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How do they know that animals being put to sleep feel no pain?

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Q

Lifer
This article reminded me of a question I've always had: How do vets/scientists 'know' that euthanizing (word?) a pet is peaceful, besides the lack of physical struggle?

I'm sure I'll be hounded (ok that was a pun intended) for not Googling/being stupid but I just wanted to hear it from AT.

Thanks
 
Originally posted by: Quintox
This article reminded me of a question I've always had: How do vets/scientists 'know' that euthanizing (word?) a pet is peaceful, besides the lack of physical struggle?

I'm sure I'll be hounded (ok that was a pun intended) for not Googling/being stupid but I just wanted to hear it from AT.

Thanks

Probably the same argument that's given to lethal injection to humans.
 
I've heard that they're in terrible pain, but one of the shots has the effect of making them unable to react to the pain.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
I've heard that they're in terrible pain, but one of the shots has the effect of making them unable to react to the pain.

yeah well I heard that only hippies say stuff like that. 😛
 
Sedative then drug to stop the heart or just a drug to stop the heart.

I had to put one of my dogs to sleep a couple of months ago. Her condition had deteriorated to the point where she couldn't stand or eat anymore. I took her to my friends house who is a vet. Based on her condition, a sedative wasn't needed and we just put her to sleep as I petted her with her head in my lap. Her eyes slowly closed and her breathing eventually stopped. She felt no pain. RIP Timber
rose.gif
🙁
 
go take a bunch of barbiturates and tell me if you feel anything 😉. But seriously, it knocks them unconscious so fast and effects the central nervous system so quickly that if they did feel any pain, it would be for only seconds. But they don't so that isn't even a concern.
 
Posting in a Rolomath... oh, wait. Oops.

I had to put one of my cats to sleep a few years ago. I held him while he got the injection, and he didn't appear to be in any more pain from that than from the oral cancer which was killing him.

RIP Roger.
rose.gif
 
The effect is about as quick as the needle and if the animal is standing it's dead before it hits the ground. Not much time for pain.
 
they inject it into a human, and watch for the reaction.

if the human screams, its painful.

so far noone has screamed.
 
How do I know that punching you in the face won't give you the same sensation as a massage with a happy ending? Because you will act like your face hurts rather than like you just got off. Most of the time things are as they appear. That's the theory anyway. We know that putting dogs to sleep is painless about as well as we know anything else. What more can you ask for?
 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Posting in a Rolomath... oh, wait. Oops.

I had to put one of my cats to sleep a few years ago. I held him while he got the injection, and he didn't appear to be in any more pain from that than from the oral cancer which was killing him.

RIP Roger.
rose.gif

Yeah, private vet tech has come a long way.

At shelters, it can be an entirely different story. Imagine having to inject and kill multiple animals each and every day. That's why many larger shelter have those decompression chambers, to give the person who has to kill them all some physical remove from the actual process.

Problem is, those chambers have been shown to be anything BUT painless. For big shelters, it can be a true devil's choice. 🙁
 
I've sacc'd enough mice, (~ 40 / day over two years) using CO2, the IACUC-approved "most humane" method to know that there is no way in hell that it is painless. It's the same as drowning, or smoke-inhalation (well, another type of drowning, really).

There is no "peaceful" going to sleep, I can tell you that.

The anesthetic injections are quite pain-free, however. Of course, no one would approve saccing large numbers of purpose-bred rodents through individual injections. That's cost-prohibitive and simply preposterous.
 
Originally posted by: zinfamous
I've sacc'd enough mice, (~ 40 / day over two years) using CO2, the IACUC-approved "most humane" method to know that there is no way in hell that it is painless. It's the same as drowning, or smoke-inhalation (well, another type of drowning, really).

There is no "peaceful" going to sleep, I can tell you that.

The anesthetic injections are quite pain-free, however. Of course, no one would approve saccing large numbers of purpose-bred rodents through individual injections. That's cost-prohibitive and simply preposterous.

oh no way, CO2 is uber inhumane. You see the mice flip out and struggle in the little box.

I think cervical dislocation is way better. Just quick and easy and they should stop feeling anything immediately. the only prob is alot of people dont do it right and the mice suffer
 
i dunno, the animals responses generally are peaceful.
how do you know you arent going into a sedated state in agony when being put down for surgery...and how do you know if it happened or not, you were unconscious😛 maybe u just forgot? 😉
 
Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Originally posted by: Leros
I've heard that they're in terrible pain, but one of the shots has the effect of making them unable to react to the pain.
yeah well I heard that only hippies say stuff like that. 😛
And PETA, which is like the leet haxors of the hippy community.
 
the most common euthanasia solution Sodium Pentobarbitol, Butler makes it under the name Socumb. always a fitting name, i thought. overall, it's a very painless way to die, unless your vet isn't very good with injections. if they miss, it burns. i believe it has a ph of anywhere between 7-10, and socumb has alcohol in it to help stabilize it. done right, they just go to sleep.

pentobarbital isn't used so much as a anesthetic anymore, since there are better inhalant anesthetics like isoflurane. inhalants offer you more control of the depth of anesthesia.
it is still used as a anticonvulsant in small animals. i believe there is some large animal use.

i guess pithing small animals and fish is a quick and easy way, but if done wrong is inhumane. but then researchers intentionally pith mice to create situations of paralysis for testing, not to kill them.

when we used to have to care for hawks, we'd have to kill mice to feed the hawks. there is no easy or humane way to kill a mouse that i can share to use it as food for another animal. some of the ways sound heartless, but are actually quick and painless, but look shockingly violent. but then watchin a hawk eat a mouse and listening to it crunch bones like the skull isn't exactly pretty either.

but as far as cats and dogs, if administered right, is painless and quick.
 
Originally posted by: Perknose
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Posting in a Rolomath... oh, wait. Oops.

I had to put one of my cats to sleep a few years ago. I held him while he got the injection, and he didn't appear to be in any more pain from that than from the oral cancer which was killing him.

RIP Roger.
rose.gif

Yeah, private vet tech has come a long way.

At shelters, it can be an entirely different story. Imagine having to inject and kill multiple animals each and every day. That's why many larger shelter have those decompression chambers, to give the person who has to kill them all some physical remove from the actual process.

Problem is, those chambers have been shown to be anything BUT painless. For big shelters, it can be a true devil's choice. 🙁

WTF!?!
 
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