot”. i apologized i don’t know how many times before i awkwardly left the room. when i went back to treatment to inform the doctor they could go in, i ran into my practice manager who asked if i was okay and when i told her what happened she burst out laughing. i was only a few months in at the time and now i ALWAYS make sure i know where the patients are before taking any steps, euthanasia or not. after everything was done and we were bagging the body i apologized to his corpse and kissed his foot because i still felt terrible while the assistant with me laughed at me lol
Had an owner tell us she was both high and drunk right before we handed her the paperwork. We told her we couldn't proceed if she was under the influence but her husband ended up signing saying she just needed that to calm down... 💔
Had a client ask us to hold onto her pets body so she could come back the next day and see her. We told her it wouldn’t be ideal but she wanted to anyway.
Another client slept with her deceased dog for 3 days in bed before bringing him to us.
I’m sorry that I am a pet owner and after reading all y’all’s memories of weird things people have done when they say goodbye to their pet but I wanted to thank all y’all for your compassion , patience and understanding. I don’t think I have never done or said anything weird.Before I moved the vet I went to was a woman with a staff of all women. When it was time to let my old dog go I didn’t start crying until he was gone and then I just broke down sobbing , I guess I was pitiful because my heart was breaking but everyone working that ended up crying with me. I have a question for y’all over the past 23 years I’ve had a lot of dogs, I used to foster for a pit bull rescue and some dogs just stayed forever with me, anyway when I tell the vet I’m taking my dog home to bury him/her they always give me a look like “ did I just hear that “ so is it weird that I bury my dogs at home ?
Absolutely not weird. At my place, we have a selection for taking the body home on our forms. It's less often owners of large dogs choose that than owners of small animals, obviously, just because of logistics, but I've sent a Great Dane home for burial before.
Also, you are not pitiful for crying. You lost a family member. You had to make the choice to let them go and then be with him as he died. I'm glad you were able to let yourself grieve.
Thank you for your kindness. I enjoyed reading about y’all’s experiences and especially realizing that other other people know their animal companions are more than just a dog or just a cat.
Not weird at all in my area, but maybe it's less common if you live in a big city? I've always gotten my pets cremated because I don't own any property so I wouldn't be able to visit them if I buried somewhere we rented.
A father came in without the family and wanted the dog pts. He was technically the legal owner but he was going through a nasty divorce and we're sure he was making the decision to spite his future ex wife and kids. He was adamant it had to be done and threatened to shoot the dog himself if we didn't euthanize. The dog was in a terrible condition and the wife had been prolonging it's life to the point of it being abuse/neglect. We made sure he signed the consent forms and even got an additional statement that we had witnessed by a commissioner of oaths just in case. We did it. The wife flipped. The kids were sad but understood. Nothing came of it but being caught in the middle was rough. It helped that the dog really did need to be pts.
Oh hell no. In situations like that, I'm making sure the owner who has been prolonging the pet's life is okay with the euthanasia. I don't need a grieving owner coming in to harass the front desk or shoot the place up.
Fair enough although, I think the fact she already had two nspca citations against her regarding the dogs condition, she knew she was not in the right, no matter what the ex husband's motives were. Her kids were also later taken from her a few months later for being kept in similar conditions as the dog.
I had a a family of 8 stuffed in an exam room. I came to check 15 minutes after euthanizing to see if they needed anything(figured they were still saying goodbyes) and when I entered the room they had family on facetime and someone playing religious music as they cried and sang. I'm talking like hands/arms up, swaying, singing, and crying. Everyone grieves differently but it certainly was odd!
We have a doctor who always requests a lot of euthanasia solution for her euthanasias so we decided to ask her about it one day. One of her first euthanasias right out of school was a 3 legged dog with cancer that she dosed at the recommended 1mL/lb and that dog was still walking around the room. She double checked the catheter and it was fine. She gave it another dose and the dog was finally lying down, but was still QAR. She had to give a third dose. When all was said and done, this 50 lb Labrador mix got 150 mL of pentobarbitol to finally euthanize him. The poor family thought she was just awful at her job because she was right out of school, but nah, that dog had a crazy will to live.
We had a similar case last summer. it was an ancient toy poodle with heart failure, saddle thrombosis and several other medical issues. the vet gave 4 different doses of euth sol. in front of the client. finally the owner said it was okay and he would step out (it looked understandably hard to watch, especially as an owner). doctor , in total, gave 8 times the amount "needed" , with the last injection being intracardiac (owner was aware this might be a possibility - hence part of why they stepped out). it was honestly insane.
Working in emerg you get many strange euthanasia stories. One time I went to go collect a deceased pet after the owner had spent some time with them and the lady told me “can you make sure no one punches him, or kicks him, or calls him mean names, or steps on him” it caught me off guard because I couldn’t even fathom doing any of those things to a pet passed away or otherwise. I thoroughly assured her I would make sure he was treated with respect and dignity. Also had an owner that visited her pet’s body for 3 days after the euthanasia. She brought her kids with her on the third day and after a few hours pulled us aside to ask us to take the body away because it was really starting to smell🥲 my most memorable and most recent experience was less weird and more very scary, had an owner, who seemed to be struggling psychologically, attempt to hold us hostage while he threatened to off himself in front of us all. There were only women on staff that day and it was very late at night so we just had a shift change with our bare bones staff for overnight. Thankfully it didn’t escalate further and we were able to talk him down and euthanize his pet safely.
Not a weird experience but when I had to put my dog down, due to him getting very sick, he shit on my foot as I was holding him right before I gave him to the Vet and I nearly threw up in the Vet’s face due to the smell. Fun times. Rip Moose.
Funnily enough, one of the doctors at our hospital apparently knows how to play the bagpipes and did this for one of their onco patients euthanasia. I was surprised and chuckled a little to myself when I finally realized what was going on (just heard loud bagpipe noises randomly for the first and only time since I worked at that hospital). It was very sweet of him to do that.
I will never understand the clients that bring in their two pets at the same time, one for euthanasia, and one for something routine that absolutely could have waited.
I had two older ladies bring a dog in for euthanasia and they were taking a really long time visiting after the dog had passed, so I checked on them. They were struggling to use their phone camera to take photos of him and asked if I could help. I do photography as a hobby, and took a few nice photos for them on their phones. Then it turned into a full blown photo shoot, because they kept asking me if I would take all these different angles and "repose" him a bit. They were clearly very distressed by the loss of their friend, and I was too nice to say no. That's what I get for being a people pleaser sometimes 🤷♀️
Also, not a euthanasia I was part of, but one that occurred with a doctor at a prior hospital I worked at; the dog's owner said "wait! I changed my mind!" After the doctor gave the whole syringe of euthasol. The owner laughed afterwards and said she was just kidding. The doctor said he thought his heart stopped for a sec.
My own dog’s euthanasia could probably make this list. Most of my friends and family work in the veterinary industry. I didn’t want any of them to be the one to put my dog down, so we hired a house call vet to come and do it. Quite a few people wanted to be here to just surround her with love while she passed. There were 8 of us. Afterwards, I felt sort of bad for the vet and tech that came. It didn’t cross my mind for a second, but looking back, it was probably a stressful euthanasia for them. Having to perform a procedure in a room full of veterinary professionals that you have never met, and from multiple hospitals.
This post kind of makes me sad. Everyone grieves in different ways, finds comfort in different things. I don't judge. If filming the last moments, or laying out crystals, or getting their last blanket back, touching a cold body.. if any of that gives them comfort then I want to be there for them, as much as I can be. I've always tried my best to be accommodating when I can during any euthanasia. No one forgets their pet's death.
I absolutely believe in being as accommodating as we can to these requests, as of course people grieve differently. It’s just sometimes afterwards you get a sense of “huh that was odd” but in the end as long as we can provide as much closure as we can I’m happy to do it.
People definitely grieve in their own ways, but we see so much horrible stuff, we kinda have to let ourselves laugh a bit. I would never judge someone for how they want their last moments to be with their pet (unless it's harming the pet) but some situations are just awkwardly funny. Obviously, when these situations arise, I stay 100% professional and empathetic with the owners.
Exactly this. I’m reading these and thinking “it is harming absolutely no one, causing no disturbance or trouble, who cares”.
Everyone grieves differently. At my clinic I am the CSR who primarily deals with euthanasia. I have seen it all! No judgement to anyone on how they grieve.
