Life or Death, The Ultimate Decision…

Tanis and I had to make a very difficult decision today; we had to decide upon the life or death of MacGyver, our dog. We took Mac in to the vet today to get his shots and to get him Fixed; we found out that he had heartworms. We asked how much it would cost to treat him for the heartworms which was around three to five hundred dollars but the treatment involved low dosage arsenic to which the Veterinarian Stated that Mac’s treatment could kill him anyway (the worms dislodging from the heart into the Lungs or the arsenic). What do you do in that case? To top it off we don’t earn enough money to pay for the treatment.

We decided to put him to sleep, I hate having to make this kind of decision, whether something lives or dies. I know I can do it, but the pain just eats at you for the rest of your life. I have faced life and death decisions in my career as a Security Officer I have only had to draw my pistol twice in my entire career and never had to fire because the people who forced my hand realized I was serious about the defense of my life and the lives of others. Should they have continued with their actions I would have fired and taken their lives to prevent harm to myself and to others in the area at the time. It is a decision I don’t like to be forced to make. It is the same for MacGyver, we decided based largely on the fact that he would be suffering in all the cases and rather than have him suffer it would be better that he be put to sleep.

Needless to say, Tanis and I are heart broken with the loss of a member of our family: we are taking some time to grieve the loss and cope with the decision that we made to end his suffering.

Evan