re: How did y'all deal with putting a dog down

I have had at least 3 animals for a while. My wife got a kitten in college. It ended up living at my apartment. Then we got a dog, and a few years after graduation took in a stray dog. Then a cat showed up that we took in. The last cat was already pretty old, but it got to live its last years in comfort and peace with us.

Last summer, and I'm guessing 12-14 year of having most of these pets, they started dying. First the cat, and I found the remains of his carcass in July in my yard while cutting grass. That was rough, even for me. Just glad it was me that found it and not one of the kids or my wife.

Then last fall, one of the dogs was missing. My wife found him curled up under the deck, rigid and cold. I had to bury him after work that night. The hard part was the last dog. She was mostly blind and deaf. You could be standing right in front of her and scream and jump around and she wouldn't know it. With no other animals out there with her, we thought it was just too cruel to keep her around, especially with winter coming along. Even then, putting down an old, deaf, and blind dog was pretty rough. It just never gets any easier. The three of them are buried next to each other at the back of the yard. It is going to be a long time before we get any more. Maybe when my son is older and could play, and my daughter old enough to really take care of them, we might reconsider.

And sorry you're having to go through this. It sucks.