An odd question

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army_girl

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I know this may be a very weird question…but is it a sin to put your animal down. I just came back from the Vet’s and my cat was in Liver failure and his kidneys were enlarged, He was going to die very soon without the assitance of the Vet’s, but I dicided to have him put down, and have been in tears since. See he was only 1 1/2 years old, and was my husbands cat (he is in Afghanistan and will have to tell him the bad news on the phone!) But the question is, did I sin? I believe I did the right thing, but am unsure.
Please, I realize this isn’t the typical question but maybe somebody with more knowledge than I can ease my guilt.

Amanda
 
I’m so sorry, dear. I know this is a very sad time for you.

We humans have been given stewardship of the earth and its creatures. One of the responsibilities of being a pet owner – a part of that stewardship – is to realize that animals do not fear death but do not understand pain. Perhaps you could have kept him alive at an expense you may or may not be able to reasonably bear (I have children who are military families as well – I know the paychecks are not large), but he would not have had any concept of why you were allowing him to be hurt or been able to put his pain in any kind of context like a human would.

You made a difficult decision, made it by yourself and made it lovingly. You did the best you could do with the information you had. That is all any of us can do. The cat had a good life while he was with you and it sounds like you did the right thing.

No, you did not sin . . .
 
Dear Army Girl,

I am sorry to hear about your cat. Please rest assured you did not sin, you did the best thing you could for him. With liver failure he would have been utterly miserable, with no understanding of why.

Having a pet put down is NOT like euthanasia for humans - after all, we kill animals for food without sinning. What you did was the last loving thing you could do for him, to spare him pain and misery.

You will be in my prayers tonight.

God bless
 
Thank you both, I have been in miesery thinking about what I’ve done. I keep praying for forgivness, in my heart I feel that I’ve done wrong:( And I am dreading talking to my husband the next time he calls, I don’t know how I will explain this to him.
Thank you again

Amanda
 
Tell you husband just what you told us. I too had to put a cat down because of liver failure. The poor thing was suffering. I had to drive him to the emergency vet in a driving snow storm all alone. Duncan also had a bad heart. The doctor said he could do surgery on his heart and then hope cure his liver. The surgery would cost thousands of dollars and had only a 40% chance of success plus the negative aspect of his bad liver. I had to make the decision whether to spend money I didn’t really have and to make him suffer through surgery that might just kill him anyway. It was heartbreaking and then when I got home I had to tell the family of my decision as they were all at work or school. Everyone understood and they too did not want to see him suffer. It’s been 5 years and I still think of him as he was a great cat and only 7 years old. You did the right thing, your husband will understand.
 
army_girl said:
Thank you both, I have been in miesery thinking about what I’ve done. I keep praying for forgivness, in my heart I feel that I’ve done wrong:( And I am dreading talking to my husband the next time he calls, I don’t know how I will explain this to him.
Thank you again

Amanda
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No you haven’t done wrong! As has been pointed out, God gave us animals to be our food among other things. If God felt that euthanasing animals was wrong He was certainly capable of telling us so! On the contrary He ordered animal sacrifice in the Old Testament!

There is nothing wrong at all, and everything right, with putting a suffering animal out of its misery - that’s part of good stewardship of God’s creation.

Your husband may be upset, true. Just tell him the truth, that the cat had multiple health problems and the vet advised that it was going to die soon without treatment (which was doubtless incredibly expensive), and that the best thing to do in your situation was to give it the gift of a painless death. Look forward with him to adopting a new pet soon!
 
I’m sorry you had to go through that, . . I had to put my cat and my dog to sleep also, they were both very sick. I still feel sad if I think about it.
The best thing you can do in your cat’s memory is adopt another pet. You can give another kitten a good home and a good life.
 
Dear army girl

I am so sorry about your cat and that his body only allowed him a short life. He was very fortunate to have such a loving person as you.

No I don’t think you sinned. I think you took the best option in a very, very sad situation. It’s quite normal to wonder afterwards whether you did the correct thing. But yes, you did by putting the cat’s needs before your own.
 
