The Process Of Home Euthanasia

 It is arguably the worst decision a pet owner has to make; the time has come to let your best friend pass on over the rainbow bridge, and as a company of pet owners, we know first hand how heavy the responsibility feels to have the life of your pet tentatively held in your hands.  

There is no denying it, it truly is a heartbreaking decision to have to make, but sometimes, if you can prepare yourself for what to expect, it can make the whole ordeal that little bit easier, which is why this blog post is dedicated to the full process of how we conduct a home euthanasia appointment, here at Legacy Pets;  

So you have come to the decision that the time is near, and your friend is getting ready to pass on; the first step is to give us a call. 

Hannah, Phoebie, Eboni and Amy make up our Customer Care Team and your call will be answered by any one of these ladies. They are all just as loving and understanding as the next, and they will go through this full process with you at your own pace; taking the time to get to know your pet a little, and being there for you, with answers and advice to any questions or queries you may have, no matter how silly or obvious they may seem. 

Whether you are wanting a same day appointment, have a specific date in mind, or would like us to hold your details until you are ready, the next step is for the Customer Care Team to takesome basic details about you and your friend. These include your name, postcode and the best contact number for you, and then your pets name, age, breed, weight and colour. 

LP Tip: If your pet has any behavioural issues or aggression, please do not feel like we will turn you away if you mention this, now is the time to do so; one of our vets specialises in aggressive pets, and while we will not euthanasia a healthy pet based solely on the grounds of behaviour, we still believe that they deserve just as much of a peaceful send off and dignified home appointment as any other pet has. 

These details will then be sent out to our team of vets. These vets are locum vets that work alongside Legacy Pets. They are incredibly knowledgeable, understanding and professional, withmost of them having looked after the final moments of our staff member’s pets, so we trust them implicitly to offer a calm and peaceful send off for your friend.  

Once the vet has responded to the Customer Care Team, they will then give you a call back. Unless in an appointment, our vets will usually respond within the hour, and as soon as our call handler has received their time availabilities, they are straight on the phone to you.  

Our second call is slightly more in-depth; we take some more details, discuss your package preferences, briefly explain what will happen in the appointment and we can have a chat. It is here that we learn more about your best friend, and just how special they are; there is no time limit to your phone call, and our team love nothing more than to hear about your pet’s life and the memories you have made together, often discussing our own loved ones who have passed, and being able to seamlessly answer any questions you may have and reassure you on what is about to happen. Our team will always be there to listen to pet owners laugh, cry, reminisce and grieve; as cheesy as it sounds, for a lot of us, this is more than just a job – it is being there to offer the same comfort and reassurance we had, before we had to say goodbye.  

The vets appointment tends to last around 30-45 minutes. Your friend will be given a sedative before the main injection, this is to ensure their passing is as calm and stress free as possible, but our vet will explain the full process to you before they begin, making sure you are as knowledgeable and comfortable with the decision as you can be. Our vets arrive to the house in plain clothes, another way to help your friend feel as at ease as we can, and our vets will introduce themselves gently and professionally, making sure your friend is as comfortable as can be, and to ease both their and your nerves as much as possible.  

After the vets appointment, because the vet is more than likely going on to look after another family, they won’t be able to take your friend with them, so we can either book you in for a drop off, or our transport team can come to collect them; Justin, Ian, Laura, John and Chris make up our Transport Team, and it would be one of these team members who would collect your friend and/or return them home; our Customer Care Team would send a driver out to your house around an hour after the home euthanasia appointment has been booked; this will give the appointment with the vet enough time to run its course without any time pressure or constraints. Our driver will then telephone you when your friend has arrived at our crematorium, so you know they have arrived safely and are now in our care. 

If you would prefer to bring your friend to us yourself, this can be honoured through a pet drop off. Our Customer Care Team will book you in for this, and for your piece of mind, as a company, we don’t believe in cold storage, so your friend will never be stored in a fridge or freezer, but will be in a pleasantly air conditioned room, tucked up in either a blanket from home, or one of our blankets, on a comfortable pet bed. Our team stay with the pets, chatting to them and making sure they are as comfortable as possible. 

