A few years ago, we had to put our yellow labrador retriever, "Toots" to sleep. It was heartbreaking. She was about 10 years old, but she started having health problems, and the vet suggested that we put her down. It was, by far,one of the worst things I've ever had to do. Somehow knowing that she was out of pain and misery was not comforting enough. She was such a sweet, good dog. And I still get teary-eyed when I think about her.

We have a 16 year old cat and I'm very attached to him. I got sick last year and had pancreatitis. When I got out of the hospital, the cat was very sick. We had to take him to an emergency vet, and then to our own vet. The vet didn't think he would survive but he didn't know what was wrong exactly. After a number of tests, he told us that he had, (you guessed it) PANCREATITIS! I'm happy to say that he made it and is doing very well. Just the thought of putting him down makes me cry. I'm am so sorry for you and your family. Losing a pet is truly a heartache.

(These pictures are NOT our animals, but look like them.)

This is a tough question because it brings back sad memories. I think that if you love your pet, you should look them in the eye and say, "I love you too much to let you suffer." Let's remember that as animals, we don't know what they feel or what they are going through when they are sick or injured. If you can't help your pet medically (because there is no treatment) or financially (some treatments are very costly) then I would put them to sleep. It is a hard, horrible decision to make, but I believe we owe them for the love, loyalty and laughter they have given us for years.

I happen to have lost my yellow lab Maggie in the past too, when she was only 7 years old, to cancer. It is so difficult to put your pet to sleep, but ultimately it becomes a quality of life issue. It is so sad to watch the last days of your pets life be in pain, but you have to make the decision if it is in fact curable or not. I always knew it would be sad to leave Maggie, but I couldn't live with myself for knowing that she was in pain and did nothing about it.

I am also a passionate fish owner, and though many don't think fish are affectionate because you can't touch them, they have personalities and I became very attached to them over their lifetimes. I had three goldfish: Chubbs, Marvin, and Calico, that all contracted a tank disease called Ich. I tried the best I could to treat the little guys, but they didn't make it. I miss them everyday-how friendly they were when they would swim towards me when I came into the room, and just watching them eat, swim around, and play together.

It is never nice when a pet leaves you, especially when they're sick. But you have to know where to draw the line for your companions. As much as they don't want to see you in pain, like I'm sure Boom Bear was special and affectionate when things got tough, you don't want to see them in pain either. If they have a terminal illness, I felt better by seeing if they could get better with attention and some treatment. But if that doesn't work, it is always the most humane thing to put them to sleep, which is of course very sad.

I'm sorry for your loss, it is very hard on the whole family. But hang in there, and just remember the good times that you had together-I will always remember how Marvin would float above the bubbles of his bubbling volcano, or how Maggie was so sweet and affectionate. These are the things that stay with us :)

I have five dogs right now and I dread the day when I lose any one of them. I had to put my other miniature schnauzer to sleep many years ago because of congestive heart failure. She was retaining water and that was making it hard for her to breathe. She had to go to the vet a number times to get it drained. After a big discussion and knowing she was suffering I made the ultimate decision to put her to sleep. I was crushed and didn’t even go to work for two days because I was so upset.

Months later, my husband and I got a new puppy and we started over again. Over the next three years we kept acquiring dogs mostly from rescue shelters until now we have the five. We haven’t gotten any new ones since we got our last one about 9 years ago. They are all getting up in age now. One is on medication because of arthritis and then one of my mini schnauzers hasn’t been acting right the last couple of days.

My dogs are my best friends and I don’t know what I would do without them. I truly understand when people tell me how distressed they are when we have to put their pets to sleep. However, like me, we only do it when they are suffering or in pain and do not have any hope of recovering. My prayers and thoughts are with you.

I am very torn about this issue.

When our dog went paralyzed, there was talk of putting him to sleep. I had a doctor's appointment the morning I thought he was going to be put down, and when they took my blood pressure, it was 180/110. That is as high as my boyfriend's father's pressure when he was actually in the middle of having a stroke at the hospital. So, to say I was stressed out about losing our dog is an understatement. I broke down crying in front of the nurse.

That dog ended up dying on his own, but two years later, we had a similar situation with a cat. Fortunately, she died on her own too.

I know that when an animal is suffering, and nothing else can be done, it may be humane to put it down. I just struggle with that a lot because the animal trusts you unconditionally. Especially if you're talking about a dog, the dog assumes you are going to protect it, care for it, and save it. It would absolutely break my heart to hand my dog over to a vet knowing they were going to just take her away and kill her. When nature does it, at least you don't know when it will happen, and it's not in your control. If I took a dog to be put down, I would nearly die trying to stop myself from running after them down the hall to stop them.

I still don't know if I could do it. But to answer your question about how this would affect me mentally and physically, those two are very tied for me, and both my body and mind would break down for a while.