The Trouble with Spikol; Sleep of the Must? To Kill or Not to Kill? It's All Up to You.

Summary

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Everyone said the same thing: "Only you can decide when it's time." That pissed me off. Aren't there objective standards of health and illness? The dentist doesn't don a wizard hat and intone, "Only you can decide if you have a cavity."

Now that it's been a few weeks, I've decided to believe I did the right thing. At least I spared him further suffering. Jon Katz, an annoyingly smug journalist who nonetheless writes superbly about animals, has written about people who wait until their animals have lost all control over their bodily functions before they euthanize them. In his opinion, it's noblest to put the animal down before the suffering gets so acute. Isn't that what we would want for ourselves?

This is the last time I'll write about Augie, not only because he's dead, but because I know everyone's sick of it. But given the difficulties I had making all these decisions, I'm offering a list of resources (below) that may help you when you're faced with the same predicament. You can, in fact, make a decision you can live with.

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The Trouble with Spikol; Sleep of the Must? To Kill or Not to Kill? It's All Up to You.

The time finally came: I had to put my cat, Augie, to sleep last month. It was completely wretched, and I went through the same torture all pet owners do: Is this the right time? Is he really suffering? Is there more I could do?

So de...

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