why is it illegal to put your own pet down?

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: BarbeQueGuy
It is a hard decision to have to put down a pet but when they are suffering, it becomes necessary. I have pet rats and their lifespan is about 2 years. When they start getting too old they get sick very quickly and it is evident that they are suffering and the vet is not always available.
We have a good vet and they work with us on the costs of caring for them because they are small and we do most of the needed care anyway. On occasion I have had to humanely euthanize a few and because the proper drugs are not available to the general public, you have to be very creative. I've built my own variation of this chamber.
Though the people in the OP had good intentions, I think their method was cruel and that is maybe why they got in trouble.

Never would have thought about doing something like that. I'm impressed and commend you for doing the humane thing.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: evident
this is so dumb, it's the vets way of making you give more money to them, kind of like why you can't bury your dead you have to go to a funeral home

although drowning the cat is cruel... it's less than what it would have gone through imo...

i'm sure there are more reasons to it than money...

One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... wow.

:roll:

It's easy to sit back and react this way when the correct laws are already in place to make this kind of scenario seem inconceivable. There is a reason why animal control organizations spend a lot of money scrapping road kill and take things like rabies very seriously.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: evident
this is so dumb, it's the vets way of making you give more money to them, kind of like why you can't bury your dead you have to go to a funeral home

although drowning the cat is cruel... it's less than what it would have gone through imo...

i'm sure there are more reasons to it than money...

One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... wow.

:roll:

a bit of a stretch, but it could happen.

i was thinking more along the lines of polluting the ground and water.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: pontifex


a bit of a stretch, but it could happen.

i was thinking more along the lines of polluting the ground and water.

I'd agree that it is a stretch in larger cities. Most wouldn't bother to find a woods and bury the corpse. Growing up in Clearwater/Tampa Florida where there are plenty of neighborhoods with a woods in or near their backyards has taught me how this could happen often in many places though.

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: ryan256

Originally posted by: paulxcook
Why would they drown it? There are plenty of humane ways to kill something without spending money.

Such as??

Grind up sleeping pills? You know how difficult it is to give a pill to a cat? Even ground up ones?
Shoot it? Not all people own guns. (they should but thats another thread)
Suffocate it in a plastic bag? I'm pretty sure that would count as cruelty too.
Freezer? Seems like a good way to me but again you'd probably still face charges.

I hate how society is saying you have to spend money for EVERYTHING or else.

Grab it by its back legs and bash its head on the driveway like a sledgehammer = instant kill. And I do agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly.

 

[BarbeQueGuy]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: BarbeQueGuy
It is a hard decision to have to put down a pet but when they are suffering, it becomes necessary. I have pet rats and their lifespan is about 2 years. When they start getting too old they get sick very quickly and it is evident that they are suffering and the vet is not always available.
We have a good vet and they work with us on the costs of caring for them because they are small and we do most of the needed care anyway. On occasion I have had to humanely euthanize a few and because the proper drugs are not available to the general public, you have to be very creative. I've built my own variation of this chamber.
Though the people in the OP had good intentions, I think their method was cruel and that is maybe why they got in trouble.

Never would have thought about doing something like that. I'm impressed and commend you for doing the humane thing.

Thanks!

Its important to know your vet well before having an animal euthanized, they don't always use a humane method. In the case of small animals, they will inject poison into the heart, the smaller the animal the harder it is to find. My vet uses a gradual overdose of Halothane which is one of the prescribed humane methods.

 

[ISAslot]

Interesting, my dad lived on a farm. He's drowned countless cats before... maybe I should call the cops on him.

 

[ZzZGuy]

I often shoot squirrels who venture within 30 ft of my house (try encouraging them to get close to your house by feeding them for example, come on i dare ya), shoot the odd grouse (ground dwelling game bird) and snare rabbits, and even i think drowning a cat is inhumane. Just because it was a accepted method in the past doesn't change anything. I certainly wouldn't be able to do it, especially with a family pet.

