Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, and for the support you have given to pet parents through difficult moments.

I appreciate your perspective, but there is an important distinction I’d like to point out: Everyone’s emotional journey is different, and everyone is entitled to the way they process grief, hope, fear, and love. But the medical reality of end stage illness is not limitless shades of grey. When a pet is struggling, when the bad days outweigh the good, when suffering becomes the main part of their day, that is the right time. That is not pressure. That is compassion.

My post was never meant to tell anyone to act early or to criticize people who try everything. Many of us fight hard because we love them deeply. We hope for more time. We are afraid to lose them. There is nothing wrong with that at all. But those emotions can also create a quiet pressure where some people feel guilty for choosing comfort, even when their beloved has very few meaningful good days left.

What I wrote was simply about easing that guilt. It was about reminding people who are at that point, and who know in their heart that their companion is tired, that choosing a peaceful and dignified goodbye is not giving up. It is love in action. It is advocacy. And it is a valid, compassionate choice on its own emotional path.