Is euthanizing my pet training my soul for euthanizing a person?

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Kirsten

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My brother and I are both recent converts to Catholicism. Recently my dog developed a severe health problem that would cost a lot of money and since he is an older dog and has other health issues I was seriously considering putting him down. I talked to my brother about this and he insisted that I had the mindset of a pro-choice person. He said because the dog is domesticated that when you kill him it is training your soul to killing people. He said that there is a value to suffering and that I should just watch the dog die just as I would for a human. We got in a big fight over this issue. What do you all say? This seems somewhat confusing and complicated for me. I know that it is not morally wrong to kill an animal and it is morally wrong to kill a human, (including euthanasia) but my question is this: Is it harmful for the soul if I kill a domesticated animal?
 
No more so than hunting animals trains you to hunt humans. Or eating animals trains you to eat humans.
 
Your brother is wrong. If your dog is suffering you can euthanize your dog.
 
Kirsten said:
I talked to my brother about this and he insisted that I had the mindset of a pro-choice person. He said because the dog is domesticated that when you kill him it is training your soul to killing people.
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Your brother is not correct.

Euthanizing a pet is morally acceptable. The suffering of animals has no redemptive quality to it, animals have no spiritual souls, and the Church has no issue with euthanizing animals.
Kirsten said:
He said that there is a value to suffering and that I should just watch the dog die just as I would for a human.
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See above. This is true for people, not for animals.
Kirsten said:
Is it harmful for the soul if I kill a domesticated animal?
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No.
 
Anonkun said:
It’s weird to think about it this way, but animals don’t have rational souls. So they are basically advanced computers made out of flesh and fur. Putting down an animal may feel bad, but morally it’s equivalent to eliminating an old pc.
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No. Animals are not computers. There is a huge difference. Animals have feelings and perceptions and consciousness.

However, to get back to the TC, other animals are not humans, they don’t have rational souls. Their instinct does drive them to stay alive, but they have no concept of living forever or so on. Putting an animal down is not the same as euthanizing a person.

Edit: There was an issue replying to the post I intended to reply to. I’ve fixed the quote.
 
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As someone who had to put her cat to sleep almost two weeks ago due to aggressive cancer, I find your brother’s outlook repulsive.
 
The dog’s suffering does not have “value” because the dog has no idea of sin, or of offering up suffering as atonement. Animals do not sin and do not understand the theology of making sacrifices. Their brains are not made for that. A suffering animal is just suffering and is unable to use it for the good of the world.

Be kind to your dog and let the veterinarian help him out of his misery when it is time, and you be there too to help your dog cross over. That is being a good steward of God’s creature, your dog that God gave to you.
 
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Anonkun said:
So they are basically advanced computers made out of flesh and fur. Putting down an animal may feel bad, but morally it’s equivalent to eliminating an old pc.
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Not so. A computer is an inanimate object.
 
1ke said:
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Kirsten:
Is it harmful for the soul if I kill a domesticated animal?
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No.
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The question needs to be better specified. “Euthanize” has a very specific meaning. If one kills a domesticated animal for no valid reason, it is immoral.
 
Kirsten said:
Is it harmful for the soul if I kill a domesticated animal?
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It would be harmful if you killed it wantonly for no good reason, or cruelly, or for fun, or if you were angry and took your rage out on the dog, or because you decided you were tired of it so let’s just get rid of it.

It is not harmful to kill an animal humanely in order to put it out of its misery when it is sick and in pain or unable to function normally, such as eating, drinking, walking around, going to the bathroom etc. Again you are doing the animal a kindness by sparing it a protracted death.
 
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Perhaps I can add some perspective as a practicing veterinarian with an MA in Theology. 😉

Just 4 hours ago, I euthanized a pet with cancer and have, over the period of 30+ years, euthanized hundreds of animals. One might be tempted to think with such a history, that I might be desensitized to the notion of active euthanasia in human beings.

Not so.

I have, however, had to “deal with” (for lack of a better term), clients who are understandably mourning the loss of a pet and say things like, “I wish we could do that for people.” Usually I don’t respond; that’s not the time to get into such a discussion.

But I digress. I think if someone like myself, who has significantly more experience in humanely ending animal’s lives isn’t any more likely to support human euthanasia, Joe Average is not likely to. Now you might say, what about veterinarians who are not people of faith (or Catholic)? There you might have a point.
 
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That’s a critical point. I’m just putting the polishing finish on a paper I’m writing for a bioethics journal and have a section on Imago Dei. It’s interesting that there are both Catholic and non-Catholic theologians who implicitly reject that notion in attempts to emphasize either the rights of or the importance of animals.
 
Hume said:
Hospice nurse walked over to my mom, whispered something, mom nodded her head, and hospice nurse picked up a syringe and injected something into my grandmother’s IV.
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Not to get too personal, but what are your thoughts on that if you don’t mind my asking.

It’s one thing to theoretically discuss human euthanasia, a different more personal matter when you’re close to that person.

Sometimes there’s a fine line between keeping a suffering person comfortable and actively ending their life. In Catholic moral theology, there’s still a line…
 
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You might be tempted to think otherwise if you were to have seen some of my patients over the years, LOL. I can think of several cats that were straight out of hell.
 
Here is another aspect: I have a blind friend who uses a seeing-eye dog. The dog had heath problems and the vet suggested putting him down for her convenience. She was mortified at this idea because the dog was to her like a family member and she said she would never euthanize her dog because it would be like euthanizing a family member. The vet replied that she didn’t see a problem with euthanizing a family member. This made my brother and I wonder if the way in which animals are elevated to the place of humans is causing people to be more comfortable with euthanizing their relatives. But, now that I was considering putting the dog down, he is saying that simply for the reason that the dog is domesticated and in a small way “a part of the family” that it is not good for my soul that I euthanize him.
 
What you just described sounds like human euthanasia. This is forbidden by Catholic teaching. If the OP is a faithful Catholic, she will not be making that decision for a human. Ever.

Also, it is inappropriate to suggest on a Catholic forum, as you seem to have done, that euthanizing a dog is similar to euthanizing a human.
 
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Thank you.

Interesting quote from Ms. Maynard, “when the time seemed right”. The challenge in Catholic Moral Theology is to accept that the Almighty knows that time and that since our lives are given to us and “owned” by him, it is not ours for the taking.

Yet, in many (not all) cases, it is possible to relieve the suffering of a terminal patient without actively ending their life. Not that it’s a desire to suffer or a suggestion that pointless suffering is a good thing, rather that our suffering can be united to Jesus’ suffering toward a redemptive end.

Even Jesus prayed that his suffering be avoided before accepting it. That’s something a lot of folks forget. There’s no possible rational reason for any human to ask for suffering…but…there’s a difference in asking for it and asking to accept it.
 
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