The Death of an Animal

Frederike Kaldewaij believes that animals should not be killed because it does the animal harm; it is in the best interest for the animal to keep living. The animal can no longer enjoy life if it is killed, if life was ever enjoyable at all. Here I am referring to what Kaldewaij points at, animals raised for food. With the conditions most of these animals live in, life cannot be pleasant. Kaldewaij does not directly mention animals raised for their fur or leather, but the same must be said. The animals are killed, their lives cut short, all enjoyment gone.

But what about animals that are euthanized because they are suffering? Some animals are euthanaized simply because the animal shelters are too crowded, and that definitely goes back to Kaldewaij's arguments. But an animal who is sick? I wasn't there when one of our cats was put to sleep and I don't really remember what happened. All I remember there was my parents trying to tell me and me refusing to believe it, wanting to think she had just fallen asleep instead. I was there for the other one, but it was only later that I learned it was because a teeth cleaning operation had put her into a coma. What I do remember was crying in the backseat on the way home, convinced that life would never be the same again. (I was fairly young when both of these happened.) When our dog was put to sleep it was even worse. He had been a part of our family for twelve years and we had known him longer, since we adopted him from my aunt. He had been living with a congested heart condition (or some congestive condition) for about two years and it made him cough, but otherwise there seemed to be no change. The day before we put him to sleep he had collapsed but still got up and kept going. That and the fact that he had kept going for so long made me think he was a fighter, and sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing.

To sum it all up, here is my question. If an animal is suffering (no matter if they are a pet or not), is euthanizing them in their best interests, even when they are young, or is it cutting a life short?