The BVA's Ethics and Welfare Group recently considered the issue of euthanasia to review what advice could be given both to recent graduates and older veterinary surgeons on the euthanasia of owned animals (BVA 2009). Expanding on those deliberations, and using the approach to ethical dilemmas suggested in a previous article by Siobhan Mullan and David Main (In Practice, July 2001, volume 23, pages 394–401), James Yeates discusses the ethical aspects associated with a decision to euthanase an animal from both the vet's and owner's perspective.