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Shalom Hope, I hope that this reply finds you doing well. I myself in the past have had to face similar decisions in regards to my pets. I too have put beloved pets to sleep in my attempt to relieve their suffering; and as you and your husband I am sure did, struggled over the decision. Also, as you are doing yourself, I too have been attempting to learn of what are my responsibilities as a Noachide.

In attempting to do some research on the subject, I have come across a possible answer for you. In Rabbi Moshe Weiner's English translation of The Divine Code, published by Ask Noah International, he addresses this issue. In Part IV, Chapter 7, Number 12 it states the following:

"12. It appears to the author that a person has no permission to perform a "mercy killing"of an animal. This means that if one sees an animal that is sick or injured, even if it will surely die, he should not kill it just from the desire to end its suffering. 184

184 Though one can say that this act causes no pain to the animal, this is still forbidden if it has no human benefit. One cannot say that this is for the benefit of the animal, as G-d did not assign humans to be judges over what is good for an animal in such a case; see Tractate Bava Batra 20a and Tosafot there." (page 350 of The Divine Code)

I am not sure if this will help you any in your studies, but from what I can tell this falls under the category of prohibition of eating meat that was separated from a living animal (as this category deals with how a Noachide interacts in regards to animals).

I hope that this reply was of some assistance to you,

Best regards,

Les