I’m a vet and this is what really happens after you decide to put your dog down

• An American woman’s grief consumed her so much told Reddit of her guilt
• READ MORE: Vet technician issues heartfelt plea after dog tried to follow his owners out of the room before being put to sleep

Vets have revealed what really happens after you decide to put your dog down.

A woman, believed to be American, sparked the conversation after sharing a post on Reddit, writing: ‘What happens to a dog’s body after they are put to sleep? And did I embarrass myself during the process?’

She explained she had recently lost her Shih Tzu after liver issues – and admitted she felt she didn’t try hard enough to save him.

However a number of vets responded to the post on the site, with one explaining: ‘I don’t think your vet would judge you for not doing more. 

‘We see the whole spectrum of cases, nobody makes that decision lightly. Everyone grieves differently, there’s no “wrong” way’.’

Vets have revealed what really happens after you decide to put your dog down in a viral post on Reddit (stock image)

The original poster shared a post on the Reddit AskVet, saying: ‘He was diagnosed with a liver mass three years ago, and our best guess is that it ruptured. 

‘When we woke up that morning, he had urinated all over the floor (which he hadn’t done once since he was a puppy), his stomach was visibly distended, and he was leaning to one side. 

‘He could barely walk or sit, was panting hard and shaking. Long story short, we ended up having him put to sleep later that morning’.

She told the people that she was presented with the choice to put her pet down or watch him suffer, but chose to end his suffering. 

She said that her vet offered blood work to see if there was anything we could do to buy him more time, but I declined’.

The main motivator behind her decision was that ‘he was suffering so much, and she felt like prolonging it further would be for me and not for him’.

But the woman still feels guilty – telling the thread ‘If I could go back, I think maybe I’d try’. 

The vet ‘then gave him a physical exam and was visibly somber then walk[ed] us through the euthanasia process’.

Her Shih Tzu was treated well up until its very end – with veterinary staff petting him and putting him in a comfortable bed, draping a blanket around him for his send off.

The dog owner was also keen to make her beloved pet’s departure as pleasant as possible – her husband even ‘ran out to get him an order of McDonald’s fries, his favourite food’ but to the couple’s distress, the dog ‘wouldn’t touch them’.

However, she took this as a good sign – that it was her lovely dog’s fate to leave them at this time, reassuring her that ‘we were making the right choice’, as ‘he has never turned down any sort of potato’.

He was then administered anaesthesia for the procedure, before the woman held him closely.

Still uncomfortable with her decision to let her dog go, she ‘panic[ked] and ‘asked the vet and the tech if she was making the right choice’.

She told Reddit: ‘I feel like I killed him. Did I make the right choice?’ 

The Reddit user stated her sorrow was ‘among the most profound I’ve experienced in my life’.

After facing the awful reality, the pair decided to ‘opt for a private cremation’ with ‘complimentary paw prints and a fur clipping’ for the grievers. 

Still full of regret, the user said she ‘can’t stop imagining the moment when the tech (who was amazing) came and took her boy. 

‘And I also can’t stop thinking about my baby lying in a cold drawer’.

Keen to put her worries of embarrassing herself at the vet to bed, she then asked: ‘What goes on when processing an animal’s body after death? 

‘I’m so worried that I should have done more, and that they think I should have done more’.

The people of Reddit AskVet were sympathetic, with one commenter affirming that the original poster ‘did the right thing’ and sent condolences.’

The thread, which primarily sees vets give their expert opinion on all things animal said: ‘I’ve seen plenty of ruptured masses and it’s never a good death when left on their own. 

‘There is very very little to be done if the mass is on the liver. The most common type of mass here is a very aggressive cancer and the likelihood that it has spread already would have been upwards of 80-90 per cent. 

‘You definitely did not embarrass yourself. Losing a pet is devastating, especially when it’s unplanned’.

The user, who claimed to be a vet went on to say: ‘As for the body, before the company picks up the body, it is bagged, labeled, and placed in a freezer’. 

Another vet weighed on in the woman’s decision to put her dog down, saying: ‘Typically, any hair clippings or paw prints or other keepsakes are made, the body is placed in a container (such as a body bag or a cardboard coffin) and some form of identification is placed on the remains.

‘The remains are then transferred to the hospital’s storage area for remains – depending on the size of the hospital and the cremation company is notified and the remains will wait there until collection’. 

And another user, who admitted to not being a veterinary professional said: ‘You did not embarrass yourself. I think you should see a therapist at least for a couple sessions so that you can get some comfort and validation for your feelings’.

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