I have lost count of the number of people who have said to me ‘I’d love to have been a vet, but I couldn’t cope with putting pets to sleep.’ And, as every vet will freely acknowledge, euthanasia is the most difficult and distressing task to have to carry out, especially as it happens on a regular basis. There are few careers that involve the frequent and intentional taking of life.
But for most vets, the greatest difficulty does not arise from actually carrying out the euthanasia. In fact, as long as a pet’s life is ended to prevent pain and suffering, and is ended calmly and peacefully, there can be a certain sense of satisfaction in bringing that life to a close. The main problem for the majority of vets is coping with the distress of the person or family who has been caring for that pet, often for many years.
Vets have little training in helping clients through the shock and grief of losing a pet. In particular there seem to be no simple answers to the torrent of questions that flow both before and after euthanasia.
Every vet who has been through such questioning and puzzled over how to give a useful answer, and everybody who has ever had to say goodbye to a loved pet, or has to go through that experience in the future, should read The Animal Communicator’s Guide Through Life, Loss and Love from cover to cover.
Pea Horsley is able to give realistic and comforting answers to all these questions and more, both from her moving account of losing Morgan, her beagle, and from the many pets she has met and communicated with, both before and after their deaths.
Death seems to be the last taboo in British society, and grieving for a lost pet particularly so. Many of my own clients have said they felt embarrassed to display any signs of grief to friends or work colleagues. Pea explains the process of grief, how normal it is to feel the loss of a pet and how to help to resolve the emotions of bereavement.
The Animal Communicator’s Guide Through Life, Loss and Love is a book dealing with a sad and potentially depressing subject, but anyone who reads it will find it comforting, practical and – remarkably – positive and uplifting.
Richard Allport
BVetMed, VetMFHom, MRCVS
Author of Natural Healthcare for Pets, Heal Your Dog
the Natural Way and Heal Your Cat the Natural Way