Frugal Approach to a Heartbreaking Part of Life
Pets are not very frugal, but you either get that some people need pets or you don't, so there's no point in trying to convince animal people that pets aren't frugal.
I am not really an animal person, but some of my children are, and I do think it's good for kids to have the responsibility and bonds that come from having pets.
Unfortunately, that also means there's some heart-ache in their lives, since few pets live longer than their humans.
Our dog Zeus is at least 12 years old. We don't know for sure, since he's a rescue dog and we have no background information on him. I say 'our', but he's really the property, playmate, and beloved companion of our second daughter. She brought him home from the animal shelter where she worked, and he was full-grown then. She took him with her to her new home when she married her best friend, and childhood enemy, four years ago. And today we're going to have tell him good-bye.
He once weighed 110 pounds, but he is a shadow of his former glorious self. He doesn't eat much anymore, and is skin and bones. He's nearly blind. He has tumours on his face and open sores that aren't healing. He's not having fun any more.
He won't be going to a vet to be put down. It is more frugal to do this at home the old fashioned way (not everybody lives where this is possible, I realize). But it's not primarily because it's a frugal choice, although with their child on the way, the cost does have to be considered. However, when the Equuschick, his Person, worked at the shelter, they had to put animals down. It's not always the quiet and painful end they tell you it is, and the Equuschick vowed then never to do this to one of her animals.
We have hunters and shooters in the family. Zeus will be held quietly and lovingly while a brave and manly 14 y.o. carefully sends him off into that good night with a single, carefully placed, shot. Not everybody can do this, I know. And our culture is so squeamish about the messiness and pain of both the beginnings and the end of life.
RIP, old friend. RIP.
15 Responses to “Frugal Approach to a Heartbreaking Part of Life”
November 9th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
God bless your little buddy.
Thank you for sharing.
November 9th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Exactly the way my family has always operated. My dad dispatched a number of dogs and cats that had to go when I was young–a couple of dogs that bit someone, and cats that were injured or sick. Not pleasant, but a necessary part of life.
On a related theme, I’ve been pondering lately the way our heifer died a month ago. We had raised her from a calf, hoping for a second milking cow, but she didn’t have a calf when she was supposed to (we’ll probably never know what went wrong). She was a beautiful fat, healthy beefy cow, so we made the decision to put her in the freezer. We got a man to come her to kill her, then take her to be processed at his place. That morning, I walked up to her, put a rope halter on, walked her over to a fence where it was convenient for the butcher, and tied her up. A minute later she was dead and never knew anything had happened. I admit, it felt a little like betraying her, but yet that was what she was raised for–to feed our family one way or the other. I would much much rather her life end this way than to put her on a truck and ship her off with a bunch of strange cattle to be killed in some slaughter house where she would be scared and tense. And by the way, she tastes delicious!
November 9th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Oh wow.
I know this was a hard post to write. I know that this dog was a beloved pet. I am one of those people who fully understand a ‘Coupe de Grace’…
It is hard for the kids but something they grow to understand.
I just last week, read an abridged version of “Old Yeller” to my 3 yr.old grand-daughter (because she saw the pictures in the book and INSISTED ON READING about a dog) I tried to assuage her curiosity with “Lady and the Tramp”; but she’d have none of it. She wanted to read about the yella dog with blood on him.
Well, we know how that ends. I was trying to read through the tears and she was consoling me. She got it at 3 years old.
Hard lesson? Yes. Necessary? Most definitely.
bless your family during this time. ~Pat
November 9th, 2012 at 11:38 pm
So sorry. I myself am not much of an animal person either but my dad is and we had to put his beloved 4 yr old half pit half lab down a little while back and it was heartbreaking. We choose to do it the same way as you do and have ever since I can remember. Condolences to your daughter at this time I know it is difficult for her.
November 9th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
You’re doing the right thing, at home. I will forever regret the pain my beloved dog went through at the vet last year during his last moments. It broke my heart. It is so much better to do such a thing yourselves, without the risk of suffering. I don’t care what they tell you. They mess up. And my dog suffered terribly because of it. Never again.
November 10th, 2012 at 12:13 am
Allowing a beloved member of the family-that totally relys on YOU to do the right thing–to suffer is frugality gone insane. There are vet services in every town that will come to your home and grant you furry love a quick and gentle death. Money is just a tool, and if we grasp it so tightly that we do not use it to serve us and those we love then we have failed. We have lost sight of what is really important. And our animals suffer for it.