Being cruel to or killing animals is not a sin. You may be sick if your cruel and you have to worry about civil law but it’s no sin. God bless.
 
Aw… “army girl”… I’m so sorry about the kitty. :console: It’s always so hard, to lose a pet.

Two years ago… I had to have my beloved Boston Terrier, Jack… put to sleep. The last year of his life (he was 12), he had epilepsy… and he spent his final night of life… having Grand Mal Seizures. After a bitterly sad and exhausting night, of holding him… hoping the seizures would end… I finally realized, that Jack was suffering needlessly. And so, with an extremely heavy ❤️ I took him over to the vet, and had him put down.

I suffered a great deal in the days after. And I ended up in Confession… and asked my priest… “Did I commit a sin… putting my dog down?” He replied… “No, you showed mercy.”

Although I still grieved… and miss Jack to this very day… I realized at that moment, that he was not human; and that as a pet owner, it is our responsibility to NOT allow our animals to suffer… needlessly.

I hope you will find comfort in this. And maybe say a little prayer to St. Francis of Assisi… who loved God’s Creation so much.
 
I spent much time on my grandparent’s farm when I was growing up. I was taught that it was a sin not to put an animal down when it was suffering and I could do nothing to eliminate that suffering. As others pointed out God gave us custody of the animals and it is required that we make their lives as pain free as possible.
 
ora_pro_nobis said:
Dear Army Girl,

I am sorry to hear about your cat. Please rest assured you did not sin, you did the best thing you could for him. With liver failure he would have been utterly miserable, with no understanding of why.

Having a pet put down is NOT like euthanasia for humans - after all, we kill animals for food without sinning. What you did was the last loving thing you could do for him, to spare him pain and misery.

You will be in my prayers tonight.

God bless
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So, if we ate people, Euthanasia would be acceptable? I only ask, because what you describe, the merciful act of shortening the horrid pain of something that would die from said misery, is exactly what Euthanasia is.
 
I understand where you’re coming from, its a hard choice to make, but no sin was involved. I had to have one of my pet rats put down recently, it was a hard choice but I had to look at it rationally, she had ratty cancer, didn’t have great mobility, was incontinent and at the end was off her food - a bad sign for rats. I took her to be PTS as one last gift. Sure, I coudl have spent a lot of money to have the tumour removed, and a lot more on the medicines and feeding reigmes but she was a very old ratty and I didn’t want her to go through the rigoraror of such.

The general line of thought and teaching is that animals don’t have mortal souls, whether or not that’s true, I asked St. Francis to accompany us to the vet and to help hold and calm my smelly fuzzy little friend during her last injection.

As has been said, we have been entrusted by God to care for the animals and live He’s placed on this world, one aspect of that care is making a hard choice to end animal pain.
 
absolutebelieve said:
So, if we ate people, Euthanasia would be acceptable? I only ask, because what you describe, the merciful act of shortening the horrid pain of something that would die from said misery, is exactly what Euthanasia is.
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Animals aren’t made in the image and likeness of God - He didn’t breathe His own breath (Holy Spirit) into them. 🤷

I seem to recall reading about the peoples of Chan Chan peoples in South America. When the Spanish conquistadors came, the Chan Chan gave them loads of gold and silver, but wouldn’t part with the tapestries decorating their houses. Those tapestries were their currency - and their most valued possessions. They weren’t mistaken much.

Don’t assume that just because something (ie human life in EVERY stage, and in a special way human suffering) has no value or worth in your estimation that it is NOT in fact valuable or useful.
 
LilyM said:
Animals aren’t made in the image and likeness of God - He didn’t breathe His own breath (Holy Spirit) into them. 🤷

I seem to recall reading about the peoples of Chan Chan peoples in South America. When the Spanish conquistadors came, the Chan Chan gave them loads of gold and silver, but wouldn’t part with the tapestries decorating their houses. Those tapestries were their currency - and their most valued possessions. They weren’t mistaken much.

