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2 Creating a Good Death The Dramaturgy of Veterinary Euthanasia T he care that veterinarians take to create a good euthanasia experience for their animal patients and human clients first became clear to me during a brief but poignant exchange with an intern. Often owners who choose not to be present during euthanasia wish to spend time with the pet’s body before it is cremated. While walking down a long corridor carrying the body of a cat we had just euthanized out for the owner to view, the intern said to me, “Hey, does this cat look dead to you?” I responded, “Well I guess so; it is actually dead.” The intern laughed and said, “I know, but I don’t like it if they look too dead. It is better if I can make it look like they are just asleep or something.” To achieve the desired peaceful appearance, the intern was careful to avoid allowing the animal’s head to hang limply from her arms—all for the sake of her human client. A patient’s remains are treated respectfully behind closed doors, but extra care is taken in the presence of clients to ensure the impression that the veterinarian has special consideration for the animal’s body. The veterinarian may delicately carry the animal wrapped in a blanket or neatly position the body on a gurney, making sure that a tail or paw does not hang loosely off the side. Acting in much the same way as funeral staff,1 the veterinarian is careful to talk quietly and walk slowly to preserve the desired impression of gravity. Also, similar to their funeral staff counterparts who are always serious and somber in front of clients, veterinarians may talk loudly and even joke while preparing the body behind closed doors. However, to dismiss either 50 Chapter 2 profession’s actions in front of clients as insincere is to miss a much more sophisticated reality. veterinarians often go out of their way to control the appearance of the dead. To create the most pleasing image, an animal’s body may be washed, shaved, or groomed and its eyes are always carefully closed. Any feces or urine excreted after death is wiped clean. The body is sometimes covered with a sheet of disposable absorption padding, towel, or blanket. The veterinarian may even take the time to sew up an open trauma wound or cover disfiguring injuries. This was certainly the case with an iguana named Jax. After radiographs confirmed renal failure, the young male client, his parents, and the veterinarian agreed euthanasia was best. Although the family did not want to be in the room for the procedure, they did wish to be with his body afterward and take it home for burial. Jax escaped our grasp during the euthanizing process and scrambled off the table. Like many lizards, iguanas can drop, or autotomize, their tails, meaning that their tail breaks off from the body. This ability, of course, comes in most handy when a predator grabs hold of an iguana’s tail in the wild, but it can also happen when well-meaning veterinarians try to restrain them. After finally capturing and euthanizing the elusive Jax, dr. Stevens did not want to present the body of a treasured pet in two pieces to the family. Instead of simply explaining the tail loss as a natural response, he took the time to glue and suture the tail back on the dead lizard. When I asked him why he was doing this, he told me that he did not want the clients to think that their pet suffered a violent death, adding, “Jax just didn’t look right or very peaceful without his tail.” To finish off his presentation, dr. Stevens found an appropriately sized cardboard box, lined it with a blue medical pad, and artfully placed the newly restored body of Jax on a makeshift pillow. Although not an especially typical patient, the story of Jax is not unique. Similar to those in the funeral business, veterinarians diligently work to provide their clients with a specific image of their deceased loved one (although they use much less sophisticated preservation and restoration techniques). Just as funeral directors take pains to create what they call a memory picture for the family,2 veterinarians believe that euthanasia is an important experience for pet owners because it is the last memory of their pet: “Euthanasia is important to people. That is what they are...

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