Uh, if you kill yourself early the healthcare system won't be able to extract every last dime of your wealth before you die. What, you think your family deserves to inherit it?

Religion, chiefly.

This is changing. In slow, small ways but it is changing. Where i live voluntary assisted dying has been enshrined in law since 2017

In some countries it is.

God this is a weird thread.

How come human laws don't apply to animals?

Sorry to break it to you kids but billions of people all over the world literally eat animals every day.

Barbaric ? Perhaps, but it's fair to assume that 100% of your ancestors in the last 100,000 years have delighted in this activity as often as possible.

You may not wish to acknowledge this but the reality is: your beloved dog or cat is a lesser being, assigned very few rights.

Obviously if you have a pet dog then you treat that dog differently as you would a chicken living in a cage in a shed with 10,000 other chickens in cages but that dog's right to life is merely an extension of your rights as that dog's owner.

It's actually way worse, because you can have a dog put down that is perfectly healthy, even when other people want to adopt the dog.
If you have a dog you literally own it, and the only regulation that protects the dog are rules against animal cruelty.
You cannot own a human being.

Because of religious moralistic bullshit.

Good lord it is way past time to allow people to Euthanize themselves.

My stepfather made use of Oregon's Death With Dignity law. Him scheduling his death a week out was... weird, but I'm always glad it was an option.

Though at one point a doc did legally have to inform him that instead of the painless and easy medical assisted death he could instead choose to stop eating or drinking.

Humans should be allowed to be put out of their misery as well

Society does not value animal lives as much as human lives. You're free to draw your personal line elsewhere.

Because humans apply higher standards to themselves then they do to other animals.

Because legally, pets are chattel.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/chattel

Because religion.

This is apparently an insane hot take, but personally, I don't think it's okay.

It's okay to treat your dog as family and to reject the concept of "it's okay to kill him if he's in enough pain!", same as they would never even think of suggesting doing that to a human.

-- Frost

One other point that I think no one has mentioned yet is the importance of informed consent when treating people with otherwise fatal conditions. Surgery and other treatments e.g. chemotherapy for cancer incur a lot of pain and suffering in those going through it as well. A person can understand that all that suffering is for the greater good of extending their life, but for a pet that is far from the case, and they may in fact need to suffer more than if they weren't treated.

I love my dog with my whole heart, but I would never put her through chemo if she had cancer.

This is a tough question. I've had to put down a dog and a cat. They were both basically messed up beyond any kind of reasonable care. Like we could have spent tens of thousands of dollars to keep them alive, but they would have been suffering. I haven't had a dog since that dog, and was almost brought to tears when I saw a dog like him last weekend, but it was cool because the owner let me pet it and it was super friendly.

Cats I honestly don't care as much about, I guess because cats don't really bond with people like dogs do. I see cats as more of a utility. You get a cat and it kills things. They're also way cooler, IMO. But cats like to get hit by cars, they're dumb as hell, you get another cat, it's fine. I guess dogs do too, they chase cars, they don't know any better. My dog was an inside dog (small breed). You can't do that with cats (or big dogs).

As for people... there are ways. I mean, once you're of legal age and if you aren't impaired, you can get a DNR (do not resuscitate) order. There are bracelets. Some people get it tattooed on them. If you're DNR and you go to the hospital, they can treat you with your consent, but if you cannot consent, they are not allowed to treat you. If they do, it's legally considered assault. So they won't do it. They will make you comfortable, but they will let you die. They won't do anything to quicken your death, either — except in some places where they will.

I believe anyone should be able to choose to have their life medically terminated, if they are suffering and of sound mind and body. I have no religious opposition to it. If someone I loved made that choice, I would be sad, but I would not tell them they can't. That's not for me to say.