I don’t know how CAETA continues to come up with so many brilliant ideas! They’re so appropriate for the reform of companion animal euthanasia. This one, a hypothetical euthanasia case described in a blog post, is intended to help those who perform euthanasia improve their protocol and technique. After I read it, I told Dr. Kathleen, of CAETA, that I thought it would be almost as valuable for euthanasia clients! It describes some of the many signs that a euthanasia could be headed for trouble and result in unnecessary additional trauma for both client and patient...and perhaps for the practitioner as well. It may allow you to be prepared, as either client or witness, to know when to pause and redirect the process. ...

I read the phrase “Good Death Revolution” a couple times on the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA) website before I realized I was staring at a dream coming true! CAETA deserves as much of our assistance and support as we can give for launching this revolution. Ever since I learned that a significant number of pet “euthanasia” are actually dysthanasia, or “bad death”, I’ve thought it was critically needed. 

This revolution should go down in history as one of the most transformative in the field of veterinary medicine. CAETA and all its co-workers will deserve to become legendary. You can be among them! If you and your companions have been traumatized in a failed euthanasia, ...

Reading the two Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA) blogs “Evangelizing New Euthanasia Protocols to CoWorkers” and “Reducing Pain During Pre-Euthanasia Sedative Injections” was an emotional ROLLER COASTER for me! It was inspiring to learn of the many dedicated veterinarians serving so valiantly to bring companion animal euthanasia out of its dark age, but shocking to learn what’s necessary to gain more assurance that a euthanasia will be worthy of the term “good death”. An actual euthanasia, a final event that can so easily traumatize so many, seems like a very inappropriate time for improvisation. But this supports my view that companion animal euthanasia is a procedure that was ...

I’m composing this post at my public library, where I do most of the work for this website, because being at my apartment, where three of my best friends, Miss Kitty, Norma and Tinkerbell were stricken, is bearable only with sufficient distraction and only when there’s no other choice. I call it “Atrocity Central”. I especially want to be gone from there late this afternoon, when four years ago, deathly ill Tinkerbell was brutally attacked and killed by two veterinary professionals who said they did their “best” with an at-home euthanasia, while I stood by inexplicably paralyzed in silent agony and shock.

I recall this anniversary especially well because I’ve begun marking on a calendar the dates ...

Hello Everyone:

The link below will take you to a CAETA blog post that describes Dr. Kathleen’s advice to veterinarians faced with a request to perform euthanasia for clients who’ve witnessed dysthanasia. Even though it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll ever have to request another pet euthanasia, because I’d do just about anything to avoid ever again being a personal caregiver and because I was only providing care for one, some of you may be forced to consider additional euthanasia. This post will describe some important things to watch for when you consult with a veterinarian about euthanasia. Dr. Kathleen advises such veterinarians to ask clients what happened during the dysthanasia, to try to explain why it ...

Hi, Everyone:

The link below connects you to a blog post by Dr. Kathleen Cooney of the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy (CAETA). It was intended primarily for veterinarians, but it’s not technical and we clients and the patients are frequently mentioned. I want you to see the basis of Dr. Kathleen’s response to pet euthanasia that increase suffering instead of ending it. I think her redefinition of dysthanasia and dedication to improving euthanasia is a very responsible reaction to the painful expressions of our pets and ourselves. It must be very difficult to serve in this way. But it also must be even more difficult, and unpleasant, to allow this situation to persist without addressing it. That can contribute to ...

I stumbled onto this DVM 360 article at the link below in its archives while checking for the CAETA euthanasia survey piece. It’s about a study of the ways that those who’ve had a pet euthanized have responded. It also mentions the stigma associated with pet loss that says if there’s any appropriate mourning at all for this, it should be less than the mourning for loss of human animal family members, friends or relatives. If you’ve had a pet euthanized, what was your response? If you’ve not had a pet euthanized, how do you think you’d respond. The article at the link below will allow you to compare your responses to those in the study. I’m quite certain you’ll find it very interesting if ...

Hello, Everyone:

If you’ve witnessed a traumatizing pet euthanasia (dysthanasia), please consider making use of this opportunity for its ...