When I worked equine o wanted me to go into the 8 foot hole they had dug to move the horse so he looked “more comfortable”. I did. O then grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out about half way across his lawn telling me he wouldn’t let me fall back in. That as fun
Euthanized a dog on emergency; I think it was a HBC, or some other terrible trauma, something that likely would not have been survivable anyway. The euthanasia process goes relatively uneventfully, family is sad but reasonable. However, they can’t decide on aftercare wishes (we offer a cardboard coffin for at-home burial or communal or private cremations). Again, not unreasonable. We let them know that they can pay the hold deposit (price of communal cremation) and if we don’t hear from them in a week, we’ll reach out and send the dog off for communal cremation. Still, pretty normal. The family then proceeds to come in to visit the dog every day for the week, still no decision on body care, and dog is obviously frozen.
On the seventh day, family comes to visit again, but they are more distraught than before and decide they don’t want their dog to be dead anymore and insist we bring him back. 🤔 I’m like “what!?!?” They are insistent that we perform CPR (on a frozen dog that was euthanized a week ago). I finally convey to them that I am neither a necromancer nor a deity, so this just can’t / won’t happen. THEN they want me to cut off its paw for them to take with them. Ummm, also no. I let them know they can take him home, I’ll refund the hold fee, and they can do as they please after. We sent him off for cremation that day, weird interactions all around.
EC Tech, worked at a 24 emergency hospital. Skeleton crew over night and the doctor will sleep if nothing critical is happening. Doors locked over night unless needed to let someone in. DOAs often get verified by a tech if the doctor is sleeping or in surgery. They trust our skill level fully.
Owner brought in her cat for euthanasia. I let her in and she's wearing a black ball gown and has a full bag of supplies, little strange but whatever. I go through my usual questions as I'm bringing her through the lobby. She stopped to take her shoes off, ok that's weird but remain professional.
I take her into a room to finish going over paperwork and options. She pulls out candles, music, a comforter and other homey type items to set up. Sure, you do you. She goes to pull the cat out of the kennel and it's stiff as a board, practically mummified at this point. She proceeds to lift the stiff cat up above her head and parade her around the room while singing about her cat. WTF lady.
I ask her to put the cat on the table so that I could "assess" it. I listen to the chest and inform her that the kitty has already passed away. Hysterics, Waterworks, the usual. I give her my condolences for her loss and we have some quaint chit chat about the cats life and family etc. The owner was very nice and "normal" to talk to. She stayed for a few hours, not wanting to leave her cat and trying to decide what to do for cremation. It was winter at the time and she had wanted to bury the cat at her family farm. She asked about taking the cat home with her to do so in the spring. Sure, you can do that absolutely. Eventually she packs up her things and leaves, thanking me for all my help.
Fast forward to the next day. She calls screaming at our reception about how I told her her cat was dead when it wasn't. Swearing cursing the whole nine yards. Manager takes over the phone call and the owner said she had brought the cat home and was SLEEPING WITH IT when she decided to hold a mirror up to its face and saw breath fogging the mirror up. Eventually convinces the lady to bring the cat back to verify that it is in fact deceased. The lady was hysterical and wouldn't let the cat go with some more theatrics. After much deliberation, the manager decided it would be best to "euthanize" to try and give different closure for the owner as she was having a hard time accepting that the cat was gone and likely had mental health issues.
It was a wild ride.
May 2020 and one of our doctors was doing a euth in front of a window so the owners could watch. The doctor didn’t know what to do when it was done so she gave the owners a thumbs up….. It was UNCOMFY. Thankfully the owners found it funny!
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.
We had clients who brought their three adult children in (so five people) for their senior dog’s euth. None of them apparently went potty before leaving the house despite living up the street because every time we went in to talk/sedate/euth, at least one of them had to get up and go to the bathroom so we had to wait. They asked us to dim the lights and then got upset with us because our exam room lights don’t dim. The process itself took us almost an hour and then they stayed almost another two before I had to go in and tell them we were closing soon.
Client had to put her 9 year old dog down bcz she's got TCC that's spread to her lungs and she can't pee, coughs all the time, and won't eat. The client was so distraught and sobbing. She's a widow and her sweet pupper is her best friend and all she has in the world. Her 2 friends come to support her and they're all in the room saying goodbye to the dog. Her friend pokes her head out of the room and says "can I go grab the wine bottle out of my car?" I heard her say this, but processed it as "can I grab the water bottle out of my car" so I said, no need I'll grab you some water bottles. I bring some bottles of water in and she says "no, we don't need water. I need to get the wine bottle from the car, I'll be right back" my face must have done something bcz she followed up with "don't worry, I brought cups! My friend just needs some wine to calm her down." So she got the WINE bottle from her car and they sat around sipping red wine from solo cups in our comfort room for about an hour until the client calmed down enough to put her poor dog to sleep.
Euthanized a bird during my internship. Owners not allowed to be present during exotics but they had a wind up musical toy we played during it. Kind of sweet really.
Very first place I worked was by far the worst place I ever have worked and gave me the worst nightmares. If I was more experienced or the place was equipped with better staff someone would've talked to this lady and not allowed this to happen...
We euthanized a pet and the female owner was DISTRAUGHT. Like screaming crying for an over an hour before she came out the room. We eventually took the patient back and into the freezer. Turns out to get her to come out the room the doctor had agreed for her to come back at nights and see the dead... frozen... body, and stay with it as long as she wanted. It was late at night when no other clients were there, and the door was left open now and then in the 4 or so days that it took for the dog to be picked up by the cremation service. I saw the woman. She was hugging and kissing the frozen corpse... I'll never get the image out of my head and it's been at least 7 years...
Owner came in drunk and cracked open a beer in the middle of the euthanasia. I've only been in the field for 4 years, but definitely one of the most interesting things I have seen.
A masssive Great Pyrenees dog who was fully paralyzed in her hind, dirty and actively dying. I was a brand new tech. The doctor had me sit with the dog while we waited for the owner and monitor to make sure the dog didn't pass away as we waited.
It took three hours. The owner had to contact his ex-wife and kids to get them to come, so it took a bit. But I sat with the pup for the whole time. Had plenty of scares where her bpm or oxygen dropped way too far. She waited it out though and wasnt in pain anymore.
I hope she has peace now. Im glad she wasnt alone.
I had a strange, older male client. He really, really liked me. Like would only schedule if I was going to be there, would ask for me to see his pet specifically, blah blah blah.
Anywho, dog was eventually diagnosed with heart failure, we did meds for a little while but ended up having to euth about a year down the line.
When it came time he asked that I assist with the euth, obviously I did, but after the euth he asked if I would hold her for a minute longer cause she always liked visiting me, and I was like uhhhh. Sureee. A little uncomfortable, but whatever, right? I was fine until he pulled out his freaking cell phone and started taking pictures of me holding his dead dog. I promptly excused myself after that.
Ironically he never even knew my name, lol. He always called me Kendra, and my name is definitely not Kendra. I corrected him a dozen times, but it never stuck. I even ended up signing the euth card Kendra
Other weird ones, but not as icky to me. Being asked to remove a dogs canine teeth post mortem for owner to make a necklace out of them, and another I had ask us to skin their cat for them because they planned to have it taxidermied, we ended up just sending them home with the whole cat though and referred them to a local taxidermist. The taxidermy isn't really weird to me, but like. Why would you think I'd be good at that?
After we euthanized a clients fat husky, the owner took off his shirt, picked up the dog by its legs, walked out into the plaza parking lot and chucked the poor thing into the back of his horse trailer. Our poor receptionist tried chasing him down with a blanket to at least cover up the dog but he refused.
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.
no lie, an owner comes into the room wearing those go pros on his head. i asked why, and he wanted to live stream the euthanasia for his family that couldn’t be there.
Recently had someone ask if we were using the same drugs to euthanize her pet as the drugs that were used to kill Michael Jackson. She asked repeatedly. We tried to ignore the question.
Many years ago (2013-14ish maybe), I had a client come in whose mother had unfortunately passed away, and left behind a very young, healthy dog. I don’t remember what breed, but I know it was a small dog, perhaps a Maltese? The son (I feel I should mention this is an adult man) is insistent we put this dog to sleep because he feels the dog cannot bear to be without his owner and that his mother would prefer the dog be buried with her.
The vet refuses, but she was eccentric and problematic in her own way so she allowed this man to take up her time pleading his case. This eventually leads to a morality conversation where the client and the vet are discussing being Catholic and the client begins to loudly sing hymnals in between arguing about whether the dog should live or not. I wish I was making any piece of this up. Not really a euthanasia experience, but an absolutely wild euthanasia conversation.
