I don't know any way to say this delicately.  There are some FML members
(NOT us) who have helped their own ferrets over the bridge, or who even
still do help their own ferrets over the bridge using older methods.
 
I do NOT think that anyone should do these things, nor that they are the
right thing to do.
 
There are those here who do, though.
 
Now, in the old days everything from guns, to drowning (which a
grandfather did to one of my kittens), to hitting the animal over
the head with a shovel, to worse were used, some very painful and
frightening.
 
It may be that if a second party has been told by a person that he or she
has helped ferrets cross the bridge without a vet that the second party
may know only of the techniques which older relatives used and may
automatically think of those rather than another old method used by the
person, just as i would first recall poor Blackie, the kitten whom my
parents thought made too much of a mess, and drowning, even though a
person helping a family member over the bridge may not use drowning.
 
Back then such techniques were used because people were simply used to
using them, or to save money (sometimes by people whose lifestyle
indicated that they could very well afford vet care), and I suspect
because the gentler methods of euthanasia perhaps just weren't available.
 
I have to also say that we do have our ferrets examined before
euthanasia.  Like some others here we have had individuals for whom a new
or even experimental technique was tried when all other cards had been
played.  In some cases those gave a decent chunk of quality time before
the final euthanasia shot was needed.  This possibility as well as the
gentleness of the vet helped crossings are why we use vets always for
such departures.
 
We also have been in the position where we needed to wait a day or two
with the ferret going through a rough spot because there was a chance the
worsening of the problem might resolve itself.
 
When our ferret family members have euthanasia we hold them as they drift
off into unconsciousness from their first shot.  Steve then afterward
always leaves before they have their final shot (or once an overdose of
gas) because he just can't deal with that.  I am sometimes there and
sometimes not during the final shot, depending on how I am holding up.
 
I think that there has been a lot of upset back and forth with almost no
one knowing the full story on either side and that it's likely best to
just realize how little any of us know and to avoid drawing and stating
conclusions, knowing that we don't have full enough details, and maybe
with this sort of topic which would upset but not change that not having
details maybe just as well.
 
I personally don't like to see anyone telling another when to use
euthanasia though because my personal experience is that those are the
most painful notes a person can receive.
 
I tried to be as gentle as is possible.  I hope that folks realize that
even though it seems impossible to some (most?) here that there are
members who do or who have helped their own ferrets cross that it
actually does happen, and that knowing that this happens and has happened
can affect what might be said in a discussion.
[Posted in FML issue 4493]