We moved to the Altus area two years ago from north Mississippi where we had competent and caring vets for our Toy Poodle, Sarah. We chose to use Western Prairie because we have two daughters (and their families) in the area who use them. I got Sarah when she was 5 weeks old and I was 48. I am now 64 and August 2018 she turned 16. Her health had been failing because of old age. She began to have weakness in her little back legs and within two weeks she could no longer use her back legs at all. They were paralyzed. When she tried to stand she would fall over. This went on for over a week and I finally decided to be kind to her and made the dreaded decision to have her humanely put to sleep. Sadly, her little mind was still sharp although her little body was not. She knew me til the very end. That very difficult decision literally turned into a nightmare. I wrapped her in her blanket, loved her, rocked her, and cried on and off that day waiting for the 3:00 appt. My husband was out of town so my daughter picked us up and we were there by 3:00. Sarah started to get anxious as she knew she was at the vet's office but I held her tight and told her I would not leave her. We were called into the exam room. The vet came in, barely spoke to me and had no words of comfort for Sarah or me. My daughter had followed me into the room and sat in a chair about two feet behind me against the wall. I laid my baby on the table, still touching her and comforting her. The vet proceeded to take electric shears to shave a spot for a needle in her vein in one of her front legs. This freaked her out. She never liked being groomed and the electric shears scared her. It was 100% obvious that she was scared and nervous. Next came a large needle. I'm thinking he's going to give her something to calm her before administering the drug that would stop her little heart. He pushed the needle into her frail little arm and much to my surprise she never whimpered or flinched when the needle went in. I was slightly relieved at that point and thinking she's going to get a sedative and fall peacefully asleep and then he'd humanely administer the drug that would stop her heart. As he pushed the pink colored drug into my baby she began to cry and yelp loudly in pain. I looked up and said frantically "What's wrong?" He said "some dogs let out a deep breath". I looked back at Sarah, her beautiful brown eyes wide open and looked at the vet in confusion. He said "she's asleep now." Then he said "take as long as you want", walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. When he said that, it was at that point I realized that that was the kill drug and she was gone and that she had suffered. I could not quit crying and saying to my little dead dog "I'm so sorry" over and over. Finally I picked her up, wrapped her in her blanket, turned to my daughter and said "I can't leave her here." (I had paid in advance for them to bury her.) We left there as quickly as we could. Her death was anything but peaceful. It was scary and and it was painful. My faithful friend deserved a peaceful passing. I asked my daughter the next afternoon what she thought of it. Her answer, "It was horrible." I would not wish that experience on anyone's pet EVER!!! My heart is broken. read more