Would you want your pet euthanised if you died?

[Seziah]

I saw a Facebook ad about the Blue Cross’s service where you sign up for free and they take in your pet after you die with an aim to rehome. More than one person commented that they have it in their will that they want their pet to be put to sleep when they die so it can (in their words) go with them.

I’ve never heard of this before and I’m a bit shocked! It sounds selfish and cruel to me, unless the animal is old or unwell. I’m an atheist and don’t believe in an afterlife so maybe others think differently, but I’d want my cats to live on without me. Is it even enforceable - would a vet put a healthy animal to sleep? Have you heard of this before and/or is it what you’d want for your pets?

I think it depends on the age of the animal and what the other options are. Someone could pay me as much as they want in their will but I don’t have the bandwidth for a dog and the DC are allergic to cats so I’d still have to decline. DP are close to 80 and have a dog who is 7 so I’m hoping they outlive her and they’ve said this will be their last for exactly this reason. I would take that dog because I’m not a total bitch and it’s low maintenance ( can be left for pretty long periods) but I wouldn’t be thrilled about it.

Legally, this would have to happen if the owner of an XL Bully died. Ownership is not allowed to be transferred to someone else.

No I don’t think so, they seemed genuine and didn’t have a sarcastic or jokey tone. One comment had a reply - which I thought would be something like WTF - but it was another woman talking about her wanting the same. I found it strange for them to comment under an ad for a charity trying to give people peace of mind that their pet will be looked after. I also felt like just because you say something in your will it doesn’t mean it will happen - like people who try and leave all their money to their cat

Same for our cats, we will give money to a charity in our Will for our cats to be looked after and rehomed

No. I would want my cat to live on unlesshe was suffering with his own ill health.
I volunteer for Cats Protection and a lot of cats come in where the owner has died or gone into care and, in most cases, the cats are fine. They may need a dental, to lose weight or minor vet treatment. A lot of these cats are shy when they first arrive as their world has changed but they soon come around and get new homes.

My dog's previous owner died. I adopted him through a rescue. He's 9 and a half and has settled really well. It is sad to think someone might have had him PTS as he such a good boy and I love him to bits.

The first two pets I adopted (cats) were taken to a rescue after their owner died. They were middle aged but absolute superstars and had such a happy few years before they died of natural causes. I'm very glad their owner or family didn't have them PTS! Having since taken on equally adorable cats rescued from an unsafe environment, I would say pets whose loving owner has died are really easy to adopt as they have already been loved and would recommend them to first time pet owners (much easier than bonkers kittens destroying the furniture).

So chances are it might not live that long after you’ve died

I had a very wealthy elderly relative who had a trust fund for her dog. When she died, whoever got the dog also got a £20k lump sum, and then 10k per year after that for his care. This was 25 years ago so a lot of money! Her chauffeur took the dog on in the end...

We inherited our dog from a relative. Hes our favourite moral obligation

Honestly in some cases, older pets, pets with separation anxiety linked to one particular person etc, I think PTS actually IS the kinder option. It’s certainly not the awful thing it can be made out to be anyway. Personally, no, I wouldn’t want my dog pts if I died tomorrow (let’s hope not!) because she’s only 4, she’s my 4yo son’s dog and my husband would kill me again if I tried to take her away BUT if she was 14, and it was just me and her… I think it would be kinder to have her pts rather than the upset of both losing ‘her’ person and having to move house, routine etc etc. It really is case by case imo.

This reminds me of when my Nanna’s dog died when I was a kid. My Nanna was 50’s or early 60’s at the most I think. She refused to get another dog because she didn’t want the risk of dying and the dog outliving her (my grandad had not long died of cancer). She lived another 30 odd years lol.

i voted yes if eldest and unwell/frail. It would have to be both though or extremely unwell (but I like to think it my cat was younger and so unwell I’d have her PTS in the event of my death, I’d have already made the decision to end her suffering anyway). And it would be decided by an independent vet. My cat is extremely clingy to me, she HATES me leaving the house! She also very much dislikes other people, so I think she would struggle to cope. My previous cat was a real people cat and would have happily joined any family. She just loved being with people all the time.

Was there a fight over who would get the dog?? Or did she name the chauffeur in the will? £10k per year is still a lot of money today!

It's good to see so many people have made plans or provisions in their wills should their pet outlive them. I adopted a ten year old dog who was in a terrible state after the family of his deceased elderly owner dumped him in the local kennels. He lived with me until he died a few months ago aged 18 years. I imagine his owner would have turned in their grave if they realised what he had gone through.

Same for my cats.

Exactly my thoughts!

If your pets would thrive if released into the wild, why are they in captivity in the first place? 🤔

I took on my cat when her elderly owner died and no one in the family wanted her...if i died id hope someone would take her but shes getting on a bit and shes a bit cantankerous so im really not sure.

I can't think of what pet would thrive in the wild if you released it anyway. Unless they took it from the wild to start with.

Generally I think it's a disgusting idea.

Though who would take on my cat if my husband and I were to die, I don't know. Our kids are young, and she's a complicated elderly cat with some lifelong disabilities and continence issues (lifelong, not related to age). Her kidneys are slowly failing, and every month I am grateful she's still doing well.

There isn't a queue to look after an incontinent elderly cat in her late teens. Someone would take her out of love for us, but I suspect as soon as they could justify it, they'd take the euthanasia route.

I actually think the slaves were buried alive with them not killed first.

I've seen quite a few guinea pig rescue posts on Facebook where they say a new arrival was because the family wanted to 'end the cycle'. Whilst rescues usually don't publicly judge the reasons why people give up their guinea pigs, it does seem to be a more acceptable reason for rehoming. The comments from followers are generally sympathetic.

We've got a neutered boar who was offered to us when his friend died and his family decided that getting him neutered and rehomed was in his best interest. He was their last guinea pig and seems pretty happy with his little harem of our 4 girls.

One of our local rescues will allow you to name them in your will to take your guinea pigs if you die. They either live in a retirement herd or are rehomed. Pretty much every guinea pig rescue will allow you to return any guinea pig you adopt from them and actually insist on it as part of their adoption terms, rather than you passing it on to a random home.

So overall, no need to euthanase guinea pigs if you die.

Are you talking about dogs? Surely not..

No, but I think I’d want to be euthanised when they do 😢

I voted only if they are old or unwell, but I voted this because I have fostered pets in their twilight years who have been given up because their owners died or were moved into care, and they grieve and pine horribly for months on end.

It is worth it if they're young enough to have a full life when they recover from the loss, but I don't think it is fair to put an animal through months of suffering if those months are their last.

If I knew I was dying, I would take the time to acclimatise my pets to their new home while I was still here, no matter what their age, but if it was sudden and they were old, I wouldn't want them to spend their last months miserable and not able to understand where I was.

A retirement herd sounds adorable. I love it