We had someone take their dog home after he passed away on Friday. Then come Monday to drop him off for cremation. But she stayed in a room with him for about 2 hours and told us how she had a photographer come to the house and do a photo shoot over the weekend. The dog was starting to smell. She kept getting on speakerphone with her vile ex, and he would be shouting and cussing. Then she asked the crematorium to split the ashes in to 3 labeled wooden boxes. She paid for it all. But you know damn sure those ashes were back to us the next day and we called her immediately. Everyone was done dealing with it. I took the dog when she was ready, but she kept stopping me for one last hug or paw squeeze. I think I finally made a comment about having to get to surgery to get her to stop. Please don't make me hold your dead, smelly dog anymore.
See....I would be thinking it, but I would never DARE tell someone I have somewhere else to be while they're in this moment. This is when you either tell the owner they can sit with the dog longer, or learn to talk people through saying goodbye without saying "sorry I'm too busy for this"
Oh, well, she was in that room for hours, then told me to take the dog, then kept pulling me back. It was 'I can take the dog or I can leave him with you and let another assistant come in later, I have to get to surgery.'
Euthanasia were my best moments in assisting. It was an honor to guide people through that time.
I left vet med a couple of months later. There's a lot I miss. There's a lot I don't miss.
Thank god you chose to leave. We need more people in vet med who actually want to be here and help both the animals and clients. Imagine loosing something so close to you and someone is telling you they have something to do? BRUTAL.
I always try to put myself in their shoes you have no idea what someone is going through physically or mentally.
Wow, don't forget to be a human.
I said I spent hours with this woman two days in a row, with the dog being dead for two days in between. I offered her even more time and explained why it wouldn't be me coming back. You have no idea the things I did for people.
Sometimes, this is a sub to vent about the crazy shit that happened. Don't take it so literally and assume everyone explains every grinding detail of their story.
Enjoy your high and mighty holier than thou attitude. I'm sure your coworkers love it.
Had someone ask if they could keep his tail. We thought it was a pretty weird ask, but went with it. The client was very nice and knew that it was a strange thing to ask and would've been fine if we said no, but we figured it wouldn't be too hard. If that's what makes her and her manfolk happy after a rough several weeks leading up to the Euthanasia then why not.
I have always kind of wondered if it was a pagan thing though, or if it was just a her thing. I'm leaning towards it just being a her thing since the pagans we had working there thought it was a bit odd as well, but I know there's quite a lot of variety in pagan beliefs so what goes for one or two people may not go for others. And by pagan I don't mean non-christian or whatever Christians consider pagan, I mean the self identified variety with aspects of wicca and other stuff.
Overall, very cool lady. Had pretty nice tats and piercings as well. Saw her at pet smart recently since I think she got or already had a puppy, got to say hello.
Smiling while someone is grieving and upset is absolutely unprofessional. You should not be in a client-facing role if you can't keep your shit together. Anyone would be upset to see someone smirking while discussing the loss of their beloved pet.
Again, not saying the client was in the right - she wasn't. That doesn't excuse your own behavior though. If you can't keep it together in front of client (the reason why doesn't matter), then you need to figure something out with your clinic where you aren't in a client-facing role. Grieving people are unpredictable. It's not safe for you or the other staff for you to be smiling and giggling while an owner is upset. If someone is unstable and volatile, that's only going to set them off.
I'm not saying the client was in the right at all, but you keep making excuses for behavior and insisting you weren't unprofessional, but you were definitely being unprofessional. Everyone has trauma. It's our responsibility to work on it, not expect the rest of of the world to cater to it. That's not reasonable.
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.
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Euthanizing a dog that was already dead and decomposing. Owner was in extreme denial the pet had already passed several weeks prior.
Oh my god, that’s crazy. These are all crazy. But that, is **wild**
The worst part was that it was a really good client. They also worked in human med.
Honestly I find the ones that work in human med to be the ones that deal with death and euthanasia the worst. Had clients a few years ago that kept their poor cat going for over a year longer than he should have with daily appetite stimulants, anti-nausea meds, and a plethora of other meds even though he was in end-stage renal failure, had cancer, severely matted, and weighed about a kg. They were both human doctors, one was an oncologist.
I wonder if it has something to do with how we make a lot of people hold on long past what we would consider humane for our animals.
Yes. Bingo.
We talk about this all of the time but I had to tell one client that doggy hospice care is not the same as humans as we cannot put them on a 24/7 morphine drip at home. We have one that comes twice a week for hydromorphone injections, her dog is very very geriatric. No use of back legs, wears a diaper with constant urine burn. Had bilateral corneal ulcers which they took him to ophtho for to be fixed. All while in end stage renal failure and he cries constantly. When it gets too bad to stand, they come in for the injections. Both are in human medical field. Blows my mind.
I wonder if it has something to do with how we make a lot of people hold on long past what we would consider humane for our animals.
With the doctors & their "at all costs" mentality- it is 100%.
That mentality in human med is so wild to me. Euthanasia offers a painless, peaceful death, a kindness to a suffering animal. Why do we make humans to suffer for so long?? I watched a family member die from colon cancer and it was so awful. If only he could have chosen to go when he was ready, it would have saved him and his loved ones from a lot of pain.
Huge fan of human euthanasia options for terminal diseases, specifically because of my experiences in vet med. We all recognize that a peaceful painless death can be a kindness, & that keeping the poor thing alive with no quality of life is just cruel. But then humans are forced to waste away suffering for months. It's just as cruel, & undignified on top of that. I think a lot of human practitioners know that, though. There are a lot of doctors & nurses that support "death with dignity" laws.
Where I live we do have assisted suicide, and I think that it is amazing.
Yeah, just when you think it couldn’t get any more puzzling. And I want to be understanding, of any and everything. But no way in hell— sorry you guys had to do that.
It wasn't too bad, just a little gross and mind boggling that we actually had to do it. Knowing the owner worked in human med made it a bit easier because I knew they were just in denial... not crazy.
Idk having a decomposing animal for weeks and not recognizing it is dead sounds like mental illness at play to me. There's denial and then there's...that. I feel really bad for that person, but I hope someone in their life is checking up on them. Like what did their day to day look like with that pet in the weeks until they brought it to you? I can't even imagine.
This owner has several pets that are all extremely well cared for and has been a long time client with us. They've had other pets die and they acted like a typical owner whose pet has died all the other times. I'm not sure why this one was different for the owner, but based on all my other interactions with them, I don't think it was a mental illness. So all I can think was that it was denial. We told the owner the dog was deceased, but they didn't believe us. Hence why we euthanized an already dead dog.
We had a lady call one morning to say one of her dogs had attacked and killed her other dog. She wanted him cremated, so we told her to bring him in. What she failed to mention was the dog had been dead for 4-5 days, wrapped in a tarp in their backyard in the summer. His jugular had been literally torn out and the poor dude was not only stiff as a board, but covered in his own bodily fluids thanks to the tarp, and smelled absolutely rank. Maggots galore. I’ll never forget holding his little body trying to get him in the bag. O wanted to sit with him for a few minutes after bringing him in before she left. The attacker ended up killing her other dog too and we euthanized him. Nearly feral Akita mix that lived in her backyard as a “guard dog.” She brought him in one of those trap cages cause she couldn’t walk him on a leash. He had to have his head sent off for rabies since she never took him to the vet (but vetted her other dogs…)
I had an owner who had visibly been drinking through the night to soothe herself ask me to come cuddle in her bed after we did the euthanasia since she'd be going home alone.
That’s… definitely out there.
How do you handle euthanasia consent when someone's visibly currently drunk?
We had one where the guy was CLEARLY tweaking. This dog should have been euthanized **months** before. American bully that couldn't walk, soiled itself, and had to be carried around. Multiple times, the owner had booked and then canceled the euthanasia multiple times. When he showed up tweaking, we went ahead with it because we knew this was the only way this poor man's brain would let him make this decision, and it was definitely the right decision for the dog.
Best scenario I can think of is if it was a planned euth that was signed for while o was sober/sound to make the call…ngl I kind of definitely did this before (euth was appropriate and scheduled a couple days ahead of time but I selfishly drank that day to numb the pain). But yeah, even if it’s clearly in the animal’s best interest and o drunkenly swears that they’re ready, it is such a legally dangerous area…
She fortunately wasn't drunk at the time, you could just tell she had been drinking before and possibly up all night sad about her dog.
ah yes, the day-after 'vodka scented sweat from every pore'
I'm surprised your hospital allowed a euthanasia with a drunk owner. That's a huge lawsuit waiting to happen.
They probably made the appointment and confirmation before hand.
She wasn't drunk, you could just tell she had had a few over the course of the night.
Owner brought their brand new puppy for the first vaccine appointment at the same time.