IIRC, aspirin is lethal to cats, sleeping pills was mentioned and of course shooting it. I'd advise against trying to knock it out or kill it by caving it's skull in because if you don't do it right the first time it's not very pleasant for you or the animal. There are many options, and if they didn't have the money to put it down, then they should of had the sense to have a proper method ready if they knew the cat was dying (they knew it had cancer). And of course they are idiots for mentioning how they killed it to anyone, if they are that stupid they deserve some problems in their lives.

I think they should receive a stiff fine, community service at the most but jail time is rather excessive. As far as we know drowning it could of been less traumatic then doing nothing if it was sick and dying.

(Note, squirrels who get comfortable close to your house tend to get into your house, chewing holes, stripping wires, removing insulation, making nests. Not good)

 

[GTaudiophile]

Props to the replies here.

Drowning was cruel and inhumane, and I hope they suffer a little bit. I think it's funny that they were cheap and tried to save a buck by killing their own cat, and in the end they get arrested, hopefully spend some time in jail or doing service, pay all sorts of fines, and hopefully become shamed in their community for their actions. Their son will forever be known at school as the "Cat Murderer".

 

[MegaVovaN]

Here's an idea - take teh cat to the range and ask a redneck to shoot it with .50 round or headshot it with a shotgun. Will be messy but cat would not suffer. :shocked:

 

[jdini76]

how about compressing it's corotid artery until it becomes brain dead. it will mearly just fall asleep before it dies.

Wow. Did I just write that?

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: evident
this is so dumb, it's the vets way of making you give more money to them, kind of like why you can't bury your dead you have to go to a funeral home

although drowning the cat is cruel... it's less than what it would have gone through imo...

i'm sure there are more reasons to it than money...

One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

Dude you can't be this naive, you seriously think that a buried cat is going to be the only dead animal around. I'm sure you walk out to the road you will find some road kill. When you make up a scenerio, don't throw out such a stupid ass one.

 

[AgentJean]

A .22LR to the head would have been better.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Chryso
Why is it cruel? How many of us have drowned and can say straight up how bad it was?
I have heard that after the initial struggle drowning really isn't that bad.
Of course, I don't actually KNOW.

Let's ask this:

If you had to choose how you would die, what would you pick among these 3:

a) Firing Squad
b) Drowning
c) Lethal Injection


and for bonus points... why?

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: ryan256

Originally posted by: Saulbadguy
It costs less than $50 to do it at a vet.

And some people can't afford even that. What are they to do?

Can they afford a rock?

 

[Chryso]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: Chryso
Why is it cruel? How many of us have drowned and can say straight up how bad it was?
I have heard that after the initial struggle drowning really isn't that bad.
Of course, I don't actually KNOW.

Let's ask this:

If you had to choose how you would die, what would you pick among these 3:

a) Firing Squad
b) Drowning
c) Lethal Injection


and for bonus points... why?

The problem here is that the people who had to put down their cat, and I am assuming these people didn't just do it for fun but because the cat was in pain, only had option b available to them. I am sure these people would have been happy to use a better method but most people don't have hypodermic needles with appropriate drugs or firing squads around the house.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: evident
this is so dumb, it's the vets way of making you give more money to them, kind of like why you can't bury your dead you have to go to a funeral home

although drowning the cat is cruel... it's less than what it would have gone through imo...

i'm sure there are more reasons to it than money...

One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

It could be worse then that. What if the rabies virus mutates into a form of vampirism, and the rats grow into jumbo vampire rats with super strength and speed. They spread the virus across the entire state and because of George Bush, containment fails and the entire country is infected with Jumbo Rat Vampirism. And the Vampires abolish the constitution and form a new evil communist regime. And they nuke the sun so that they can rule the world.

All because a corpse was no properly disposed of. These people should be locked up, they're playing with fire and we could all get burned.

 

[Chryso]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: evident
this is so dumb, it's the vets way of making you give more money to them, kind of like why you can't bury your dead you have to go to a funeral home

although drowning the cat is cruel... it's less than what it would have gone through imo...

i'm sure there are more reasons to it than money...

