Compassionate Euthanasia Services

At The Animal Doctors, we’re all animal lovers, and comfort and support during this difficult time are especially important to us. This is not an easy decision to make and we’re here to help the entire family with this decision-making process. There are times when all the capabilities of medical science have been exhausted and euthanasia is the only way to prevent an animal from suffering.

The decision regarding when to euthanize is full of considerations: medical, financial, ethical, religious, moral, and sometimes legal. Euthanasia is a medical procedure that needs to be discussed (however painful that discussion may be) and considered thoroughly before a final decision is made.

Let us help guide you through this difficult time. Our staff will consult with you in the most compassionate way and offer options for end of life arrangements.

Prior To The Euthanasia Appointment

When you are faced with calling to make a euthanasia appointment for your beloved pet, our compassionate team will try to schedule this appointment at a quieter time of day for you if it is not an emergent situation. Oftentimes, we attempt to schedule these appointments at the beginning or end of the morning set of appointments or at the beginning or end of the afternoon set of appointments. If you wish to discuss aftercare options ahead of time, we can make a notation in your pet’s medical record about your wishes.

The Euthanasia Appointment

While we do not have a comfort suite at our clinic, we make every effort to accommodate you, your family, and your pet for this very delicate appointment. We provide soft, comfortable blankets and mats for your pet and play soft, soothing music in the room. We allow you to enter and exit our clinic through the back door that faces the parking lot so that you don’t have to wait in our waiting room with other clients.

While we encourage all of our clients to remain with their pets through the euthanasia appointment, we understand that not everyone is comfortable doing so. Regardless of your decision, there is no judgement. If you are unable to stay with your pet, please take comfort knowing that he/she will be surrounded by at least two of our loving team members throughout the whole process.

What can you expect to happen during the euthanasia procedure?

We will administer a sedative and pain medication to your pet to help him/her relax. Your pet may relax almost immediately or may take 15-20 minutes to relax, depending upon his/her age and illness.

Once your pet is relaxed and comfortable, we will give you as much time as you need together. We will often step out of the room and provide you with a doorbell button to push when you are ready for us to come back in. If you do not wish to be alone, one of our team members will stay with you until your pet is ready for his/her final injection.

The second (final) injection is almost always administered intravenously (into a vein), and we describe it as a potent anesthetic overdose that brings your pet into a deep plane of anesthesia that he/she will not come out of. This drug relaxes your pet’s brain function, thus stilling his/her breath and heartbeat. It is not painful. Typically, once this final injection is administered, your pet will pass within just a couple of minutes.

You may notice your pet taking some deep breaths during this final injection, and they may have some muscle twitching or release of urine or stool afterwards. Your pet likely will not fully close his/her eyes. These are all normal to see during and after this final injection.

Afterwards, our team will allow you as much time as you need with your pet.

Aftercare Options

Our clinic utilizes a third-party cremation service - Animal Cremation Services - for those clients wishing to have their pet cremated. There are two options for cremation: an individual cremation means that your pet will be cremated by themselves and their ashes will be returned to you in a wooden urn; a group/communal cremation means that your pet will be cremated with other pets and their ashes will not be returned to you.

For those clients wishing to take their pet home for burial, we offer this option as well. We unfortunately do not have a burial site on our premises so cannot keep pets for burial.

Memorial Offerings

Our compassionate team members will create a pawprint impression of your pet in clay if you wish - one of these clay prints is included with each euthanasia appointment.

We also offer to clip and save hair for clients and create ink pawprint impressions for clients.

For an additional fee, you can have an Eternal Paws pawprint made. We work with a local artist who creates a reverse pawprint from clay and attaches it to river rock.

If you do not wish to have any memorials created, that is also fine. We want to help you in any way that we can.

Bereavement Support

Dr. Kyle Stevenson created a pet loss support group in 2019 - Northern New York Pet Loss Support. She holds online meetings once monthly through the Zoom platform for those in need of additional support. There is also a closed Facebook group of the same name for continued support throughout the year.

This support group is open to any individual needing support - you don’t need to be a client of our clinic to join this group.