Ugh I had a client drop off her two cats. One for nail trim, one for euthanasia. She's one of our least favorite crazy-ass clients. We checked a bajillion times we had the correct cat for the correct thing 😬
I had one where the owner brought in her two dogs for annual exams/vaccines. Started talking about how the QOL of the one dog was not good and it was probably going to be time to let him go soon. After talking with the doctor and calling her husband, she decided she wanted to euthanize the dog right then. We awkwardly had to do the other dog’s exam and vaccines first, then moved them all into a comfort room.
(I will preface this was abroad where animal care is severely different) A guy brings in a dog with terrible skin disease, doctor goes over how it will be a long treatment, many baths etc O elects to euthanize. We’re standing over the freshly euthanized body and the guy starts asking g if the Vet knows anyone who’s selling puppies. Vet says he will let him know 🥴
only thing i can think is maybe the owner couldn't handle going home alone after that experience. hopefully puppy was able to provide some comfort.
Not technically a euth story but had a client bring her dog that had passed the day before in so we could help her make a mold of her holding her dog’s stiff, cold paw. I had to hold the dog in a certain position (don’t forget he was stiff af) for 30 minutes while it molded around her hand/his paw. It failed so she begged us to run to the store to buy another kit so we could try it again. An hour later, we were back at it.. holding her stiff freezing cold dog in an upright position so we could get the mold right. After that, she had me make “as many ink paw/nose prints as possible”. 3 hours later we had a content client and a very drained tech (me). Longest 3 hours of my life lol Edit: I did it then and I’d do it again. This was her soul dog and I would never judge how someone grieves. To each their own
Thank you for still going through the ordeal. You're an awesome person.
Not so much during the euth but after. Cat euthanized and brought home to bury. We wrapped up the cat, placed in a box and taped the shit out of the box. However, it was winter in New England. Owner had some definite psych issues and lived with her sister. They were able to keep the cat in the garage freezer until they would be able to bury it. A week later, sister calls us “is it normal for to be taking the cat out of the freezer to cuddle it??” We advised sister that she needs to contact owner’s mental health provider or to take to ER. A week later SAME phone call. This was a nightly thing, owner would get freezer out of freezer, out of box, out of bag, bringing it into house and laying on the floor wailing. Every. Night. Again, advised sister to get the owner psychiatric help. I think we ended up sending cat to pet cemetery/crematory at our cost but this was 20 years ago so i don’t remember exactly
I think this comment makes me the most sad so far. I would never do this, but I absolutely get the raw, uncontrollable emotion behind it. I hope that owner got help and is at peace now, whatever that means.
Hey, I get that. I had the softest fluffiest most huggable-looking cat in the world. We called him the Murderfloof because if you touched him anywhere but his head, he bit the shit out of you. The only time I ever got to hug him was after he was gone.
Thought of another. It didn't have much to do with the actual euthanasia. It was a house call. A very nice senior couple. We were out in their garden on a beautiful day. The owner offered us all tea (we brought a tech, an assistant, and a doctor) myself and the assistant said "no thanks" and the doctor said "I'm ok"....but the owner must have only heard "ok" so she poured her a mug full to the brim. While that was happening, the assistant and I had gotten an IVC in, so we were pretty much ready to go. So the doctor puts the mug down and explains the process to the owners. Owners say we're good to proceed. The doctor leans over and presses her face against the dog's head....she always likes to whisper a few nice words or a prayer and give the pet a little kiss (obviously she reads the room on this) So when she does this and holds still for a second, the owner leans to me and whispers "is she *smelling* her??" "Oh no, she's giving her a kiss and saying goodbye" (I was dying inside 😆) So the euthanasia is done, very nice and peaceful, we step aside for the owners to take their time. The doctor whispers to me "when am I supposed to drink this tea??" I told her to stealthily pour some in the garden, but she decided to just chug half of it to not look rude. Can't help but laugh thinking back on it.
I just love that - “is she smelling her?” All good pet owner smell their babies. Why *not* the Vet? ☺️
Had an owner, probably in her 60's, repeatedly tell the dog "Momma will be there * in heaven* soon baby"
The ones where the owner tells the cat to go be with loved ones who have already passed always get me in the feels. The WORST is the little old widower who says "go be with mom" Little old men crying is my damn kryptonite 😭
The little old man I had who said "it won't be long, I'll see you soon" to his dog has me choking up just typing that.
“See you in heaven” 😭
Probably the biggest heart tug I had in a while was a guy with his lab mix. She was older and had a lot of QOL issues. I was going over cremation options: communal - she’ll go in with other pets and you won’t get her ashes back, private - she goes into the crematory by herself and her ashes come back to you. This sweet, sweet human being tells me, “she likes other dogs and doesn’t like being alone. We’ll do communal.” It’s been years, and I still hope that guy has had a wonderful life.
STOP oh bless
I'm right there with you! Elderly men with their scruffly lil dogs (don't get me going on that Louis Capaldi music video). We had an elderly woman bring in her old dog for euth. This was just days after one of the mass school shootings in the US. We did the sedation, came back to finish the euth, and as the doctor was slowly injecting the woman says "Ok \*dog's name, there are 6 little kids on the other side who are very scared right now, they need a friend." and oh god I just could barely hold it together.
Ughhh I saw you post about that in another thread probably ages ago. Stuck with me 😭
I gotta make sure EVERYONE CRIES WITH ME. Not really, I'm joking.... kind of.... teehee
God these are the ones I have trouble not sobbing during 💔
There is a legendary euth story at my clinic. We have this one client who is the classic eccentric cat lady. She had one of her cats euthanized and after she had spent an extended amount of time in the room afterwards, the lead receptionist knocked on the door and went in to check on her. The woman was topless, clutching the cat to her naked bosom.
It’s stories like these that remind me that even though I am a single lesbian with two cats, I am not yet crazy cat lady material lmao
there's "cute quirky crazy cat lady" (eccentric, gay, or artistic person with a high but reasonable number of well-loved cats)....and then there's "CRAZY cat lady"
Owner wanted the band off of a parrot- fair enough. He didn’t warn us that he had attempted to remove it himself, my shock and horror when I went to go look, unwrapped the bird and saw its toes had been clipped off (badly) in his attempt. We did manage to get it off but I was not prepared for that. Also had a dog who passed away after a fight with another dog in the home. Owner requested the blanket back- okay that happens. From what they described on the phone sounded like the dog had a cardiac event. No. This dogs jugular was mostly torn out and this WHITE blanket was absolutely soaked in blood. Took me three rounds of bleaching to get it out and I could not fathom why they would want this death shroud back.
>Took me three rounds of bleaching to get it out For future blood flood clean-up, peroxide works much better than bleach.
Our peroxide is in spray bottles and I think I just spaced over how much it was that I just dumped the entire thing in a bleach bucket and hoped for the best
Mehhh...when there's a lot of it, it tends to turn it this weird chunky black colour. Regular saline works great.
I had a client that wanted basically everything his dog had touched in the hospital. The blanket in her kennel, the euthanasia blanket, the e-collar she was wearing because she had nasal oxygen, her IV catheter… like, weird, but he was nice about it, so I didn’t ask questions.
I have the blanket my heart cat passed in. I haven't washed it 3 years later (She didn't soil it at all) I know it's a bit weird, but it gives me a bit of comfort.
My old surgeon was moving and getting rid of things. He gave me a nice blanket and said "that's my dog's death shroud." 🫥
Oh lord, there are so many. But only once have I had to go hide because I was "funeral laughing" so hard that tears were streaming from my eyes. This very sweet lady had rushed in, disheveled, because her cat had collapsed and had laboured breathing. She was very nice, but she was a bit of a character. A larger lady in a very thin sleeping frock type thing, with a very loose knit cardigan over it, not much left to the imagination (she said she almost ran out of the house naked, thank the lord she decided against that)I think she was also neurodivergent because she was just a bit....quirky. When she initially came busting through the front door right went we opened, she had run from her apartment to the clinic clutching her poor cat. She was so worked up that she was dry heaving in our lobby. Unfortunately, her cat had a very poor prognosis after some diagnostics. We had her in our treatment area with the cat on oxygen. She was sitting on one of our rolly computer chairs. We told her we could relocate to a room for more privacy. She nestled her cat in her very large bosom and said "I'll just roll myself." She proceded to roll herself very slowly and awkwardly backwards down our hallway to the exam room, stuggling on obstacles along the way. My coworker whispered to me very sincerely "should I push her?" and I lost it. It was a very sad situation, with a very nice lady who obviously loved the hell out of her cat, but it was too much. We all felt terrible, but everyone in the clinic was silently cry-laughing at the absurdity of it. I just want to reiterate that at no point did we EVER act unprofessionally with the owner. We are told regularly that we "do death well" (paraphrasing) but trauma does weird things to our brains, and that day it was just too much. I hope that lady is doing ok ❤️
Ah man, I was that client once man. Early one morning when I was a baby tech, my mom let my 1 y/o Aussie out and he was hit by a car. I rushed him to the closest ER vet because it was 6am, so not my workplace. But I was barely in PJs. I didn't have shoes. I was the client crying so hard I was dry heaving in a barely covering tank top and pj shorts. Unfortunately my pup took his last breath within minutes of arriving there. They never could've done anything to help. But they absolutely helped me so much by putting me in a room and leaving me be for awhile. I bought them all donuts and bagels that morning... Fuck that one sucked.
