My granny has had many animals. My dad told me that they once had 30 cats living in the house. They have had many dogs too.

She told me once, that she killed one of her cats becuase it was riddled with cancer. and on the verge of death, she had no time to call the vet. and then buried her on the croft

my auntie was there when she told this story an went balistic as it was her cat as a child.

Do you think this was a reasonable thing to do.

she bashed the cat's head in with a rock. the cat was 16 years old and had tumours.

I personaly don't know.

i could not do it myself.

Holy crap!

She doesn't piss about does she, your Nan?

well no. she's had animals all her life.

My dad did it to a rabbit with mixy once, smashed it's head in . He told me to kill any mixy rabbit you find. with a rock. As they spread it to other rabbits, and they suffer like mad.
I could never do it though. I've always had a hard time killing animals. i never have, insects maybe. even then I usualy just try and let them go.

A friend of mine (and I MEAN friend, I could never do it!) once drowned one of her kittens because it's head got caught in a door that blew shut, it was in agony

I was going to say well, I do understand, assuming she would say that the cat was ill, and she put it to sleep with a sleeping pill or two, then perhaps a pillow.

Bashing a cats head in with a rock????? I don't think so.

I'm not really sure what to think of that. On the one hand I understand what she did because she didn't want the cat to suffer any more but on the other, if it was that close to death that she didn't have time to call a vet, why not just wait for nature to takes it course. After all, it doesn't take long to call a vet.

Personally I couldn't do that to one of my cats. I just couldn't, but who am I to judge?

Yes, why didn't she have time to call a vet? Presumably the cat had been ill for a while. There are certainly more humane ways to kill an animal.

Surely your Nan could have thought of something a little more humane than bashing the cats head in with a rock

We once had a baby rabbit who was only 4 wks old its mum attacked him. We took him too the vets and he put him down. 4 days later the rabbit had another 6 babies in 12 hours they all died slowly. There was nothing i could do. I asked my oh to help the last one and OH couldnt at all. I wish now we had taken them all too the vets in the morning still feel guilty about it now.

When you read the OPs post you can see she is saying her grandmothers cat and it was when she was younger.. so we could be talking about 50 years ago here..things were very different...you did not go running to the vets with pets like we do now.I am sure she would be quite different now with vets to hand..

I was brought up on a farm..and we were surrounded by other farms..one owned by my friends mum and dad kept pigs and they had dozens of cats in their barns..you would often go there and see kittens in buckets of water..he just used to drown kittens when the cat population got too much..it was horrible..but it was a time when it wouldnt have crossed someones mind to go and get cats neutered..

I know my brothers who are farmers are very tough where vermin is concerned..they have to be to protect crops..

I think your grandma probably did what she thought was right at the time and probably didnt have much option..certainly not the humane options we have today..I couldnt do it myself..but faced with a pet in agony and no other options which is the most cruel to let it go on in pain or to end the pain?

Rabbits can get pregnant twice if left in with a buck..they have 2 uterine horns..rabbits dont come into season like dogs and cats so can get pregnant anytime..thats why most rabbits breeders will put the doe in with the buck and watch whilst they mate..then remove the doe..if kept in with him she will get pregnant again and unfortunately this is what often happens..she will deliver a litter and then another 2 weeks later..she has neither the strngth or the milk to take care of 2 litters so the second often end up scattered or neglected..occasionally the first litter will also be attacked..this is probably her hormones..definatley no male and female rabbits together..they can mate in seconds!

Could I do it to my cat in 2011? Absolutely not. I'd rather bash my own head with a rock.

Could I have done it decades ago, with money tight, veterinary care a luxury I could ill-afford, and my only real choice to let the animal suffer an agonising, protracted demise? Probably.

It's always challenging to sit in judgement of a past age using modern standards.

I know..as a child I just used to look away..this was 35 years ago..I was raised on a farm myself and we had a farm cat..but never witnessed anything like this at home..we are talking about an old farmer who was following what probably his father had done too..sad though.

There are lots of cats that live on a farm behind my house..I know they caught reguarly to be neutered but we are talking feral cats here so it isnt an easy job.

I know that now but didnt at the time. When she had the first litter the buck was still in the hutch. We removed him but sadly she had the second litter. We dont have the rabbits anymore i rehomed them to a rescue as i couldnt keep up with the hutch waste getting rid of it i mean.
Years ago i must have been about 8ish i had a gold fish its was about 4 it wasnt very well and stopped breathing and my dad resusitated it blowing though a straw it survived for another couple of years.
I also agree even though some people still treat animals very badly its not as bad as it was say 40yrs ago

I think we sometimes forget we are very lucky these days as this was quite common years ago I know my Granddad had to kill several cats and many myxy rabbits too, really upset him and in the end he refused to have pets at all, but at the time it was the best he could do as calling a vet was just out of the question. Even people care was so much less than now when he was in hospital for 6 weeks because there was no benefit system and he wasn't working obviously my Nan with two under 4 children had to face being evicted because she couldn't find the rent and he came home to a caravan on the side of the road. Lost his job too and he had been hospitalised for an injury he got at work.

With that sort of attitude to people the attitude to animals had to be different to what we have today.

This happens to a lot of people..usually because whoever the rabbits have come from have sexed them wrong and often people think they have 2 females..untill the first litter comes along.I bred and showed rabbits for 12 years and have witnessed some upsetting situations..so I know this must have been horrible for you feeling like there was nothing you could do.I have had newborn rabbits that have been fading if they have wriggled out of the nest and got cold and I used to put my husbands socks on the radiator,warm them up then pop the rabbit in there and put them down my bra..worked every time within 10 minutes you would have a warm wriggling little baby..

well done to your dad for the goldfish.

Times were different 40 years ago..even living in a farming area like I do,,vets were for farm animals..very few pets went to the vets in this area

I always have the utmost respect that can put an end to animal's suffering. It isn't easy and I know I couldn't do it, so does me letting an animal suffer make me worse than the OP's Nan? Some would say yes.

Roooty makes some good points. The method wasn't ideal but the intentions were right.

when I was a child, between 30 and 40 years ago, My grandmother was the local "cat lady" she used to take stray cats into our home in East London, Most of these cats were either left behind when people had moved or died, or were the products of unwanted litters

Most were toms, but despite being quite poor, she somehow managed to get the females "doctored" as she called it, by the local vet, to prevent them having more kittens.....(maybe that's why we were poor ) although I do suspect the local vet may have done it for free or at a reduced cost, as I remember her always singing his praises.

Sometimes, though, one would find its way to us, that was beyond help, or one of the regulars would develop some serious complaint, usually kidney failure, and then the Blue Cross would come to put them out of their misery

I just can't imagine her in a million years doing the deed herself, she was the type of woman who would go without food in order to feed a hungry cat (or any animal come to that)

awww god bless her what an amazing lady

Yes she was , she had a huge influence on me and my view of the world, as did my grandfather..I miss them a lot

I don't think it was unusual thing for someone of her generation to do, but maybe most country folk would have used a gun of some sort. I know that was standard round our way. And I'm talking 40 years ago. Don't think hardly anyone not even a farmer would do that now, either.

It's not considered humane now and let's be honest it isn't humane - but you can't judge people of past generations by our mores and she did it from 'good' motives.

Oh they do, usually done with a spade now

Not round here. Really not heard of owt like it since the 70s.

I know when I was a kid in the 60s, several of the kids playing by the beck in the woods found things like a sack of drowned kittens or puppies. I'd always look for something like that in the hope of saving them, but never did. It was a common occurence though.

Unfortunately it still happens.......

Dumped