One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

It could be worse then that. What if the rabies virus mutates into a form of vampirism, and the rats grow into jumbo vampire rats with super strength and speed. They spread the virus across the entire state and because of George Bush, containment fails and the entire country is infected with Jumbo Rat Vampirism. And the Vampires abolish the constitution and form a new evil communist regime. And they nuke the sun so that they can rule the world.

All because a corpse was no properly disposed of. These people should be locked up, they're playing with fire and we could all get burned.

It wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Legally a pet owner can put their pet down, but not themselves.

The reasons are many...mainly it's not easy to kill things many times although most people think shoot it in the head or 'heart' and it's instant. Some of the time the owner get attacked and maimed during this and other times they end up with collateral damage when a bullet or the method harms someone else.

Bah. Live out in the country sometime. Used to occasionally find cats that had been hit by cars and were in very bad ways but still alive (barely) that would have to be finished off with a .22. Never heard of anyone getting attacked, much less maimed, while doing this, nor have I heard of problems with collateral damage. Out in the fields if you miss all you hit is a furrow in the ground.

ZV

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: ryan256

Originally posted by: Saulbadguy
It costs less than $50 to do it at a vet.

And some people can't afford even that. What are they to do?

Can they afford a rock?

a rock seems more cruel and barbaric than drowning...I would have used gas.

maybe give it a combo of cat-nip and weed, before saying farewell.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
One quick scenario:

Let's say your neighbor is a douche and kills his pet cat. He doesn't want to throw it in the trash because there have been problems with rodents getting into it. The two of you live in a somewhat rural area with a small woods very close to your neighborhood. The neighbor decides to bury it in a shallow grave here in the woods figuring mother nature will handle the rest.

That night, a raccoon with rabies sniffs the corpse out, digs it up, and takes a few bites. This is followed by some rodents having their fair share and getting infected with rabies. Those rodents go about their usual routines which may happen to be eating from the trash cans in your neighborhood and some may even get in your house. This is followed by your pets either getting bitten by or eating these rodents and getting rabies. Or worse, the rodents bite you in your sleep.


I'd rather not deal with this and force people to pay for proper corpse disposal through a vet.

Every pet that we've had a vet put down has been given back to us for burial. Your reasoning doesn't hold since the vet will return the animal's body to the owner for the owner to bury if they want to.

ZV

 

[CPA]

Traumatic? For who? The cat is dead. It's not like the cat remembers in his grave how he died.

This was not cruel. Cruel implies, IMHO, that there was a level of joy or satisfaction that the couple received from doing it. It's obvious that's not the case.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Legally a pet owner can put their pet down, but not themselves.

The reasons are many...mainly it's not easy to kill things many times although most people think shoot it in the head or 'heart' and it's instant. Some of the time the owner get attacked and maimed during this and other times they end up with collateral damage when a bullet or the method harms someone else.

Bah. Live out in the country sometime. Used to occasionally find cats that had been hit by cars and were in very bad ways but still alive (barely) that would have to be finished off with a .22. Never heard of anyone getting attacked, much less maimed, while doing this, nor have I heard of problems with collateral damage. Out in the fields if you miss all you hit is a furrow in the ground.

ZV

same. i have heard of anyone getting attacked or collateral damage. its not like they are shooting in the air.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Legally a pet owner can put their pet down, but not themselves.

The reasons are many...mainly it's not easy to kill things many times although most people think shoot it in the head or 'heart' and it's instant. Some of the time the owner get attacked and maimed during this and other times they end up with collateral damage when a bullet or the method harms someone else.

Pets and livestock are protected by laws of humanity. It has nothing to do with people thinking they are better than people, just people thinking higher level living creatures do not deserve to be harmed unnecessarily.

Drowning though is a moronic way to kill anything.

so you are saying there is a LAW that specifically says a pet owner MUST take their animal to a vet to be put down?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: CPA
Traumatic? For who? The cat is dead. It's not like the cat remembers in his grave how he died.

This was not cruel. Cruel implies, IMHO, that there was a level of joy or satisfaction that the couple received from doing it. It's obvious that's not the case.

Cruel can also imply that unnecessary pain was inflicted to the cat to kill it.