When I had to put Baby Girl to sleep last week, I used one of my 3
regular vets, but had actually never done a euthanasia with her before.
She had a method that I had not yet experienced, and I found it so
gentle and peaceful that I wanted to share it, for others who may not
have experienced this method.

She gave Baby Girl an initial shot of a tranquilizer called Telazol,
using 0.3 ml intra-muscularly. Baby Girl was with me the entire time
and I was giving her some ferretone when the vet injected the Telazol,
and Baby Girl never even noticed the needle. The vet then left us alone
for 5 minutes or so to allow the Telazol to take effect, during which
time I gave Baby Girl more ferretone slowly from the syringe. She began
to slow down, then finally stopped licking the ferretone and dozed
off a bit. The vet then came back and injected the usual barbituate
euthansia drug directly into her liver. She never flinched or even felt
either injection, and we avoided the potential trauma of having to put
a catheter into her leg to inject the euthansia drug.

I've had to put many ferrets to sleep over the last 5 years, and while
I was almost always satisfied with the method of using a catheter in
the leg and injecting the euthanasia drug that way, the method used to
put Baby Girl to sleep was definitely better. My vet said she uses the
same method for many small animals, and even small cats.

Jeff
In Loving Memory of Neo, Trinity, Morphy, Baby Girl, Dozer, Possum,
Pip, Pop, Sabrina, Minnie Mouse, Hunny, Misty, Frodo, Baggins, and
Mr. Parker
Caring for Luna, Boomer, and Zoomer 

[Posted in FML 7469]