Just a thought...

[Serenity087]

Before I go to bed...

Horses aren't afraid of death like we are. Okay, so they don't particularly want to be chomped up by a mountain lion, or a wheely bin monster, but when they're ill, in pain or old, they are not afraid of that white light on the horizon.

So why are humans so damn afraid of letting them die? Why do we cause them so much suffering and confusion with absolutely no justification other than selfishness?

I've been in the position where every cell in my body wanted to scream "Save her", but that little bit in the back of my head said "she wants to go". I had to let her go, because no amount of pain I felt would ever compare to the guilt of forcing her to carry on. I just don't understand why other human beings who profess to love their horses can ignore that guilt.

 

[MrsMozart]

Because, as you know, it hurts like hell and beyond. Because having to take that last, irrevocable step, no matter that you know it's the right thing to do does not stop it being the hardest thing to do. We don't want to let go. Once we have, then that's it.

There's a song with the words "I'd have given up on life before I gave up on you" - the song is the one I listened to over and over when I realised that Tigs wasn't going to make it.

 

[Tickles]

And Harper_Gal actually some animals *do* fight it. Which I imagine means they are afraid.

I've seen people and animals dying. I've seen some of both fight it and some of both accept it.

I've also seen people in pain anticipating a lifetime of disability screaming to be put out of their misery. Who have gone on to be very fullfilled in (disabled, well, the example I'm thinking of here involved painful cancer & op and now a colostomy bag) life. And for me it is this last one that makes it hardest. Horses can't tell us that they want it to be over. But having had personal experience of a very rational and strong-willed person saying repeatedly that they wished to die and then going on to lead a happy life they are grateful for... even if a horse could say it I'm not sure it would /always/ be in their best interests to be believed.

I've had to make the call (thankfully not yet for a horse) and I'll probably do so again. But it can be one of the hardest decisions to make.

 

[YorksG]

Agree pretty much with HG, too many animals are made to continue long after they should have been allowed to go. I get less and less interventionist as time goes by. I have also seen people treated for illness when it would have been far better for them to have received palliative care only (dementia patients at the very far end of the disease, who have then contracted pneumonia up to three times and been given anti-biotics having discussed this with medics, they feel they have to intervene because they can!).
I would always put quality of life over quantity any time.