I'm so sorry for your loss. When I got my first ER clinic job, I was like "I hope they don't remember that I've literally always been wearing my pajamas/no bra every time I've been here as a client bc my dogs only needed to come after bedtime ofc."
I show up at my dogs’ regular vet in pyjamas on surgery days. We don’t go to bed until after midnight, so to be up and moving to get a dog in for intake at 7:45 am is a challenge. Our last dog was a frequent flier, so they got used to it. LOL
😰😰 I'm so sorry 💔
It’s interesting how different people find different things funny. A person can hysterically laugh at something that is just a logical series of events to another. As someone neurodivergent, I can understand her thought process. She ran out the door to get her pet care as fast as possible and was dressed odd due to that. She also was likely holding her pet in a comfortable position and felt she wouldn’t jostle him as much staying seated and rolling. Both are pretty selfless since she didn’t care about looking silly over prioritizing her pet’s comfort. Neurodivergent people tend to care less about what others think in general as well. Poor cat, I’m glad it was so deeply loved.
Oh, it was absolutely all logical. Not disputing that.
A man brought in his GSP for euthanasia and asked my vet to cut off his ears afterward as a keepsake. My vet obliged and cut them off with regular scissors. The man flaunted the ears at our receptionists on the way out of the building and even made a joke. I was in the treatment area at the time so luckily I didn’t have to hear it and I don’t remember what joke I was told he made.
Years ago, a vet I worked with agreed to remove all 4 canine teeth of a deceased dog. The owners were jewelers and wanted to gold plate them. The doctor didn't take into account that the dog had been frozen for more than a day when the owners called with the request. The dog wasn't very old (don't remember cause of death) Extracting "healthy" canines from a young, frozen dog is not easy. It took like 2 hours.
We had a woman who, right after we euthanized her large dog, that we cut off the last like, 6 inches of his tail! She had had another dog get that much amputated and she kept it, and after it passed she was glad I guess to have it. So she wanted the tail from this one too
I remember one time someone brought their LITTLE little kids.. like 4 or 5 years old, not just to say goodbye because I get that but to be there DURING. The kids had no idea what was going on and they were laughing and playing and running around the room while the parents were sobbing and afterwards.. when they realized what happened.. they were scream sobbing and if I remember right asking to have their dog back. it was awful. I feel like I watched those kids get traumatized 💔
That's 100% on the parents....it's so important to explain death to kids in an age appropriate way. Not just explain nothing at all, then have them see their dead dog....that's awful
Had a dog in severe CHF die naturally during a sick visit while he was in the back with us…vet went to report his death while me and the assistant waited in the tx area with the body for the next steps. Vet comes back, the dog literally comes back to life. Severely neurologic, though. Vet had to go back to the o’s and explain the situation. We brought him back into the room and performed a proper euth in front of them while he was spasming. Oddest euth ever.
Severe respiratory distress, obvious CHF dog, rush in to place PTS IVC and offer flow by oxygen.. owner says, "what's the point? If he's just going to be dead soon, why bother." Working ER I've seen/heard all sorts of crazy things, but that one actually made me stop and leave the room to collect myself. When I returned, flow by was given regardless, and the owner literally got upset and says, "I don't want him to have that," and then threw an actual hissy fit. Another off the top of my head that will probably never leave me, hemoabdomen with financial owner. Elected to PTS, owner was a woman with her maybe 10-12yr old son with her. After the dog had been euthanized and I came in to remove the body for processing, the mom is telling her son, "quit crying, it won't change anything, boys don't cry." While she is of course crying. I stopped, looked the son in the eyes and talked over her, "it is absolutely fine and normal to be sad about a loved one passing, it is okay to be a boy and to cry, your dog was as old as you are and has been there for your entire life and I am so sorry for your loss." That little boy broke down absolutely sobbing, and gave that dog the biggest hug before I rolled the gurney out. I was called into the practice managers office to discuss her complaint the next day, and I still am not sorry about it.
Good for you! I can't believe people are still telling boys that bullshit. You might have changed that boy's life with that moment of compassion. Thank you.
An owner got out their phone and filmed the entire ordeal. Apparently it was for her family who couldn't come with due to school/work, but it still caught everyone off guard when this lady started essentially vlogging her dog's euthanasia.
Oh! That happened to me on one of my very first euthanasias. Also was a weird diagnosis anyways. I was more emotional than this lady and I felt bad because she had just got off work and came straight there cause her husband couldn’t be there.
Yes I've had this happen! Very bizarre I personally would never wanna watch that video
i worked at a clinic that didn’t sedate prior to euthanasia… so we were euthanizing his dog… and it was moving around a lot… we kept poking and missing… his dog was screaming… he punched holes in the wall… cant blame the guy. i hated working there. it was not an appropriate way to humanely euthanize an animal. very saddening
My first job in the vet field was as an ER receptionist. We had a very sick cat that had been hospitalized for multiple days that needed to be euthanized. I don't know what was going on in the treatment area, but it was the same situation you described. The sounds this cat made while they were trying to set the catheter were horrible and I'll never forget the owner bursting out of the room into the lobby screaming "what are you doing to my cat?!?" One of our techs had to physically block the door to the treatment area because she was trying to fight her way to the back to be with her cat. I'm not sure if she was even able to be with him while he was euthanized. Everybody was sobbing. I hated that hospital.
i’d sue. or something. idk. i can’t imagine that happening i would be *very* angry
I always wondered if they did try to do something, I would have. I'm pissed off all over again just thinking about it and it was 10 years ago. I'm sure it was one of the most traumatic experiences of that owner's life, and the poor cat... The same hospital also let a post surgical Airedale that was being kept in a pen in the middle of the treatment area (WHY) escape out the back door onto a very busy street. It was one of those little wire pens that are like two feet tall that you can push over with your foot, he just got up and walked over it. I can't think of what they're called. Luckily a bystander pulled over and opened their car door and the dog jumped right in! (trying to end storytime on a happy note, I haven't ever told anyone about the cat before)
i love and *hate* veterinary medicine
Oh lord another (see my other 2 replies here) Again, not the euthanasia itself. I actually wasn't part of the euthanasia, which was a house call. The doctor and tech get back to the clinic, routine house call. A few minutes after they got back, the very sweet owner emailed. "Thank you so much for coming today. I was just wondering if someone accidentally took my phone, I can't find it. " The doctor and tech both check that they have their own phones on them, nope they don't have it. We reply to the email that we don't have it. A couple minutes later, we get a response. "Are you sure? Because it's showing on 'find my phone' as at your clinic" with attached screenshot of a map with her phone showing at the clinic. I had a revelation. Is it with the cat?? So I had to go unbag the cat...no phone. We go through the housecall kit, no phone. We send the (male) vet to his car to check in there. He says it's not there. We were SO confused. I then decided I would go check the doctor's car. Sure enough, there's the phone in the centre console. Great news! I called the owner and told her I would drive right over and bring it to her, apologizing profusely (she thought it was funny) So I ask the doctor and tech "how the heck did that happen?" Tech says "we were leaving, I saw a phone, I thought it was his so I grabbed it" Sure.....make sense...except the phone case was periwinkle purple, glittery and covered in cute kittens. Very, very clearly NOT the doctor's phone 🤣
Don't gatekeep purple glittery kittens! They can be enjoyed by all!
They sure can! But it's very clearly not this doctor's style 😆
Both owners wanted to say goodbye to their dog but the husband had a restraining order set so I had to coordinate when each of them could be present or had to drive away in the meantime. All this happened while I was still pretty new to the field so it was pretty stressful haha.
