I hate to see dogs 'on wheels',
No, I don't feel the same about people in wheelcahirs, they haven't had wheels surgically attached to their legs, and, unless they are terribly unfortunate, they have a voice that they can use to express an opinion about their situation. I would never put down an animal *just* because they are old and/or disabled, but only if they are obviously suffering pretty much constantly.
It is just as much 'playing God' to pump an animal with drugs just to dull their pain enough for them to give you a few more months of companionship, in my opinion.
Last year I had to have our Rabbit put to sleep because he had teeth which kept growing into the sides of his mouth. However often they were clipped, the problem recurred, due to poor tooth formation. He was getting abcesses in his mouth and in the end could only eat through a syringe. This was the loveliest, funniest, most intelligent little Rabbit companion I could wish for, and I certainly did not want to see him go. If he had been a human, there would have been more help available, other options.
But he was a Rabbit, and Rabbits have ever-growing teeth, so this was a serious problem, he was starving to death. That is the difference between animals and people - animals have been bred as companions and have specific breed-related, or species related, problems that we cannot always 'fix'. Should I have let him starve to death?
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