A woman who recently welcomed her first child revealed why she has no plans of allowing her parents to meet him. Her decision was made nearly a decade ago after she went away to college, and her parents did the unimaginable to her best friend.
Despite encouragement from other family members to put the past behind her so that her son could meet his grandparents, the woman is unsure that she will ever be able to forgive them.
While the woman was away at college, her parents euthanized her dog so that they wouldn’t have to take care of her.
Sharing her story to Reddit, the woman revealed that when she left to attend university eight years ago, she asked her parents if they would be willing to look after her pet dog while she was gone.
“Before I left I had quintuple checked with my parents that they were okay taking care of her while I was at school,” she shared. Although her parents assured her multiple times that they would care for her pooch, they did the exact opposite once she left. “I was the last kid out of the house and they liked their empty nest,” the woman wrote. “To make sure it was super empty they put down my dog.”
The woman was devastated and claimed she and her dog were best friends. “She was a six-year-old beagle Bassett cross in perfect health,” she said. “I had rescued her. I got a job to pay for her food and vet.”
Photo: Max kegfire / Shutterstock
Initially, the woman’s parents told her that her dog had escaped the backyard and was hit by a car. However, her brother eventually told her the truth.
Once she learned the true nature of her beloved dog’s death, she cut her parents out of her life.
“They killed my best friend,” the woman wrote, adding that she truly believed that she could trust them to take care of her dog. Since then, the woman has not seen or spoken to her parents. “They were not invited to my wedding and I do not attend family gatherings where they are,” she wrote.
Three months ago, she and her husband had their first child together. After learning that they had a grandchild, the woman’s parents reached out to her. “My mom contacted me and asked what it would take for me to forgive them and let them meet their grandson,” the woman shared.
Photo: Alena Ozerova / Shutterstock
She decided to offer them an ultimatum to make them even.
“They have a French bulldog puppy,” the woman wrote. “I said that if they gave me their dog so I could have it put down then I would forgive them.”
Of course, she was not serious and made it clear in her post that she did not want to harm her parents’ dog as they had done to hers. She simply wanted her parents to recognize the pain they had put her through when they decided to put down her dog.
“I told her she cares more about a dog than her family which is what she always accuses me of,” the woman added.
While her brother believes that she is wrong for barring her parents from meeting their grandson, the woman is holding her ground and has no plans of allowing her parents to meet her son. “I'm never going to get over it,” she admitted.
Many people applauded the woman’s decision and validated her feelings.
“Your parents are disgusting, killing a dog, instead of asking you to find another place for him,” one Redditor commented. “I’m so very sorry.”
“You trusted them with a living thing that meant the world to you. They murdered it. Why would you trust them around another living thing, your child, that means the world to you?” another user wrote.
“Your revolting parents deserved it,” a third commenter added. “Never ever risk allowing them any contact with your son during his childhood, goodness knows what lies or traumas they would inflict upon him.”
There is nothing wrong with admitting that you are unable to look after a dog, but the euthanization of a healthy animal is never the answer.
Pets require a lot of time, energy, commitment, and money. If you have a dog that you cannot properly care for, there are many options you can turn to that will allow them to be safely rehomed.
You should not resort to killing a perfectly healthy animal simply because you do not want to take care of them. Many families would take in a dog in need of a new home in a heartbeat.
If one ends an animal’s life when they become an inconvenience, how can they be trusted with a human?
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.