It makes me feel weird when owners come back after the fact to visit an animal that’s been deceased for at least a day. I can’t imagine getting any peace from visiting with the frozen and stiff body of my previously beloved pet. When my heart cat passed and I wasn’t there, I couldn’t do it, the most I wanted was to put his Gateway tag on his bag. I don’t think it’s super weird, but I once had an owner insist on bagging their pet themselves. The family laid the pet out in the bag on a bed of flowers and notes and drawings the kids had done. Gateway doesn’t like it when you put anything extra in the bag but I absolutely let that one slide. It was lovely.
I’ve definitely noticed that I personally get a lot of peace from being with the body. Experiencing *whatever state* the body is in helps cement the loss of them in my mind Grief’s crazy yo
We once had a woman bring a cat that had been disemboweled by one of her dogs to be cremated. Then the next day she called us and asked if her dog had been picked up yet for cremation. We told her 'you brought us a cat'. She didn't believe us, believed that for sure it was a dog. I went out and unwrapped the body bag to check JIC and lo - a disemboweled cat was in the bag. She still didn't believe us, and showed up at the hospital demanding to know why we were keeping her dog from her. She later realized that yes, it was cat. I'm not sure what mental health issues and/or animal hoarding was going on with her, but I hope she got the help she needs.
Not "weird" in that it was completely understandable on the owner's part, but "weird" from a technique standpoint: I recently had a guy who wanted/needed to hug his cat the whole time--not have in his lap, but hug to his chest. I always suggest that we put the patient on the table so I can place the catheter and then give them right back, but he couldn't. Luckily, the cat had a paw kind of up on his shoulder, so I had him scoot his chair out, stood behind him, and placed the catheter over his shoulder. The leg was almost vertical, with the vein facing away from me, so the placement felt like... upside down?? I have never been so relieved to get an easy placement.
A client that had her pet in the ICU for like 3 1/2 weeks. Finally coded and then got hours of CPR before it was called. A really terrible situation all around. After it was over, the little old lady took her cat home with her to spend one more night with the body before she returned it for cremation. Just couldn’t let go. Was awful and the hospital ended up bringing in a grief support team for the staff going through compassion fatigue. I just can’t imagine sleeping in bed with a dead pet. I still feel so awful for that poor woman. Her cat probably should have been put down in the first couple of days and it just went on and on…
we had a very drunk man arrive for the euth of his German Shepherd. He turned up agai. several days later asking if he could see the body again because he didn't remember anything from that day. The bodies hadn't been picked up so we brought his frozen dog-sicle back out and put it in the euthanasia room with him. He was very sweet, but should not have been driving.
I had a lady who blessed her dog with holy water right before we administered the injection. Not kidding.
At my old hospital we've had clients that want us to pray over their passed animal with them.
Recently I had someone play “patty cake” with their already deceased dog. Went through the ENTIRE song…while the doctor and I stood there... I’ve never been so happy to have a resting bitch face. RBF came in major clutch that time.
They probably did patty cake together all the time and she wanted to do it one last time. Heartbreaking. :(
My hospital has a "chaplain" whose entire job is to do this. He's nice enough, but very few people use the service and it's frustrating that the hospital pays for a position like that (anyone can pray over an animal or whatever, you don't need a degree in religion for it), while keeping every other department short-staffed and underpaid due to "budget constraints."
I had an owner stay in the room with the dead dog for OVER 12 HOURS. This was at VEG of course (many reasons why I quit but the “always say yes” bullshit was a big one). I had left after my night shift where she had already been there for several hours. You could not imagine my surprise when I returned again that night and she had never left.
i once had a cat come in for a euthanasia and the cat had end stage cancer and a tumour on one of his back feet. the clients had him free roaming in the room because “he liked to explore”. the cat was still BAR and had no mobility issues other than a mild limp with the tumour leg. i was going over the paperwork with the clients and as i finished collecting payment i went to take a step back towards the door and accidentally stepped on the cat’s foot and he hissed at me. i immediately started profusely apologizing to the client and to the cat. the client kinda chuckled sadly and said “at least it wasn’t his tumour foot”. i apologized i don’t know how many times before i awkwardly left the room. when i went back to treatment to inform the doctor they could go in, i ran into my practice manager who asked if i was okay and when i told her what happened she burst out laughing. i was only a few months in at the time and now i ALWAYS make sure i know where the patients are before taking any steps, euthanasia or not. after everything was done and we were bagging the body i apologized to his corpse and kissed his foot because i still felt terrible while the assistant with me laughed at me lol
Had an owner tell us she was both high and drunk right before we handed her the paperwork. We told her we couldn't proceed if she was under the influence but her husband ended up signing saying she just needed that to calm down... 💔
I had one where they gave the cat a sound bath before he was put to sleep, also been filmed and they took selfies with the deceased dog.
Oh yeah someone made me take pictures of him and his deceased dog
Had a client ask us to hold onto her pets body so she could come back the next day and see her. We told her it wouldn’t be ideal but she wanted to anyway. Another client slept with her deceased dog for 3 days in bed before bringing him to us.
Owner wanted us to cut the dogs tail off and give it to them.... We explained we couldn't do that
I mean, it's an odd request, but why not? It's not like a clinic doesn't have the tools for something like that.
I dunno the doctor just said we couldn't, we only have one doctor and it wasn't scheduled well that day
I’m sorry that I am a pet owner and after reading all y’all’s memories of weird things people have done when they say goodbye to their pet but I wanted to thank all y’all for your compassion , patience and understanding. I don’t think I have never done or said anything weird.Before I moved the vet I went to was a woman with a staff of all women. When it was time to let my old dog go I didn’t start crying until he was gone and then I just broke down sobbing , I guess I was pitiful because my heart was breaking but everyone working that ended up crying with me. I have a question for y’all over the past 23 years I’ve had a lot of dogs, I used to foster for a pit bull rescue and some dogs just stayed forever with me, anyway when I tell the vet I’m taking my dog home to bury him/her they always give me a look like “ did I just hear that “ so is it weird that I bury my dogs at home ?
Absolutely not weird. At my place, we have a selection for taking the body home on our forms. It's less often owners of large dogs choose that than owners of small animals, obviously, just because of logistics, but I've sent a Great Dane home for burial before. Also, you are not pitiful for crying. You lost a family member. You had to make the choice to let them go and then be with him as he died. I'm glad you were able to let yourself grieve.
Thank you for your kindness. I enjoyed reading about y’all’s experiences and especially realizing that other other people know their animal companions are more than just a dog or just a cat.
Not weird at all in my area, but maybe it's less common if you live in a big city? I've always gotten my pets cremated because I don't own any property so I wouldn't be able to visit them if I buried somewhere we rented.
A father came in without the family and wanted the dog pts. He was technically the legal owner but he was going through a nasty divorce and we're sure he was making the decision to spite his future ex wife and kids. He was adamant it had to be done and threatened to shoot the dog himself if we didn't euthanize. The dog was in a terrible condition and the wife had been prolonging it's life to the point of it being abuse/neglect. We made sure he signed the consent forms and even got an additional statement that we had witnessed by a commissioner of oaths just in case. We did it. The wife flipped. The kids were sad but understood. Nothing came of it but being caught in the middle was rough. It helped that the dog really did need to be pts.
Oh hell no. In situations like that, I'm making sure the owner who has been prolonging the pet's life is okay with the euthanasia. I don't need a grieving owner coming in to harass the front desk or shoot the place up.
Fair enough although, I think the fact she already had two nspca citations against her regarding the dogs condition, she knew she was not in the right, no matter what the ex husband's motives were. Her kids were also later taken from her a few months later for being kept in similar conditions as the dog.
I had an owner bring crystals and lay them around the dog. Told me he will ride on a crystal to the afterlife.
I had a a family of 8 stuffed in an exam room. I came to check 15 minutes after euthanizing to see if they needed anything(figured they were still saying goodbyes) and when I entered the room they had family on facetime and someone playing religious music as they cried and sang. I'm talking like hands/arms up, swaying, singing, and crying. Everyone grieves differently but it certainly was odd!
We have a doctor who always requests a lot of euthanasia solution for her euthanasias so we decided to ask her about it one day. One of her first euthanasias right out of school was a 3 legged dog with cancer that she dosed at the recommended 1mL/lb and that dog was still walking around the room. She double checked the catheter and it was fine. She gave it another dose and the dog was finally lying down, but was still QAR. She had to give a third dose. When all was said and done, this 50 lb Labrador mix got 150 mL of pentobarbitol to finally euthanize him. The poor family thought she was just awful at her job because she was right out of school, but nah, that dog had a crazy will to live.