Don’t assume that just because something (ie human life in EVERY stage, and in a special way human suffering) has no value or worth in your estimation that it is NOT in fact valuable or useful.
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But God created them and charged us with their care, as he charged us with caring for all his creations. Just as he charged us with caring for each other.
 
John_Russell_Jr said:
Being cruel to or killing animals is not a sin. You may be sick if your cruel and you have to worry about civil law but it’s no sin. God bless.
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That’s just plain ridiculous. It’s clearly sinful to be needlessly cruel to animals. The Catholic Encyclopedia documents the Church’s opposition to the unmerciful treatment of animals.

More importantly, the Catechism contradicts your claim:
2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
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2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
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2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.
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army girl, I’m sorry for your loss. As the proud husband of a veterinarian (an Army one, no less, the Clinic OIC here at Fort Leavenworth), I can assure you that what you did was merciful and good, and definitely not sinful.

Jeremy
 
absolutebelieve said:
So, if we ate people, Euthanasia would be acceptable? I only ask, because what you describe, the merciful act of shortening the horrid pain of something that would die from said misery, is exactly what Euthanasia is.
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No, because humans and animals are not the SAME. Human Beings are made in the Image and Likeness of Almighty God. And by the Sufferings of Our Lord, Jesus Christ… we have been redeemed, and made Children of God. Animals are part of natural creation. Flora and Fauna. They are not made in God’s Image.

Human beings are the “stewards” (caretakers) of God’s Creation. We are NEVER allowed to cause unnecessary suffering or death of an animal. To do that… would be the sin of cruelty. But when an animal is suffering, needlessly… from pain, disease… etc. it is an act of mercy to put them down (euthanize).

Hope this clears it up for you. God bless.

(P.S. Cannibalism… which you asked about, is also a sin. Civilized Humans do NOT eat their own kind… as often some animals will do. If that doesn’t demonstrate the difference between Humans and animals… nothing will.)
 
army_girl said:
I know this may be a very weird question…but is it a sin to put your animal down. I just came back from the Vet’s and my cat was in Liver failure and his kidneys were enlarged, He was going to die very soon without the assitance of the Vet’s, but I dicided to have him put down, and have been in tears since. See he was only 1 1/2 years old, and was my husbands cat (he is in Afghanistan and will have to tell him the bad news on the phone!) But the question is, did I sin? I believe I did the right thing, but am unsure.
Please, I realize this isn’t the typical question but maybe somebody with more knowledge than I can ease my guilt.
Amanda
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You did not sin. You not only did the right thing, you have shown great bravery and fortitude in doing what was right to ease the unnecessary pain of one of God’s creatures.

The love of having a pet is often paid for with the price of letting your friend go but to let them go in dignity and without pain is a debt we owe them for the love they give us.

Your husband will understand, but I bet he will also tell you that he would have done the same. Anyone honorable enough to serve is honorable enough to know that you made the best choice you could.

P.S. - you and one of my daughter’s share the same name, so I’ll remember to say an extra prayer tonight that God will ease the pain in your heart.
 
jemfinch said:
That’s just plain ridiculous. It’s clearly sinful to be needlessly cruel to animals. The Catholic Encyclopedia documents the Church’s opposition to the unmerciful treatment of animals.

More importantly, the Catechism contradicts your claim:

army girl, I’m sorry for your loss. As the proud husband of a veterinarian (an Army one, no less, the Clinic OIC here at Fort Leavenworth), I can assure you that what you did was merciful and good, and definitely not sinful.

Jeremy
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I am not recommending or condoning cruelty to animals. It shows sickness when done unnecessarliy. But there is no sin according to the commandments, laws of the church or teachings of Christ. I hope I’ve explained it well. God bless.😉
 
As a veterinarian of over 20 years and an amateur Catholic moral theologian, no, it’s neither an odd question nor a sinful behavior. I would say that it could be considered to allow an animal to suffer needlessly.
 
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