I have recently lost Boris, my 16 year old German Shepherd, and it made me realise that making a Death Plan is very much like making a birth plan, something you spend hours doing but it never goes to plan!
My last pooch to pass was Millie, a 15 year old German Shepherd cross Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a beautiful, very gentle girl who everyone loved. She died of cancer. I had to race to the vets at 2am with her screaming in pain after months of treatment that only made her worse. Never again I told myself.
I set up a death plan for Boris. If he stopped eating for more than 3 days, or lost his appetite, I would get him to the vets to discuss having him put to sleep at home. Before he was PTS I was going to give him a huge meal of chocolate! It was one of his favourite stolen treats! Over his time, he had pinched many Easter eggs and chocolate biscuits, even when he could not walk, he could still get anywhere if he thought there might be chocolate there! Toxic as it may be, he never even ended up with a funny tummy! I was going to buy him a steak, the best possible steak so that he could feast. Then spend the day with him, just cuddling with the kids, his favourite hobby.
Boris went for his latest annual health check and I was told that he was in extremely good shape, except for his back end having gone, but his stomach was swollen, which we discussed and I said I would not be having any treatment, so we would just leave it alone unless he appeared distressed.
The last week of his life he showed no sign of distress, still his delightful lively, cheeky self, on Wednesday he did not want his tea, when I came down Thursday morning he had been sick. I did not give him breakfast, and went to out to work. I returned 4 hours later and he was dead!
Every day for months I had been worrying about his end. I did not want him to die in agony like Millie, and I did not want him to waste away and have no quality of life like some dogs I have known
, so I could not have wished for a better end for him, quickly passing after a nice week.
All my other dogs have been buried in our family field, but Boris was quite a big boy, and we usually planned their hole in advance, so given the quick nature of his death I rang up the vets to discuss getting him cremated. I was very shocked to find that they do "Communal" cremations! Lots of dogs all cremated together! I still can not quite process that after all the years of love, people will just leave their dogs to be cremated and never want them back!
I also know that lots of people think nothing of taking off their dogs collar before they are PTS and then leaving the dog alone for the vet to PTS! Please do not ever dog this, their collar is their identity and this will upset them, and if you feel that you can not cope with seeing them die, think of what you are doing to them, leaving them to die, frightened with a stranger!
I am currently waiting for Boris' urn to come home, where he will sit proudly on a shelf in my daughter, and his favourite persons bedroom!