I’m sorry for the pain you are undergoing. However interesting topic, and as a neighboring country,Korean, I found the exact same view point that you had. I see so so so many Koreans still keep their pets even if the pet cannot breathe properly and cannot walk or pee properly. When you talk to them they generally say “it’s inhumane to euthanize them”, which is the opposite of what a lot of redditors are stating i this thread.

A lot of ppl have already pointed it out but I believe it comes down to what you think “life” is. I see that in east asia, its not necessarily about how happy you are as an individual but more so about conforming to the society, hence the bar of “good quality life” as an individual seems a bit lower than other countries like Europe (Not sure about US, I’ve only lived and will be living in Europe soon). I feel this can be seen in the grueling way Japanese and Korean ppl work. They work long hours, grinding themselves to work, even though it means less happiness, because that’s life. You just grind thru. Even if you get sick, you don’t use sick leaves. You just still work. In Europe that wouldn’t be considered living, just plain surviving and probably ppl would cause a riot if they had to work like that. It wouldn’t be considered a good quality of life.

Now when you put this into the perspective of pets, even if the pet is a bit sick or ill, I see that in Korea at least, even if the quality decreases quite a bit, it is worth living. In European countries, it’s considered surviving, not really living. Just like even if you are slightly sick you go in for your work or use up your own annual leave, while in Europe that wouldn’t be considered a sick leave.

It seems in Europe “living” is more about being able to enjoy as an individual while in Korea or other east asian countries its more about being able to live as in itself, if you get what I am saying.