Putting a dog to sleep.

How as a vegan, can I justify taking my dogs to the vets to have them put to sleep? This is so hard to comprehend and something I never fully took into account when I first decided to have dogs. I have 2 labradors. They are sisters, one black, one golden. They lived in England with us before moving out with us to Norway where their life has been exciting, although they have had their noses pushed out a bit since having the two children. They are 12 years old.

Jazz, our golden ball of idiocy, has suffered from epilepsy for some years but has always been a young a heart dog, chasing frisbees and loving nothing more than a roll around in the muck. You can see from the picture that she used to be a gentle soul. Last weekend she tried to bite our 3 year old daughter. She didn’t mean it, she’s just going a bit odd in her old age. She tries to climb the stairs and if she is lucky enough to find the child gate open, pees on the kids rugs in their bedrooms. She spends most days whining and all we hear in the night is her walking around and growling.

Paris, is a lazy dog, always has been. Meant in the nicest way. She has, for the last year, been developing lumps all over her body and no longer has much control over her bodily functions. We spend many mornings stepping around places where she has thrown up in the night (after trying different diets nothing seems to help). We often come home to dog pee all over the place and have a lovely time clearing up.

I am concerned for the safety of my children and cannot trust Jazz so must accompnay the kids when they go anywhere near them. The dogs are quite uncontrollable as their hearing is going and they do not repsond to calls. They bark at nothing and both get aggressive and nervy around people.

At what point do I concede that I have to think about putting these two friends of mine down and can I live with myself for doing it? I know, whatever state they are in I will feel guilty for killing them. There is no-where for them to go, no sanctuary, no one to have them. Do I make them as comfortable as I can and keep them away from the children as I know it is only a matter of time before one of them hurts them, either by biting or by knocking them off the stairs because they can’t hear them. Or do I hold them in my arms and let them go?