Also before leaving, Dr. Shanan gives a packet of support materials, then phones a few days later to see if there’s anything else he can do.
Dr. Shanan receives calls from pet owners from all walks of life, income levels and cultures.
“When people call, they’re emotional. They’re crying. They have a hard time talking,” Dr. Shanan said. “Just thinking that this will happen is upsetting.”
This is true whether pet owners personally know Dr. Shanan or are speaking with him for the first time. Joslyn Zost of Chicago has known Dr. Shanan for about as long as he’s been in practice. When her 17-year-old Pop Tart wasn’t acting himself, she immediately made an appointment. His blood work-up confirmed her worst fears: his kidneys were failing. Having said good-bye to another cat 14 years before at a vet’s office, she still recalls how upset she felt driving home. This time, having the option of staying at home made it more personable and comforting for both her and Pop Tart, Zost said.
If pet owners even know that at-home euthanasia is an option, often their first reaction is it’s not an option for them. Their overwhelming concern is that saying good-bye at home would be the last and lasting memory of their pet — the one they would carry with them for the rest of their lives.
But when 15-year-old Chubbers was diagnosed with cancer, Laurie White of Chicago decided she’d at least call Dr. Shanan because she also knew firsthand what it was like to go to the veterinarian and come home alone.
“You have to do it to understand how it is,” White said. “There is no feeling of being rushed. There are no people in the (clinic’s) waiting room. And I didn’t have that horrible drive home and have to walk through my door without my pet.”
“Once you have a choice, I’ll never go back to the other way,” White said. “I didn’t have to subject Chubbers to an upsetting car ride, to see to him upset and quivering. He was comfortable here. He was where he was supposed to be and he was with friends.”
Afterwards, White and Dr. Shanan exchanged hugs, a gesture you’d expect between family members or close friends, not someone you just met. She said she felt as if she had found a lifelong friend. But it was bittersweet. She had to lose her one-and-only Chubbers to find him. Gayla Cox shared a similar sentiment.
“Dr. Shanan was here for us. After this, he’s a friend for life,” Cox said.
Holiday season 2000 was not as Gayla and Bob Cox ever expected it to be — without their Spider for the first time since he had joined their family nearly 20 years before. But his spirit is with them always — in their hearts and in their home — because that’s where they chose to say good-bye.
