grrr… I agrrrrrree with you Andi! It is such a blanket term now for killing an animal for reasons other than terminal illness/incurable pain.
When I worked at a humane society there was a service offered one day per week, euthanasia free for anyone’s pet. There were people bringing in beautiful dogs with flea dermatitis to be killed!!! Or dogs who got too big than what they had expected! And they did get their wish. I have things to say about that that are not suited for this forum. grrrrrrr….

I disagree. I think for me, I use this term for the animal and hope that no matter what the reason, their death will be as painless as possible, no matter what the reason. The truth is, for the animal, maybe it is a gift for them. What kind of life do they have with a family that doesn’t love them and for sure what type of life does an animal have in a shelter. I don’t have to agree with why they this is being done but I just know that realistically, this happens and it takes ALOT of education to help people with their pets. But if it cannot be helped and the animal will not be saved, then I see know problem with calling it euthanasia and hoping that the animal’s death is peaceful no matter how sad this is.

This is obviously a very controversial issue as well.

well, at my SPCA these owner-request euthanasias were not given a slight chance of finding a new home. They never became shelter adoptables because they remained the property of their owners until the requested euthanasia was carried out. The owners did not need to spend the $50 surrendering fee that way. Granted, the shelter was, like any other, overrun, but I do believe the pet owners would have paid the fifty bucks and surrendered the unwanted pets if the word used for terminating their pet’s life had been ‘killing’. The owners would even leave before the pets were processed… they left with a fantasy that it was a ‘good death’ and believe me these pets were scared and needing their owners. Again, if the term had been ‘killing’ some owners would have reconsidered and maybe tried to be open to being educated on how to make the pet more manageable for them. Even if just 1 out of 100 had done that it would be worth it to change the term.
I think this debate is comparable to the suggestion to change the term for rabbit meat to some fancy unrecognizable word like some commercial rabbit people want it to be. So people won’t feel bad eating it.
People who part with their pets because they don’t want them anymore should feel bad about it. so they won’t get another one on a future whim.
can of worms is open, maybe this debate is too controversial.

OK. I am ready to compromise. I think ‘killing’ will be the wrong term also. How about ‘terminating life’?

How sad.   To just  kill an animal simply cuz they dont want it. 

I was watching fifteen legs on pbs tonite.   It was such a wonderful story of pet lovers.   One created a no kill outdoor shelter for many many dogs.   Pet lovers would volunteer to drive them and relay them thru other volunteers to their new homes. 

Beautiful story.    One man had a cessna he would fly them to contribute getting them to their new home or into the no kill shelter.   He wanted to do something positive with his pilots license. 

Then I read about the killing simply cuz they didn’t want the animal and didn’t want to pay the 50.00 to surrender it.   Disgusting lazy cheap etc etc etc people.

I would rather euthanize Cotton then stick him in a shelter.   HE would not be adopted out cuz he shreds anyone who smells like a male bunny.   HE slaps at anyone who enters his cage even the neighbor who he now knows since she fed him for me for a while.  The shelter would probably put him down the first time he shredded someones hand who tried to feed him who he smelled male bunny on.    

I would not put Cotton or Ruby thru the fright of being in a shelter.  I could return Ruby to the person I got her from

However these things will NEVER happen.   I won’t let it.   I care for them too much.    They are my responsibility and I will care for them as long as they live.   Throughout their natural life provided of course that they don’t go thru what Raven went through when the light went out of his eyes. The joy left them.

I will be with them if that time ever comes.  I will be here for the good n the bad.  The lip and the health   May God help me

you gave me an idea bunnytowne. Maybe we should leave the term but make the people watch…. so they remember that even though it’s euthanasia it’s still death. well, we can’t do that but it would be nice.

you are absolutely right. 

or make them watch that abused horse kicking and dying that was left on the ground for 2 days b4 anyone called to report it.

make them watch it all

I think some people just don’t care though… they will watch it and even walk away not caring.
THAT’S hard to watch for me, the people not caring.

*debates to self about joining this thread*
Well, I suppose euthanasia and many other PC terms should probably have their uses reduced. But you have to wonder what would happen to animals that no one wants if they didn’t at least have the option to surrender them to be PTS. Perhaps these folks who just don’t care anyway will just let the animal loose to ‘fend for itself?’ Of course these pets should have the option of being adopted! Loving forever homes are what we all strive for…until they all have a home. Think of all the Katrina pets who were left behind. Some of them never made it back to their original owners. But a lot of them have been given second chances. That’s worthwhile. But you don’t hear enough about these stories.
I think if someone is heartless enough to put an animal to sleep that could be otherwise adopted, they are heartless enough to do something even more cruel to the animal if they don’t get their way. Sad, but true.
I spent months rehabbing a collie who had been thrown down stairs and riddled with worms and left to be skin and bones by his unfeeling owners…only to have them hunt us down and steal the dog from my own yard one afternoon while I was at school. If anything needs to be done, it’s more thorough research of prospective adoptees, and insuring that people who have abused animals before do not have the chance to do so again. Perhaps putting healthy animals to sleep without choosing a living option could be regarded as abuse. I realize shelters are overrun and that crowded living conditions are terrible for any pet, but they need to go to GOOD homes…and there’s just got to be a better way to assure that. So that’s my pipe dream.
Instead of this world being so full of people who don’t give a rat’s behind, I pray that through volunteering and activism, more people become willing to help their fellow creature-kind. It is definitely a topic that needs airing.

BTW, Andi, that story of the dog you posted brought tears to my eyes. I’ve written about many of my pets reaching their last days and what it was like to see it, but that retelling really touched my heart. So evocative. I can picture that in my mind’s eye and it definitely brings a reaction.