 Hi, everybody. Welcome back. This is Lisa Larson, Animal Communicator and Shimana Keeler. And this is our third in a series on euthanasia. And we're going to be talking about what to expect when that dreaded time comes. I know that a lot of you out there have never had to experience this before. But before we get into that, I want to tell you that we have a bit of a change. My co-host, Pete Castro, had some personal issues, so he wasn't able to continue on here. So I've got, I kind of twisted her arm, a good friend of mine, Alicia Aletristé, who is cat border extraordinaire, is going to do this with me, at least for the rest of this euthanasia series. I do have to say she's a little bit, the reason I had to twist her arm is she's a little self-conscious about her accent. And honestly, if I could speak Spanish a tenth of how well she speaks English, I'd be a very happy camper. But I understand and I validate whatever she feels. So hello, Alicia. Hi, Lisa. How are you, Lisa? Yes, I'm a little bit conscious about my accent. I hope that everybody can understand me. And let's do it. Okay, let's do it. Let's do it. So I know the one nice thing is that, you know, I know while Pete was able to speak for the novices, you can do that as well as speak for people who are a little bit more experienced with animals. Aside from being a good friend, she's a student of mine. She's also, she's taken all of my classes. She's taken, oh my god, she's taken animal communication and tarot and hoona and mediumship. But she's, in addition to that, she's also had this experience with euthanasia in, in having to make that decision for her kitty cheekies. And so I thank you for doing this with me today and finishing out this series with me because I feel, and I know you feel too, you've been helping me write these outlines. I know you feel that this is a really important topic for us to talk about as well. Yes, you mentioned I went through this experience. I was horrible. It was very painful. And I wish I had something like this for me to be guide because I was very lost, very lost. And thank you, Lisa, that you're doing this because there are going to be a lot of people that will be very, very happy listening to see what to expect on the whole process. Perfect. Thank you so much. Well, let's just, let's for just a moment, let's review a couple of the things that we talked about in the last episode, when to make the decision to call the vet. You know, the first episode we talked about deciding on euthanasia and the benefits of euthanasia. The second episode we talked about when to call the vet and how to know when to call the vet. And I just want to be very brief here just to bring everybody up to speed. You know, there are some simple signs. They don't apply to every animal for sure, but things like not eating when animals get to the point where they can't get up and walk easily when they're peeing on themselves because they can't get up and go to the bathroom by themselves. Of course, this is not a good quality of life for them. We need, we talked about deciding whether to do it at home, have a vet come to the home and euthanize or going to the vet. We want to make sure that you out there know that this is an option. It's not always possible. Sometimes they need to be go to the vet, but we're going to be talking about whether you go, whether you have them euthanized at home or whether you have them euthanized at the vet. We're going to be talking about what it is that you're going to expect, especially for those of you who have never had that experience before and you don't know what to expect. And also, I want to add that when to call the animal communicator also to explain to them that you or another animal communicator can go with the animal through the whole process and also to be that you can also talk to them in spirit. So that's very important to know, I think. Oh, okay. Thank you for that. Yeah, as an animal communicator, I can be part of every step of the process. I can be part of that process. There are a lot of people that call me when they're trying to make that decision of is it time? They ask me, is it time for them to go? Should I be calling the vet now? I can be part of the process to help them cross while they're crossing. Now, I don't have to be there physically. And I think we talked about this in the last episode. And I do this less often, but for my clients who know that I do this and they want that extra support, I'm there. And then, yes, one of my specialties is talking to animals and spirits so that we can definitely talk to them after you've gone through what we're talking about today. And sometimes it can be right away. It can be a long time after. It doesn't matter. The timing doesn't matter. But that is a possibility. So thank you for bringing that up. Also, I wanted to see if you can tell people, what is the process when the vet comes to your house? For example, what is the process that the animal will go through with their human or their parents? Yes, that's a great question. Thank you for that. Yeah, it's a process and it's something that you want to be aware of and prepared for. And whether you're going to be at the vet or whether you're going to be at home, there's still going to be some similarities that you're going to experience. Now, the first thing is a good vet will always give you the time. They won't rush you through it. And that's important when finding that vet to make that decision of who you're going to call. You want to get a feeling for how they're going to be during this process because you'll never know how you're going to be reacting at that moment. Believe me, you don't know how much time you're going to need. But a good vet will give you the time. But what you're going to be expecting is that most vets will give two shots. Now, the ones that I've had, they give a shot first and that shot puts the animal into a very, very sedated, relaxed state. Now, one of the problems that I've noticed with my cat and with some of the stories from my clients is that first shot sometimes will make them upset or I get the feeling that it maybe stings or something. So you have to kind of hold on to them or people will think that their animal is getting upset and doesn't want to go. That's not the case. They're just reacting to that shot. And very quickly, it's just, they will relax and go to sleep. Now, other people have told me that their vets put in an IV first. And so then they give that first injection of the sedation through the IV. So different vets are going to do different things. But some vets will give a shot. Some vets will put an IV. But that first injection, whether it's through IV or whether it's through injection itself, is going to be a sedation