Canine ResearchThe difference between dead and away: An exploratory study of behavior change during companion animal euthanasia

Anecdotal reports suggest that animals might have a sense of dying and death, although little sustained scientific research has been conducted on death awareness in animals. We set out to systematically gather data from veterinarians regarding their own personal observations of animal behavior when another animal is euthanized. In our survey of 153 veterinarians in South Carolina, 54% reported that they rarely, sometimes, often, or always observe a change in nearby animals' behavior at the time of euthanasia. Behavior change was most often mentioned as occurring among dogs (sudden silence, agitation, and barking), yet horses were also noted as exhibiting behavior change. The reasons offered by veterinarians for these behavior changes were detecting scent of chemical changes in the dying body, awareness that the animal is ill and/or deceased, empathy, responding to changes in the physical and emotional states of the animal, release of the euthanized animal's spirit, similar grief to that of humans, and reaction to the emotions of humans.