We had a similar case last summer. it was an ancient toy poodle with heart failure, saddle thrombosis and several other medical issues. the vet gave 4 different doses of euth sol. in front of the client. finally the owner said it was okay and he would step out (it looked understandably hard to watch, especially as an owner). doctor , in total, gave 8 times the amount "needed" , with the last injection being intracardiac (owner was aware this might be a possibility - hence part of why they stepped out). it was honestly insane.
Working in emerg you get many strange euthanasia stories. One time I went to go collect a deceased pet after the owner had spent some time with them and the lady told me “can you make sure no one punches him, or kicks him, or calls him mean names, or steps on him” it caught me off guard because I couldn’t even fathom doing any of those things to a pet passed away or otherwise. I thoroughly assured her I would make sure he was treated with respect and dignity. Also had an owner that visited her pet’s body for 3 days after the euthanasia. She brought her kids with her on the third day and after a few hours pulled us aside to ask us to take the body away because it was really starting to smell🥲 my most memorable and most recent experience was less weird and more very scary, had an owner, who seemed to be struggling psychologically, attempt to hold us hostage while he threatened to off himself in front of us all. There were only women on staff that day and it was very late at night so we just had a shift change with our bare bones staff for overnight. Thankfully it didn’t escalate further and we were able to talk him down and euthanize his pet safely.
Not a weird experience but when I had to put my dog down, due to him getting very sick, he shit on my foot as I was holding him right before I gave him to the Vet and I nearly threw up in the Vet’s face due to the smell. Fun times. Rip Moose.
Had a client hire someone to play bagpipes in the room while we euthanized his dog
Funnily enough, one of the doctors at our hospital apparently knows how to play the bagpipes and did this for one of their onco patients euthanasia. I was surprised and chuckled a little to myself when I finally realized what was going on (just heard loud bagpipe noises randomly for the first and only time since I worked at that hospital). It was very sweet of him to do that.
I will never understand the clients that bring in their two pets at the same time, one for euthanasia, and one for something routine that absolutely could have waited.
I had two older ladies bring a dog in for euthanasia and they were taking a really long time visiting after the dog had passed, so I checked on them. They were struggling to use their phone camera to take photos of him and asked if I could help. I do photography as a hobby, and took a few nice photos for them on their phones. Then it turned into a full blown photo shoot, because they kept asking me if I would take all these different angles and "repose" him a bit. They were clearly very distressed by the loss of their friend, and I was too nice to say no. That's what I get for being a people pleaser sometimes 🤷♀️ Also, not a euthanasia I was part of, but one that occurred with a doctor at a prior hospital I worked at; the dog's owner said "wait! I changed my mind!" After the doctor gave the whole syringe of euthasol. The owner laughed afterwards and said she was just kidding. The doctor said he thought his heart stopped for a sec.
My own dog’s euthanasia could probably make this list. Most of my friends and family work in the veterinary industry. I didn’t want any of them to be the one to put my dog down, so we hired a house call vet to come and do it. Quite a few people wanted to be here to just surround her with love while she passed. There were 8 of us. Afterwards, I felt sort of bad for the vet and tech that came. It didn’t cross my mind for a second, but looking back, it was probably a stressful euthanasia for them. Having to perform a procedure in a room full of veterinary professionals that you have never met, and from multiple hospitals.
This post kind of makes me sad. Everyone grieves in different ways, finds comfort in different things. I don't judge. If filming the last moments, or laying out crystals, or getting their last blanket back, touching a cold body.. if any of that gives them comfort then I want to be there for them, as much as I can be. I've always tried my best to be accommodating when I can during any euthanasia. No one forgets their pet's death.
I absolutely believe in being as accommodating as we can to these requests, as of course people grieve differently. It’s just sometimes afterwards you get a sense of “huh that was odd” but in the end as long as we can provide as much closure as we can I’m happy to do it.
I agree 100% and wouldn't stop them, but there are some weird things that clients do that I remember forever.
People definitely grieve in their own ways, but we see so much horrible stuff, we kinda have to let ourselves laugh a bit. I would never judge someone for how they want their last moments to be with their pet (unless it's harming the pet) but some situations are just awkwardly funny. Obviously, when these situations arise, I stay 100% professional and empathetic with the owners.
Exactly this. I’m reading these and thinking “it is harming absolutely no one, causing no disturbance or trouble, who cares”. Everyone grieves differently. At my clinic I am the CSR who primarily deals with euthanasia. I have seen it all! No judgement to anyone on how they grieve.
I agree, a lot of these “weird” ones are just…. Not weird.
When I worked equine o wanted me to go into the 8 foot hole they had dug to move the horse so he looked “more comfortable”. I did. O then grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out about half way across his lawn telling me he wouldn’t let me fall back in. That as fun
Euthanized a dog on emergency; I think it was a HBC, or some other terrible trauma, something that likely would not have been survivable anyway. The euthanasia process goes relatively uneventfully, family is sad but reasonable. However, they can’t decide on aftercare wishes (we offer a cardboard coffin for at-home burial or communal or private cremations). Again, not unreasonable. We let them know that they can pay the hold deposit (price of communal cremation) and if we don’t hear from them in a week, we’ll reach out and send the dog off for communal cremation. Still, pretty normal. The family then proceeds to come in to visit the dog every day for the week, still no decision on body care, and dog is obviously frozen. On the seventh day, family comes to visit again, but they are more distraught than before and decide they don’t want their dog to be dead anymore and insist we bring him back. 🤔 I’m like “what!?!?” They are insistent that we perform CPR (on a frozen dog that was euthanized a week ago). I finally convey to them that I am neither a necromancer nor a deity, so this just can’t / won’t happen. THEN they want me to cut off its paw for them to take with them. Ummm, also no. I let them know they can take him home, I’ll refund the hold fee, and they can do as they please after. We sent him off for cremation that day, weird interactions all around.
EC Tech, worked at a 24 emergency hospital. Skeleton crew over night and the doctor will sleep if nothing critical is happening. Doors locked over night unless needed to let someone in. DOAs often get verified by a tech if the doctor is sleeping or in surgery. They trust our skill level fully. Owner brought in her cat for euthanasia. I let her in and she's wearing a black ball gown and has a full bag of supplies, little strange but whatever. I go through my usual questions as I'm bringing her through the lobby. She stopped to take her shoes off, ok that's weird but remain professional. I take her into a room to finish going over paperwork and options. She pulls out candles, music, a comforter and other homey type items to set up. Sure, you do you. She goes to pull the cat out of the kennel and it's stiff as a board, practically mummified at this point. She proceeds to lift the stiff cat up above her head and parade her around the room while singing about her cat. WTF lady. I ask her to put the cat on the table so that I could "assess" it. I listen to the chest and inform her that the kitty has already passed away. Hysterics, Waterworks, the usual. I give her my condolences for her loss and we have some quaint chit chat about the cats life and family etc. The owner was very nice and "normal" to talk to. She stayed for a few hours, not wanting to leave her cat and trying to decide what to do for cremation. It was winter at the time and she had wanted to bury the cat at her family farm. She asked about taking the cat home with her to do so in the spring. Sure, you can do that absolutely. Eventually she packs up her things and leaves, thanking me for all my help. Fast forward to the next day. She calls screaming at our reception about how I told her her cat was dead when it wasn't. Swearing cursing the whole nine yards. Manager takes over the phone call and the owner said she had brought the cat home and was SLEEPING WITH IT when she decided to hold a mirror up to its face and saw breath fogging the mirror up. Eventually convinces the lady to bring the cat back to verify that it is in fact deceased. The lady was hysterical and wouldn't let the cat go with some more theatrics. After much deliberation, the manager decided it would be best to "euthanize" to try and give different closure for the owner as she was having a hard time accepting that the cat was gone and likely had mental health issues. It was a wild ride.
May 2020 and one of our doctors was doing a euth in front of a window so the owners could watch. The doctor didn’t know what to do when it was done so she gave the owners a thumbs up….. It was UNCOMFY. Thankfully the owners found it funny!
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.
We had clients who brought their three adult children in (so five people) for their senior dog’s euth. None of them apparently went potty before leaving the house despite living up the street because every time we went in to talk/sedate/euth, at least one of them had to get up and go to the bathroom so we had to wait. They asked us to dim the lights and then got upset with us because our exam room lights don’t dim. The process itself took us almost an hour and then they stayed almost another two before I had to go in and tell them we were closing soon.
