[Sundae]

My parents brought us up to love and care for our animals, but not to view them with any real sentimentality. This is probably because they both grew up in families who kept animals for food, and also lived through London during WWII. With arbitrary death and destruction as close as the house next door you got along as well as you could, and you fed your family. Those attitudes definitely filtered down.

For example:
Our dog stopped eating and appeared listless and constantly tired - she was about 6. They took her to the vet and paid a lot of money for a full battery of tests only to find she was diabetic and had a serious heart complaint. Now this was a very easily spooked dog. She'd been the runt of the litter and although she was fine with us she was terrified of other dogs, strangers, the vet - just about everything. My parents weighed up the cost of her daily medication and the fact that visits to the vet (which made her shiver in fear and wet herself) could only become more frequent. They could have kept her alive if the whole family made sacrifices but they felt a quiet end was best for her and for us. The vet agreed incidentally.

I don't want to come across as callous, but if it's financially and emotionally difficult for your family to handle the complication of a sick pet I think their welfare should come first.