Jules NYC wrote:
Man, what a tough scene.

I was over my parent's house when their cute doggy was on his last legs.  This cute doggie survived doggie 'Aids' and had to have injections every day of his life.

This Schnauzer acted like a little puppy from day one. 

One night, he was in obvious pain, panting, problems with his stomach and how can I say... you just 'knew' he had to be put down.

When you see an animal every day, you get to understand their behaviors/moods/etc.  Animals like people get sick, but when you see a sudden downturn and nothing changes, that's the time to call it a day.

I remember opening his doggie coffin before my Dad and I buried him.  He was still warm and looked so peaceful:)

So in the case you describe was it too late or just the right time ?

Daren King wrote:

So in the case you describe was it too late or just the right time ?

Just the right time.  One night of suffering after watching him suffer short bouts of the same... this night was different.  I guess we all were sensitive to his pain.  It appeared unbearable and it was the right thing to do.

Eugenya Donald Images wrote:
I had to have my dog put down about 14 years ago, and it was very hard.  I did vacillate for a few months.  It was a difficult thing to admit that his quality of life was poor because of his health problems.

My mother knew a woman who cluelessly did a terrible thing with her old dog.  The dog was very sick with cancer, but this woman thought it would be cruel to have it put down.  She was very pleased with herself, and convinced she did a good thing, when the poor creature finally died one day in it's sleep more than a year after it's diagnosis.  It suffered for that long.  It was excruciating for my mother to have to listen to this woman's speech about how she did the right thing, blahblah...

No animal should deal with prolonged suffering, never!

Carl Herbert wrote:
My cat became sick at the beginning of December and she died this past Christmas day. We went to see the vet a few times during the first part of the month, but when I realized it wasn't getting us anywhere and it was only terrorizing my cat -- she has always been super sensitive and anxious about going anywhere -- I decided we were done with that. I stayed home with her as much as I could and kept her company. It was a horrible month, but I wouldn't have had her put to sleep. An animal will never ask to be euthanized, but will only want you to be kept company and given comfort as she spends her life doing for her people. I know some  disagree with this reasoning, but we don't euthanize the people we love. Dying is part of living, the same for companion animals as well as for people. It's a process for you and for the cat.

Hummm

If my organs were failing, I'd take myself out.

Carl Herbert wrote:
My cat became sick at the beginning of December and she died this past Christmas day. We went to see the vet a few times during the first part of the month, but when I realized it wasn't getting us anywhere and it was only terrorizing my cat -- she has always been super sensitive and anxious about going anywhere -- I decided we were done with that. I stayed home with her as much as I could and kept her company. It was a horrible month, but I wouldn't have had her put to sleep. An animal will never ask to be euthanized, but will only want you to be kept company and given comfort as she spends her life doing for her people. I know some  disagree with this reasoning, but we don't euthanize the people we love. Dying is part of living, the same for companion animals as well as for people. It's a process for you and for the cat.

We don't euthanize people because we're not allowed to, but PLENTY want it. That's why we're taking steps to legalize it, because we're finally realizing that unnecessary suffering is...well....unnecessary and cruel

Daren King wrote:
I am sure most people here have had to deal with this situation. 

Is it better to put an animal to sleep too early or too late ?  I had a cat that I got as a kitten.  I loved it so much and it was such an awesome cat.  At around age 18 it had skin cancer that really started taking its toll.  I knew the cat was sick and suffering but I just couldn't bare to put it to sleep.  I kept hoping it would just pass away in its sleep. 
One day my mother comes to visit and she hadn't seen the cat in about a year and she says "omg, its so sick, you really need to put it to sleep"
Finally about 2 months later after it wouldn't eat and could barely walk I put it to sleep.
I realized in retrospect that, IMO, the animal suffered needlessly for longer than it should have.  How much longer ?  I don't know but probably a few months at least.
Based on this I decided that for any future pets, when they got old and had cancer or another ailment that I would try to put them to sleep earlier.  However, how do you determine when is a good time ?

I take a pretty hard approach. I keep pure breed dogs, and so make a fairly significant monetary investment when I acquire a new pet.
When I need to make the hard decision regarding putting a pet down, I look at what has to be done to fix whatever issue has cropped up, how much it will cost, and frankly, is it financially viable given the age of the dog.
My last two Rotties were put to sleep. MY boy was close to nine, when he developed an auto immune condition that, while repairable at great expense, wasn't something I was willing to put into an animal that had, at most, only a couple of years left anyway (Rotties rarely live past 11 or 12). A year and a half later, I had to make the same decision with my girl, who, six weeks shy of her 11th birthday, managed to do a spiral fracture on a front leg.
The prognosis was good, in that I could take her to the vet university in Saskatoon, have the leg put back together using pins, and then look at a year or more of physio before we would see a recovery.
Rotties don't live that long, so the decision was put her down.
OTOH, my 8 year old boy broke a fang last year while playing tug, and there was no question that the thousand dollars to have the root extracted was going to be done.
A couple of things to consider: An old animal that is in constant pain can become a bit unpredictable and can lash out, causing harm to it's owners. An old animal that is in constant pain most likely has a very low quality of life.
There are a whole lot of young animals out there that are looking for homes, consider that when you keep a pet animal alive far past when the animal is getting any enjoyment out of life, you are perhaps allowing a younger and more robust animal to suffer it's life away in a cage.
If the animal is suffering, and we cannot end its suffering and keep it alive at the same time, the right thing to do for the animal is to end it's life, no matter how guilty that makes us feel.