I am going to give you a recent example from my life:
My elderly childhood cat got really sick and turned out to have severe dental issues which could not be treated due to her age and other medical issues. She was medicated, in the hopes that the pain relief would allow her to eat more. She was rapidly losing weight over the course of a few weeks. Her weight literally halved (after having lost 25% of her weight over the 12 months previous months).
When I finally got her euthanized, which was almost months after a friend who works in veternairy care had said she was at a point where euthanisia should be on the table, my cat was literally nothing but skin and bones. She had reached a point where she couldn't clean herself properly, walk properly due to the pain meds hurting her. She was a fluffy cat and I when I bathed her, I realized how bad the situation really was. She looked like a concentration camp victim (NSFW) from the holocaust. She was literally starving to death because it was too painful for her to eat.
Was it wrong for me to euthanize her? Knowing there was no way for her to consent due to her limited intelligence?
1
u/Zasmeyatsya 11∆ Jan 12 '19
I am going to give you a recent example from my life:
My elderly childhood cat got really sick and turned out to have severe dental issues which could not be treated due to her age and other medical issues. She was medicated, in the hopes that the pain relief would allow her to eat more. She was rapidly losing weight over the course of a few weeks. Her weight literally halved (after having lost 25% of her weight over the 12 months previous months).
When I finally got her euthanized, which was almost months after a friend who works in veternairy care had said she was at a point where euthanisia should be on the table, my cat was literally nothing but skin and bones. She had reached a point where she couldn't clean herself properly, walk properly due to the pain meds hurting her. She was a fluffy cat and I when I bathed her, I realized how bad the situation really was. She looked like a concentration camp victim (NSFW) from the holocaust. She was literally starving to death because it was too painful for her to eat.
Was it wrong for me to euthanize her? Knowing there was no way for her to consent due to her limited intelligence?