why is pet euthanasia legal?

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Animals do not have the ability to consent to their own death. Isn't it more humane to let them die naturally?

They don't consent to let us eat them, either.

Simple answer: non-human animals don't have the same rights as human animals in human society.

My mother's dog was put to sleep recently. He was incontinent, hardly ate, had very little hair left and he never barked anymore. He had barked less over the last six months but the two weeks before he was put to sleep he was silent and slept a lot. Once upona time he would drive me up the wall with his barking, he was half Jack Russel.
He was as good as blind and totally deaf too. Had been for a few years.

Would you wish it upon someone dear to you to spend their last years deaf, blind, incontinent and without a voice?
I wouldn't...

Aside from the cost of pet medical care, there is a point where trying to keep a pet alive is actually inhumane. I know dogs "let you know" when they are ready to die. They instinctively try to leave home and find a place to lay down and let nature claim them. Fighting to keep them alive after this point is cruel.

So our pets don't have to suffer needlessly. Personally, I wish it were also legal for humans. It's pointless to continue living when there is no longer a quality of life worth sustaining. Hopefully, I'll possess the presence of mind to take myself out when the times comes when I derive any no joy from life.

I understand it in the cases where an animal is dying and suffering wilst doing so why it seems a viable course of action. Though I wish there was a way that didn't involve loading them up to the car, to take them to be handled by a bunch of strange people I mean does the owner of the pet get to stay by its side for its last moments or is it alone in some sterile room? So perhaps the way in which it is done needs careful consideration...but the idea of putting an animal out of its misery if its dying and in pain is not wrong to me.

I had a cat for 14 years, the cat was always my friend even if I had no human ones...he'd come up next to me and purr if I was sad and was just a great cat. He was an outdoor/indoor cat and had quite a wild streak, he loved to hunt and brought back many 'gifts' he was also a bit of a fighter it was not uncommon on occasion to wake up to him making the worst sounding noises possible and coming back all beat up. From what I saw he was likely the winner usually, we moved quite a lot and every time we moved in somewhere new he'd disappear for the day and of course my parents would have us all go looking for him thinking he was 'lost'(but I always knew he was just checking the area out because that is what cats do) and of course after we went home because it was dark he'd be back. For 14 years he had a healthy life and then one day he went off alone and we never saw him after that, so I am quite certain it was his time and so he went out into the forest. I can't imagine having taken him to be put down...taking him to the vet was bad enough. I still do miss that cat even though sometimes he had a tendency to pounce on my leg with claws and teeth and draw blood on occasion.

Is this a question about euthanasia? Perhaps a better question would be, why is it not legal to have euthanasia for a human that is at the end their life and would just otherwise suffer in pain until the end. We put animals to sleep because there's a certain point where we would think it cruel to keep them alive much longer but why then is it not cruel if or not even legal if it were a human being? I've thought about this before.

I just think it's presumptuous on the part of humans that they think they know best when an animal wants to die. I would rather just let the animal go in the wilderness than forcibly kill it.

I think logically it makes more sense for pet euthanasia to be illegal while human euthanasia to be legal. I really think society has it completely backwards on this issue, from a logical perspective. Humans can consent while animals cannot. And no, we can't read their minds. This is arrogance speaking.

When a cat is put to sleep, it isn't eaten, so the argument that we hunt animals for meat is irrelevant.

How would you like it if your cat one day sneakily snuk some ricin into your soup, sensing that you were suffering from stomach cancer and in pain. Would you ever forgive your cat? I think it's extremely cruel and manipulative.

also partly for op.

yeah you can stay with them. we had to put down two of ours in the last two years. mother then her son. both had cancer. they couldn't eat, meow, or purr anymore, they were starving away. we tried treatment hoping it was a thiod, and feeding them yogurt. but in the end it was cancer. they went happily, like they knew. they loved all the other cats before we left for the vet. then while there moved around loving all three of us. like they were trying to comfort us. they hated going to the vets, yet this time were calm and peaceful. they get a shot that puts them to sleep. then i think another that kills them painlessly. we only stayed till they were completely asleep. its hard losing what is to us a family member. mom was 11-13, son was year younger. cats some how know. few years before that we lost 3 others. 2 which were't put down and suffered. one we didn't know about and he cried and cried and cried as he died painfully. something my sister now is haunted by. we didn't know he was in pain til then. the other was a fighter and resisted death til the end. but she was super skinny and could hardly even walk or eat. didn't do her cause every time we talked she get determined and stand up and walder around. she was always a very tough no one tells her what to do cat.

so its not like we give them rat poison in their food and toss them out, though some people who don't put down do just toss their pets in the trash after they suffered for weeks. we burry ours or have them cremated. animals tell you when they are suffering and when they are ready. in most our cases we probably waited too long in hopes of them getting better and from not wanting to lose them. also most vets won't put down healthy animals. they refuse to. they checked the mother and son out and said yep they have cancer. expensive surgery we couldn't afford had a small chance of helping them but more odds of killing them. well the son had it all over. they said mom may have too. so the operation might have not even saved her even if it worked. but it cost like 2k or more. which if had would have gladly spent.

When an animal is terminally ill and suffering a lot, most people believe the humane thing to do is put them out of their misery. My brother had to have his dog euthanized because he had cancer, diabetes, and many other health issues. It was a much faster and less painful death. But it still was not easy or pleasant to make such a decision.

However, many people don't believe humans who are also terminally ill and suffering or a vegetable should be allowed to go much more quickly and painlessly. Many people believe it's a sin. I once asked why it's called "assisted suicide" when it's a human but "euthanasia" when it's a animal and someone said "Because humans are supposed to suffer but animals are not". Go figure.

Personally, one of the reasons I choose to go on living is because there is probably no afterlife anyway, which is frightening. And if you are frightened of dying, that's a sin too, apparently so it's not like I'm going anywhere good.

Oregon allows doctor assisted suicide...

I can't speak for others, however I've had to put down pets before. I knew they were suffering and death wasn't far off. I always stayed with my pets while they received the shot and they died in my arms. I felt I owed it to my pets to be there for them as they had been there for me all there lives. It's a kindness to the animal. As to humans, we are moving towards euthanasia for dying people. We have it in Oregon currently. It's simply a matter of time and getting it passed in spite of the religious right in America...

I understand that the intention is benevolent. It just doesn't sit right with me.

It's bad enough that unwanted animals are sometimes put to sleep. This is horrid obviously.

But from a moral standpoint, I just don't agree with the idea that putting an animal to sleep is ever an act of compassion. I view it as a destructive forceful act that takes advantage of the animal's lesser intelligence and ability to defend itself. It seems very mean to me.

Anyway, I know pet owners who have euthanized. I try not to judge them but I just don't agree with the practice.

When my dog is dying (if I ever buy my own dog),
I'll put it down myself, and have him cremated and bury his ashes below his/her favorite spot in the yard.

I don't see the big deal?

On the matter of human euthanasia, what an immoral idea that is.
The reason it isn't legal is because it is another word for assisted suicide.
If you want to end your life, do it yourself, or you're either a coward, or not truly ready to go.

I think it's more cruel to let an animal suffer in pain.

Our dog did this. My parents arrived with our dog and she was blind an deaf and incontinent and she had arthritis. She would also get stiff at times and it was obvious she was in pain. I knew she wouldn't live much longer and I didn't want her in the house because I didn't want our home to smell like piss. But that day I was relieved when she took off. We never found her and she may have walked off and found a place to die.