Harvey's Place

Excerpt from Dr. Dani McVety of Lap of Love

There is not one perfect moment when euthanasia is supposed to occur unless the pet is truly suffering, something that we are trying to prevent in the first place. Rather, there is a subjective time period in which euthanasia is an appropriate decision to make.. This time period could be hours, days, weeks, or even months. Before this subjective period of time, veterinarians will refuse to euthanize a pet because a good quality of life still exists. (You can download our quality of life scale at *) After this period, however, we may push to euthanasia due to obvious sustained suffering. During this middle subjective time, however, euthanasia may not be your only decision, but it is certainly a good one. This is the time in which no veterinarian will refuse to euthanize and we will gently guide you through the process, even if it takes some time through hospice care. Some owners need time to come to terms with the decline of their pet while others want to prevent any unnecessary suffering at all. Everyone is different, just like every pet is different. After all, pet owners know their pet better than anyone, even the vet!