Euthanasia is the humane termination of an animal’s life. It can be a very painful decision for an owner to make. Your vet will be able to help and guide you during this difficult time.
At Beechwood Animal Hospital, we take euthanasia seriously and with respect. Euthanasia may be considered in the following situations :
1. Your pet has reached old age, and his or her quality of life is poor and cannot be adequately improved with veterinary intervention.
2. Your pet is suffering from a medical or surgical disease that seriously impacts on his or her quality of life and cannot be treated (either because of finances or the constraints of medicine), and makes the pet unsuitable for re-homing.
3. Your pet has developed an unacceptable behaviour problem, which is not responding to behaviour modification therapy. Referral to a veterinary behavioural therapist would be strongly advised before euthanasia.
4. By order of the federal government, humane society, municipal by-law officers, or police. These orders are usually in response to serious or repeated aggression from an animal, but can also be in response to unacceptable human actions (physical abuse, overcrowding, hoarding, puppy mills), and rarely, in disease outbreak situations.
We do not euthanize healthy pets for the sake of convenience or because of reasonably manageable behavioural problems.
