Yes you read that right, euthanasia. Anyone who has worked in the veterinary industry for more than one Christmas has noticed the phenomenon of holiday euthanasia. For some strange reason I have always felt like we put more pets to sleep starting at the beginning of December. The spree of sadness usually doesn't end until after New Year's.
No, most of these pet are not Fluffys that got into the tinsel a little too hardcore. Or Rovers who need to be moved to make way for the tree and presents(not that we'd accommodate such a thing). The majority of these cases are end stage patients. For some strange reason they seem to all want to check out before the year is over.
Maybe it's the fact that it is indeed, at least in some people's opinion "The most wonderful time of the year". Perhaps that makes the feelings over the deaths more intense, therefore it seems like there are so many more of them.
As medical folks, we tend to surmise that the stress of the holiday might be the real culprit. All the running around, the noise, folks in and out, and here and there could be the final straw for a terminally ill pet. Not to say that it's the fault of the Christmas blitz that causes these pets to die. Though the craziness might speed up the clock a smidge.
I can't say for sure the cause. I just know that two Saturday's before Christmas I put three pets to sleep in a scant three hour period. Most Saturdays I work, there isn't even one euthanasia, yet alone three! Now each pet was in desperate need. Two were in kidney failure and one was old and couldn't get up and walk anymore. But I couldn't help thinking as I punctured the rubber stopper to the "blue juice"with a fresh syringe for yet another time that day .Gosh, it must be getting closer to Christmas.....
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