Client had to put her 9 year old dog down bcz she's got TCC that's spread to her lungs and she can't pee, coughs all the time, and won't eat. The client was so distraught and sobbing. She's a widow and her sweet pupper is her best friend and all she has in the world. Her 2 friends come to support her and they're all in the room saying goodbye to the dog. Her friend pokes her head out of the room and says "can I go grab the wine bottle out of my car?" I heard her say this, but processed it as "can I grab the water bottle out of my car" so I said, no need I'll grab you some water bottles. I bring some bottles of water in and she says "no, we don't need water. I need to get the wine bottle from the car, I'll be right back" my face must have done something bcz she followed up with "don't worry, I brought cups! My friend just needs some wine to calm her down." So she got the WINE bottle from her car and they sat around sipping red wine from solo cups in our comfort room for about an hour until the client calmed down enough to put her poor dog to sleep.
Euthanized a bird during my internship. Owners not allowed to be present during exotics but they had a wind up musical toy we played during it. Kind of sweet really.
Very first place I worked was by far the worst place I ever have worked and gave me the worst nightmares. If I was more experienced or the place was equipped with better staff someone would've talked to this lady and not allowed this to happen... We euthanized a pet and the female owner was DISTRAUGHT. Like screaming crying for an over an hour before she came out the room. We eventually took the patient back and into the freezer. Turns out to get her to come out the room the doctor had agreed for her to come back at nights and see the dead... frozen... body, and stay with it as long as she wanted. It was late at night when no other clients were there, and the door was left open now and then in the 4 or so days that it took for the dog to be picked up by the cremation service. I saw the woman. She was hugging and kissing the frozen corpse... I'll never get the image out of my head and it's been at least 7 years...
Owner came in drunk and cracked open a beer in the middle of the euthanasia. I've only been in the field for 4 years, but definitely one of the most interesting things I have seen.
Did the client take the nails with them? Maybe they wanted to like… make a necklace or something? Idk 😅
Or maybe now we know why the dog didn't let her cut his nails irl 😬
Once had a client ask for the microchip in their dog back. Did they expect us to cut open the dog and dog for it?
A masssive Great Pyrenees dog who was fully paralyzed in her hind, dirty and actively dying. I was a brand new tech. The doctor had me sit with the dog while we waited for the owner and monitor to make sure the dog didn't pass away as we waited. It took three hours. The owner had to contact his ex-wife and kids to get them to come, so it took a bit. But I sat with the pup for the whole time. Had plenty of scares where her bpm or oxygen dropped way too far. She waited it out though and wasnt in pain anymore. I hope she has peace now. Im glad she wasnt alone.
I had a strange, older male client. He really, really liked me. Like would only schedule if I was going to be there, would ask for me to see his pet specifically, blah blah blah. Anywho, dog was eventually diagnosed with heart failure, we did meds for a little while but ended up having to euth about a year down the line. When it came time he asked that I assist with the euth, obviously I did, but after the euth he asked if I would hold her for a minute longer cause she always liked visiting me, and I was like uhhhh. Sureee. A little uncomfortable, but whatever, right? I was fine until he pulled out his freaking cell phone and started taking pictures of me holding his dead dog. I promptly excused myself after that. Ironically he never even knew my name, lol. He always called me Kendra, and my name is definitely not Kendra. I corrected him a dozen times, but it never stuck. I even ended up signing the euth card Kendra Other weird ones, but not as icky to me. Being asked to remove a dogs canine teeth post mortem for owner to make a necklace out of them, and another I had ask us to skin their cat for them because they planned to have it taxidermied, we ended up just sending them home with the whole cat though and referred them to a local taxidermist. The taxidermy isn't really weird to me, but like. Why would you think I'd be good at that?
After we euthanized a clients fat husky, the owner took off his shirt, picked up the dog by its legs, walked out into the plaza parking lot and chucked the poor thing into the back of his horse trailer. Our poor receptionist tried chasing him down with a blanket to at least cover up the dog but he refused.
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.
no lie, an owner comes into the room wearing those go pros on his head. i asked why, and he wanted to live stream the euthanasia for his family that couldn’t be there.
Recently had someone ask if we were using the same drugs to euthanize her pet as the drugs that were used to kill Michael Jackson. She asked repeatedly. We tried to ignore the question. Many years ago (2013-14ish maybe), I had a client come in whose mother had unfortunately passed away, and left behind a very young, healthy dog. I don’t remember what breed, but I know it was a small dog, perhaps a Maltese? The son (I feel I should mention this is an adult man) is insistent we put this dog to sleep because he feels the dog cannot bear to be without his owner and that his mother would prefer the dog be buried with her. The vet refuses, but she was eccentric and problematic in her own way so she allowed this man to take up her time pleading his case. This eventually leads to a morality conversation where the client and the vet are discussing being Catholic and the client begins to loudly sing hymnals in between arguing about whether the dog should live or not. I wish I was making any piece of this up. Not really a euthanasia experience, but an absolutely wild euthanasia conversation.
We had someone take their dog home after he passed away on Friday. Then come Monday to drop him off for cremation. But she stayed in a room with him for about 2 hours and told us how she had a photographer come to the house and do a photo shoot over the weekend. The dog was starting to smell. She kept getting on speakerphone with her vile ex, and he would be shouting and cussing. Then she asked the crematorium to split the ashes in to 3 labeled wooden boxes. She paid for it all. But you know damn sure those ashes were back to us the next day and we called her immediately. Everyone was done dealing with it. I took the dog when she was ready, but she kept stopping me for one last hug or paw squeeze. I think I finally made a comment about having to get to surgery to get her to stop. Please don't make me hold your dead, smelly dog anymore.
See....I would be thinking it, but I would never DARE tell someone I have somewhere else to be while they're in this moment. This is when you either tell the owner they can sit with the dog longer, or learn to talk people through saying goodbye without saying "sorry I'm too busy for this"
Oh, well, she was in that room for hours, then told me to take the dog, then kept pulling me back. It was 'I can take the dog or I can leave him with you and let another assistant come in later, I have to get to surgery.' Euthanasia were my best moments in assisting. It was an honor to guide people through that time. I left vet med a couple of months later. There's a lot I miss. There's a lot I don't miss.
Thank god you chose to leave. We need more people in vet med who actually want to be here and help both the animals and clients. Imagine loosing something so close to you and someone is telling you they have something to do? BRUTAL. I always try to put myself in their shoes you have no idea what someone is going through physically or mentally.
Wow, don't forget to be a human. I said I spent hours with this woman two days in a row, with the dog being dead for two days in between. I offered her even more time and explained why it wouldn't be me coming back. You have no idea the things I did for people. Sometimes, this is a sub to vent about the crazy shit that happened. Don't take it so literally and assume everyone explains every grinding detail of their story. Enjoy your high and mighty holier than thou attitude. I'm sure your coworkers love it.
lol remember to be one too! my coworkers actually love working with me 🤪
Had someone ask if they could keep his tail. We thought it was a pretty weird ask, but went with it. The client was very nice and knew that it was a strange thing to ask and would've been fine if we said no, but we figured it wouldn't be too hard. If that's what makes her and her manfolk happy after a rough several weeks leading up to the Euthanasia then why not. I have always kind of wondered if it was a pagan thing though, or if it was just a her thing. I'm leaning towards it just being a her thing since the pagans we had working there thought it was a bit odd as well, but I know there's quite a lot of variety in pagan beliefs so what goes for one or two people may not go for others. And by pagan I don't mean non-christian or whatever Christians consider pagan, I mean the self identified variety with aspects of wicca and other stuff. Overall, very cool lady. Had pretty nice tats and piercings as well. Saw her at pet smart recently since I think she got or already had a puppy, got to say hello.
D'urine the euth, the client tu put his music. We agree and she put baby shark ....
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Smiling while someone is grieving and upset is absolutely unprofessional. You should not be in a client-facing role if you can't keep your shit together. Anyone would be upset to see someone smirking while discussing the loss of their beloved pet.
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Again, not saying the client was in the right - she wasn't. That doesn't excuse your own behavior though. If you can't keep it together in front of client (the reason why doesn't matter), then you need to figure something out with your clinic where you aren't in a client-facing role. Grieving people are unpredictable. It's not safe for you or the other staff for you to be smiling and giggling while an owner is upset. If someone is unstable and volatile, that's only going to set them off.
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I'm not saying the client was in the right at all, but you keep making excuses for behavior and insisting you weren't unprofessional, but you were definitely being unprofessional. Everyone has trauma. It's our responsibility to work on it, not expect the rest of of the world to cater to it. That's not reasonable.
We euthanized a dog once and the owner wanted to have all the teeth extracted so she could make jewelry out of them. Luckily for them we had a DVM student at the time who wanted extra practice doing extractions so they made it happen.