Vets Reveal What Pets Do Right Before Death, And It’s A Must-Read For Every Pet Owner

There’s one thought, one image every pet owner is constantly running away from. Saying the last goodbye to your trusted companion. It’s inevitable, yet we act like we can put it away. Until we can’t and it creeps up on us, unprepared. But we should. Pet lover Jessi Dietrich from Jacksonville, Illinois recently asked her vet what the hardest part of his job was, and the thing he revealed about putting down pets instantly broke her. Jessi soon tweeted the unexpected answer and it went viral, generating over 140,000 likes and nearly 42,000 retweets.

“I just have one pet of my own. His name is Rick, he’s a black and white cat and is about 2 and a half years old,” Jessi told Bored Panda. Though he only weighs about 5 pounds, he has the biggest personality to make up for what he may lack in size.”

“I took him to the vet because about a year and a half ago he nearly died from a UTI blockage,” she added. “My vet had to perform an emergency surgery which one of the risks of which was an increased risk for infection for the rest of his life if the surgery was successful.”

“The surgery went wonderfully but since then he gets at least one or two infections a month (the vet said he is not in pain from them). So we’re regulars at our current vet to treat these chronic infections in short.”

Rick’s near death experience made Jessi very aware that one day she will have to say goodbye to her furry little treasure. “Lastly I’d just like to say that while some pets may only be in our lives for a short period of time, we often are in their lives for a large percentage of theirs. They are with us during our highs and lows, always excited to see us when we’ve gotten home. Please consider this when the time comes for you to put an animal down.”

Scroll down to check out why so many owners are going about this whole thing the wrong way and don’t be surprised if you end up sobbing like the rest of the internet.

P.S. Jessi would also like to add that her intention of tweeting this was just to share what one vet said, not to guilt people into staying or making others feel bad for not staying for previous pets. “I just wanted to share these experiences to raise awareness to them, especially that last one. There are options when putting a pet down.”