Hi Steve, et.al.;
 
I read long ago that you can give them permission to leave..  This seemed
foreign to my upbringing, but one day Mr. Bear looked more tied than usual.
He'd survived some 7 months aftr 2 vets gave up on him.  What came to my
mind that I told him was : "I love you very much..  If it's between God and
you that it's time to go, you have my permission, but if you want to stay,
I'll do whatever I can to help".  He finished his dinner of recipe, and
crawled into the ski cap I had in a small tent under the table in the
kitchen of the motor home I was in at the time.  There was no sound during
the night.  In the morning, he was in the exact same position, looking like
he was asleep, but he had crossed over.
 
This has been repeated some 6 times, with them leaving from 4hrs to 2 weeks
later.  I am now a believer they understand.
 
The only time I took one to the vet to be assisted was for a friend in a
wheelchair, one of hers was in screaming seizures.  I remembered a vet
friend who had an old, sick dog, and took it to another vet friend, and had
him use the isoflourane gas to have her sleeping before the shot.  The last
thing she saw was her daddy reassuring her.  So I requested this, and it
was very calming to the ferret.  When I saw out of the corner of my eye the
vet getting the shot ready, I said I think I need to goto the waiting room
now.  My friends' husband picked up the little one later, but I got to
bring home another one who was ready to go home after an operation.
 
The American Vet Medical assoc. report :
http://www.avma.org/noah/members/scientific/euthanasia/euthauth.pdf
 
states very clearly that no animal should be conscious when being given
"the shot".  I find not all vets follow this practice, it needs to be asked
for clearly.
 
Take care, hugs to all
 
Gary & the gang of fur
Timmy's web site=<http://www.concentric.net/~Gferret/>; He's the ferret
totally healed from "terminal lymphoma" without drugs or surgery. :)
Timmy's tonic now available at http://www.ferretstore.com/holmed.html
 :888-833-7738
Timmy's Mailing List = http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/TimmyFerret
Timmy's Forum = http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=TimmyFerret
Another emil for me is <[log in to unmask]>, in case the indrirect.com has
trouble.
[Posted in FML issue 3537]