It’s Okay to Let Your Pets Go

These days, too many people prolong their pets’ lives

Photo by Andrew S on Unsplash

I don’t think most people want to be cruel to their pets. In fact, most people want the exact opposite — they want the best lives for their pets. But I think modern people have taken medical intervention for their aging pets to an extreme.

We’re so used to human advancement in medicine, it’s now a given. There are now treatments for so many life-threatening conditions for humans, we simply accept these medical miracles as commonplace. So why wouldn’t we treat our pets the same? Makes sense, right? Many folks, I believe, choose to prolong their pets’ lives because they think that’s the right thing to do.

Here’s the thing about most cats and dogs, especially — most don’t deteriorate slowly. They can keep trucking right along with all kinds of uncomfortable medical conditions until their little bodies finally give out.

For most of my life, our family has used the same veterinarian. He’s an old school meat-and-potatoes vet who is far more likely to offer the least invasive treatments that don’t prolong suffering. He was always honest with us, letting us know when a treatment was for the betterment of our pets’ lives, and when additional treatments were simply delaying the inevitable without improving the quality of life of one of…