For all of us at Legacy Pets, we believe that your friend deserves a resting place and keepsakes as beautiful and bespoke as they were, and our team is by your side to help you choose these. Whether your friend is a dog, cat, hamster or snake, we offer a wide range of casket and urn options that are just as varied on price as they are unique in design. From our biodegradable scatter caskets to our gun metal signature urn, we offer something for everybody’s taste and budget, and if you really can’t find anything you fancy, we can help you to find an independent casket that really matches your style, and can transfer your friend into their new home as soon as it arrives.  

Another beautifully bespoke way to honour your pet would be to have their nose and paw prints or castings done. Our prints start from £30 and we offer various designs and layout options for you to choose from. Prints are of course optional, and we can take pawprint, nose prints, scale prints and even shell prints – one of our teams most unique prints was done from Shelby the Tortoise; Jodie and Annalise make up our Keepsake Team, and they managed to take a beautiful shell printing of Shelby’s shell, finished in the colour patterns to match him as closely as possible – it really was a beautiful and completely unique way for his family to remember him! As Shelby’s print confirms, we can do the prints in the colours to match your friends coat or scales patterns as closely as possible, or we can do them in the standard black, any solid colour or in rainbow designs.  

Our Keepsake Team also specialise in castings. These start from £70 and we offer either a 3D casting or a 2D casting. 3D castings can be done of the entire paw, the full leg, or with your hands holding your friends paw, whereas our 2D castings are done on plaster pucks and can be done of your friends nose or paw and look as though they have pushed their paw or nose through the plaster from the other side, as they are ever so slightly raised and 3D. All of our castings can be finished in either Bronze Silver and Gold, and for more information on them, or if you have any specific questions regarding these, it can all be found on our website, or it may be worth giving us a ring.  

Like everything at Legacy, there is no rush and no pressure; if you are really struggling to choose an option on our call, do not worry one bit; every one of our preferences can be confirmed in your own time; we will simply sent the booking through as ‘To Be Confirmed’. We can send you an email with the links to the website, or discuss every option in depth on a call. We would advise that the sooner we have your decision, the sooner we can get your friend back home, but there really is no pressure from us! 

It is often our keepsakes that take the longest to decide on, which is why we offer Fur Clippings and Token ash. These are of course optional, but they do come free with every booking. As standard, we offer three glass vials of fur, where our keepsake team will include all of the colours of your friends fur, and if its requested, will take the fur from any specific part from your friend– one of our most popular requests is to include fur from a spaniels ears, or the curls from a doodle. We also do a small sealed sachet of token ash, which is roughly a teaspoon of ash set aside from the casket of your choosing. Both the token ash and the fur vials are presented in a small branded purple velvet pouch, so you won’t have to see them until you are ready. We can do up to five fur vials and ash sachet’s free of charge, so there will be more than enough for multiple keepsake pieces, with some to spare for scattering in your friends favourite place, or to simply keep some close to you.  

Once you have chosen your casket and keepsake preferences, your friend will be looked after by our Cremation Technicians Josh and Justin. We aim to get every pet looked after and back home within three days, but as soon as your friend is ready to come home, you will be the first to know. When you initially book in with the customer care team, you will be asked whether you would like to bring your friend down to our crematorium yourself after the vets appointment, or if you would like our Transport team to collect them.  

For pet drop offs, we will book you in for a set time for you to bring your friend down to our crematorium, then you will be collecting them from our Planning Suite and Jewellery Show Room in Bury town centre. 

This is the same for returning them home as well; we will give you a ring to book in for a day depending on your availability. We would then telephone you when we are setting off, so you know when to expect them home.  

Booking in a home euthanasia for your best friend can be such an overwhelming decision to have to make, you feel guilty, sad, responsible, relieved – it is a whole host of emotions that can be so difficult to navigate through, but at Legacy Pets, you are never alone; we are by your side with advice, support, bereavement resources and a shoulder to cry on throughout every step of the process. If you have any more questions or queries, no matter how big small, strange or seemingly obvious, please do not hesitate to give us a ring on 0161 503 1570 or drop us an email to info@legacypets.com – our team will be here to help answer everything and ease your mind in any way we can.