Vet technician issues heartfelt plea after dog tried to follow his owners out of the room before being put to sleep

Saying goodbye to a furry friend is one of the most difficult moments for any pet owner, and it presents him with a tough choice to think about: Do you want to stay in the room when he is put to sleep?

For some pet parents, the answer is a no-brainer and they would never leave their pet in their last moments, but for others it’s not that simple: it can be too distressing for some owners.

A veterinary technician from Texas has offered their take on the debate Reddit to make a sincere plea to owners not to leave their pets alone to be euthanized.

She wrote, “I will always try to be merciful and keep my judgment on how people can handle grief because everyone is different, but MAN… it is damn depressing to have a dog spend their last moments looking for where their owner has gone.

“I feel like this is the very last comfort you can give your boyfriend, just standing by his side to comfort him.

The vet tech described a recent situation that “hit me hard” and said she wished “it could have turned out differently.”

She added that she “doesn’t judge the owner’s emotional capacity for grief,” but found it disturbing when a dog howled and tried to walk himself out the front door after his owners had left, stressed out in his last moments of life.

“I’m not saying the dog died thinking, ‘OMG, I’m going to die alone.’ I’m not even talking about the actual euthanasia, but the moments leading up to it,” she said.

“For those of you who say that dogs ‘think their owners are away for a while’ are missing out: Even if that were the case, they are still stressed.

“All of you, this dog that we euthanized literally tried so hard to walk out the front door by himself on his leash after his owners left and kept crying and stressing until the propofol got a hold of him.

“We did our job and gave all the treats and love, but the focus was always, ‘where did they go?’ Say what you will, I’m just sorry these were his last moments.

“He was a really good kid and I wish he could have been more relaxed because I think he deserved it.”

The thread was flooded with replies from people sharing their own experiences and opinions on the subject.

One commenter came up with a middle option that many people agreed with, writing, “I liked to give people the option to stay until the pet was sedated, for the peace of mind that the pet wasn’t looking for them, but they could choose not to be present at the actual euthanasia’.

Someone answered and said, ‘This is the way’.

A balanced response from another vet read, “I used to work at a clinic that did retirements, and we had one where an elderly boarder was not doing well and the owner couldn’t get back in time to be there ( the poor lady was literally on a plane that had just taken off on her way to her grandson’s graduation when we called).

“We all felt so bad, so we made sure we all loved this older golden retriever extra because he was so sad. I still remember this cute little old dog. That was one where I definitely understood why the owner couldn’t be there.

“But in the same way, not everyone can deal with death the way we do, especially if it’s a loved one.

So I can certainly understand why someone can’t be there when their pet is euthanized.

“But it sucks for the animal, but we’ll make sure we give them the extra love they need before they die.” The most important thing is that you help them be free from pain, and that’s the most important thing.”

Another vet shared an experience of dealing with a “woman who was hysterical” and could barely convince herself to bring in her cat.

They explained that the cat was old and its back legs had stopped working, and that the woman had “begged” the vet to stay with her cat while it came by.

She wrote: ‘I read her file afterwards – a year ago her dog was old and had to be put down. It had jammed after the first injection. DVM said it was the worst euthanasia she’s had in the actual procedure.

“I don’t blame her at all for not being able to be there. There is so much horrible in the world and you never know what those people go through outside of their pets.

“At the same time, it is difficult for the animal not to have his person at his death.”

One vet says they would always sit with people’s pets throughout the process, whether they were asked or not.

Sometimes the owners dropped off their animals so quickly that the vet didn’t even have time to let them know they were staying.

They wrote: “I have kept my word and have never in the past eighteen years left their side so often that I could not even count.

“It hurts my heart less that the pet wasn’t all alone in the end and there was someone else to comfort them.”