November 10th, 2012 at 9:56 am
I appreciate your post here, we had to put down our little dog due to old age and partially blind, he just turned and bit a neighbor. We chose the same end of life. What a toll it took on my husband since he spent the last minutes with our dog. It was quick and instant. We miss our little dog so much.
What is interesting is that our black lab called “Buddy” which looks almost exactly like your dog, has spent hours outside waiting for our little dog to return. Its been a year or so now and Buddy still waits outside and misses our little dog. We had no idea that the two dogs were so close, since they just seem to get on each others nerves and showed no closeness.
The hard decisions in life make us stronger..
November 10th, 2012 at 11:26 am
You have more guts than I do. I could not do what you did. No way in the world. I wish so much that when the time comes we could call our vet and get a pill of some drug that would put the dog to sleep. An over does of something…I am ‘one’ of those people who needs a pet in their life. I have actually risked MY life to save a dog on the innerstate highway. Today she is a sweet dog that I treasure. When my mother passed away in Sept. her one request was for me to take her dogs. So now I have her 2 babies. Add that to my babies and I am the proud ‘mother’ of 6. Of the 6 dogs FOUR are rescue. It is not frugal at all. I do my best to keep cost down, but things cost money..heart worm prevention, flea medication, check ups, shots…money. But to me it is money well spent.
I have had to put my babies down before and it is not easy to watch. My vet is very careful and the pet did not suffer more than the prick on the paw for the needle. I stayed with my pets through it all. I bring them home and lay them to rest in our garden. Pets bring me much joy and love, I owe them the love and joy in return.
November 10th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
I’m so sorry for your loss. But I admire the bravery needed to do the deed. May peace come to your family.
November 10th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Roxie, I couldn’t do it myself, but for me, at least, that’s selfish. I am thinking of *my* pain. I am grateful my husband and son were able to do this together, even though my brave and gallant husband says this was one of the worst experiences of his life.
I’m glad your vet has never made a mistake. It’s very easy to do- the wrong dose, an allergic reaction, a jiggle of the wrist when you insert the needle, a math error, and you’re watching an animal writhe, vomit, and die in prolonged agony. If my daughter hadn’t worked at the animal shelter for so long and seen so many harsh, painful deaths that were supposed to be ‘mercy’ kills, she’d have made a different choice, but after seeing what she’s seen, she can never take that chance again.
November 10th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
I am so sad for your family.
It has never occurred to me to put down a dog ourselves. We have a large 13 yo dog, a very beloved family pet. My three kids have never known life without her.
We take a steer in every year to be butchered (my 12 yo son has witnessed the gunshot a few times), and we have friends who buy and butcher our goats on our property, so the kids have not been sheltered from death. I just don’t if we could do it, though. After reading about what could go wrong, I think we need to at least consider the idea. Thank you for writing about this topic.
Again, my heartfelt condolences to all.
November 13th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
I’m sorry for your loss. I have to take issue with comparing the shooting of animals for food to the shooting of a family pet. After 20 years in veterinary medicine I’ve NEVER seen an animal have anything but a quick and painless death when euthanized. The drug they use is a concentrated version of an anesthesia. A side effect of the drug is usually a last moment wagging tail. I’ve seen that bring peace to many an older person who had to make that decision. I have, on the other hand seen a few dogs who’s owners tried to put them down, who didn’t have the best placed shot, who then bolted, ran into the woods only to show up later with horrible wounds making the family go through more pain, not to mention the pain that the animal had gone through. Pets are a luxury item and no one should care for one if they don’t put their care on the top up near the top of the list of obligations. I’m sorry, that’s just how I feel. I’m glad for you that it apparently went alright, because it would have been scaring for the 14 year old to have had it go wrong. Blessings.
November 16th, 2012 at 1:55 am
Deirdre, there is absolutely NOT a vet service in every town that will come to our home to put down our pets. How nice that you live with that luxury available to you. It is definitely NOT available everywhere.
November 17th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
If you don’t have a vet tech willing to come to your home for this, then it’s YOUR responsibility to take care of your companion. I’m not saying that putting an old ill/injured pet down with a gun is always a bad idea,. I think that the attitude scares me. If a person is unwilling to pay to have a pet put down mercifully, then were they willing to spend the cash to have the animal properly taken care of during it’s life? Money is just a tool, and I believe it’s OUR RESONSIBILITY to give our companions good health care, and decent food. I have known folks that fed their animals the cheapest product they could, and neglected their teeth and health problems, and I’ve seen the sad effects on the animals. So yeah, I worry about people with unreasonable money issues not taking care of their pets.
December 5th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Im so sorry for your loss.
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