so that the animal will fall asleep in a deep sleep. And once that animal is in a deep sleep, then the vet will give the shot or use the IV to give the medication to stop the heart. And then the doctor, the vet will listen to the animal's heart through a stethoscope generally and tell you when they're gone. And this again is when it's important to have a vet that is empathetic because I know that when I lost McCona, I couldn't, I couldn't let him go. And, you know, she was, I think I said this in the last time, she was wonderful and she, she went out and she walked around the block and she gave me all the time I need to just hold him. And that's okay. If you need to just sit and hold your baby, that's okay. And you shouldn't be rushed to do anything. So. And one thing that I want to add in my experience, I have to call a friend to take care of everything. I couldn't, my mind where I was not there. So my friend called the vet, my friend, I get my credit card, she paid, she ordered the paw print, the hair and all this stuff. And so I don't know if you want to explain a little more about that. Yes. Thank you for bringing that up because I did forget to say that. Yeah, it's really important to know that when I talk about planning ahead before you call the vet, you want to make sure that you have the vet that you're going to call, have the number in your phone or next to your phone or whatever. And make sure that you have taken care of everything so that when that time comes, everything will be done. Take care of the forms. If they take payment in advance, you can do that. Now, I will be very honest. You know, you saying that you call a friend, I think yes, call for support. I can't remember a time when I actually wrote the check or gave the credit card to the vet. I may have when my husband's animals passed, but I was so in my state as well. But usually, either my husband or my mom has done it, somebody when I'm the person that's the closest to that animal, if you can get somebody else to make that payment or deal with the vet when they come over so that you can just spend time with your animal. And it's, you know, sometimes it can be the person and another person that loves that animal, but maybe there's one person in the household who is the most affected by it. It doesn't diminish your feelings about it, but everybody has to kind of chip in and do what they can do emotionally. So yeah, I thank you for that, for reminding me that. Yeah. And also, I think it will be very good if you explain to people what happens afterward to the body of the animal. Yes. And so, especially when you have a vet at home as well, they will take care of it. Well, the vet, even if you go to the vet, they will take care of taking the animal's body to the crematory if that's what you want to do. Now, most people I know will cremate. There is a new process called water cremation. And I heard this from a client of mine. And I guess it's, they do a whole process where it's all very metaphysical and spiritual and it's supposed to be a much more passive, I don't want to say passive, but peaceful. Not that it makes a difference to the animal. It's what's in your mind and it's just what you want. And everybody that I've talked to, all animals that I've talked to when they say, do you want to be, when I ask, do you want to be cremated? Do you want to be buried? It's like whatever the person is good with is what they're good with. The animal, once they've left their body, they're fine with whatever. But yes, you can cremate, you can bury. There's very few people I know that bury, but there are a couple of my clients that do. But the vet will take the animal to the crematory. But you have to be very, very aware to ask for an individual cremation. Because what will happen if you don't ask for an individual cremation, they may put many animals in one spot to be cremated so that when you get the ashes back, it may be mixed with other animals and we don't want that. So you have to ask for an individual cremation. If you want a paw print, if you want a snip of hair, you need to make sure to either ask the vet or make sure that they know that the crematory does that. Now many crematories will now do a paw print, but if you want a snip of hair, maybe you want to do that yourself or have the vet do that for you because I know with Makana, I wanted the white tip of, he had some white fur on the tip of his tail and I wanted that because I remember when it was dark and I would see that you couldn't see anything, all I could see was the tip of his tail walking around. That was the only thing I could see. So I really wanted that and the crematory forgot. So that would have been something that I would have wanted to either do myself or have my husband do or ask the vet to do. So if there's things that you want, like a paw print, like anything that you want for something like that, make sure there's only one chance that you have to do it and that's before the body is cremated. So you want to make sure that you've made yourself clear or do it yourself if that's a possibility. Yeah, I think these podcasts will help a lot of people and I don't know if you can share how people can be in touch with you and work on your book. Yes, thank you very much. Okay, so my website is paustalk.net. That's the best way to get in touch with me. I've got all of my information on there. And my book, Paustalking, of course, and Communicating with Animals. You can get on Amazon as a print version or ebook, or you can get on Apple Books as an ebook. Perfect. Thank you, Lisa. All right. Well, thank you very, very much for doing this with me, Alicia. You kept me on track. I appreciate that. And I want to say, so this was our third in a series of five. At least that's what we're planning. And the next episode that we do, we plan on doing the initial stages of grief. So what do you do after the vet is gone? After you've experienced all of the stuff that we just talked about here, what then do you do? Because it's a moment of shock. And we've done other animal videos on grief itself, but we haven't talked about just those first few days and what to do and how to get past those first few days. So we're going to try to work with that. And if you are appreciating this podcast, this video cast, if you could like the video, subscribe, put comments, please. Comments are great. Put that bell so that you'll be reminded of videos coming up. And I just appreciate you guys being here and supporting us. And we will try to do the best we can to support you through all of the stages of your animal's life. So thank you so much. Thank you, Alicia, for being here. Thank you. And we'll see you guys again. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye.