If you ask any vet or vet tech, you will hear the wrenching stories. Of dogs and cats struggling for breath. Coping with pain. Fighting for life.  Suffering too long. One such story was posted on my Facebook page, and it was a chilling one, a dog struggling for months, then days, then hours and suffering acutely while his humans, in the name of love, refused to let go. It was hard for the staff to watch, and they see it every day.

It is hard for me to hear, and I hear it almost every day, and always told in the name of love. To me, the opposite of that.

People tell me their dogs or cats tell them when it’s time to let go, but I don’t believe that. They don’t know how to do that. It’s our job.

We have to tell ourselves when it’s time to let go, perhaps the most loving gift we can ever give the voiceless creatures who serve us so well.

People ask me all the time how to cope with animal grieving, and I often have the same thought. Let go. Of the guilt. And the selfishness. And the hubris which comes from thinking we can defy life, or that they will tell us, so that we don’t have to try and know.

So I would say this.

Listen to them.

Not for words.

But for feelings.

If they suffer.

When the light goes out.

When the spirit is lost.

When they struggle for life.

If they cannot live their lives. If it is for you, and not them.

Then, please.

Show true love.

See what is merciful.

What it means to be selfless.

What it is to really love.

Speak for them.

When they cannot speak

for themselves.

When you know,

it is time for them. To go.

And listen to them.

And let go.