Euthanasia Methods

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ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:53 pm


Yes it sounds like the cathether wasnt in correctly and the two solutions went in subcutaneously. I was told that the soltuon stings. Plus when the euthasol goes in SQ, it takes a few minutes for it to take effect.

I'm very sorry you went thru something like that.

BTW, I hope this wasnt Dr R that did that. Vets just dont do cathether and vein stuff much but if a cathether was kinked or not in, you can usually feel and/or see it. Not to mention the correct way of making an IV injection is to pull back for a flash first to ensure that you are in the vein.

HollyT
Get on your bike.

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:57 pm


No, it was the emergency hospital in Tustin. I should have waited but I didn't know better.

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:08 pm


Well, some things you just can't wait. Chances are, even with things not going as smoothly as it should, you still did your dog a favor. Usually, when an animal dies "naturally", they're pretty agonal..

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Kermie831

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:19 pm


When anything dies "naturally" its awful to watch. Its agonal and its not quick. I've had patients "actively" dying for 24 hours. One lasted 48 hours. Her face during those last moments still haunts me to this day.

HollyT
Get on your bike.

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:23 pm


He was unconscious and I couldn't even rouse him with oxygen that time. I let him sleep as it was peaceful and then in the middle of the night decided I wanted to help him crossover. I didn't expect him to wake up at the hospital. Wish I had a crystal ball.

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:07 pm


Her face during those last moments still haunts me to this day.

I know exactly what you mean. Dying isnt pretty. They gasp and twitch and struggle, sometiems for hours. Its so awful. It makes me wish that euthanasia was an option for humans. I dont think I would ever want to "die naturally". Nature can be mean.

HollyT
Get on your bike.

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:13 pm


Isn't it just the brain stem going though? Obviously I don't know what it's like but I have to believe nature compensates for pain in that instance.

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Kermie831

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:24 pm


I know as the brain dies it kicks off endorphins so there is little to no pain actually associated with death.

But cheyne-stoking and agonal breathing, eye hemmorhages and seeing a loved one blue... sorry to be frank... is AWFUL. I really wish it was legal for humans also. I think in Oregon it still is, last I heard. When I go to the rainbow bridge (forget heaven :)) and I'm dying, someone better Digoxin bolus me or shoot a cc of insulin in my belly button (the way most "angels of mercy" do it). or just let my morphine gtt run wide open!!!!

(Or when I am older, but in good health, let me get hit by a truck, knocked into the other world, but still maintain brain function so I can be divided up and be a donor!)

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:24 pm


I'm not too sure. I like to think so. I know that usually after that, they go brain dead. There had been times when an animal goes agonal but the owner wants us to revive. If we are able to revive, they usually dont have an eye reflect anymore (where you tap the eye duct area and watch for a blink), which means they are braindead. I like to th ink that they are at least semi unconscious. But it looks awful nonetheless. The gasping and clawing and tightening muscles and twitching. Nightmares forever.

ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:28 pm


LOL kermie. I think you mean heart/lung function. Your brain can be as dead as can be.. but your organs need blood and oxygen to be nice and donatable.

Speaking of nightmares.. the other night, I had a dream that I temporarily died and I was having a little chat with god. And the only "secret to life" he was willing to spill to me was that I have intestinal worms and that I should look into that. *sigh* I think I havebeen reading one too many fecal floats.

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Kermie831

Post   » Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:16 am


Chunky: (I feel so funny typing that! :))

Kindly insert "stem" after brain in my last post! Just enough to keep me clinically alive and oxygenated! :)

There had been times when an animal goes agonal but the owner wants us to revive. I can not tell you how many times that happens with my patients. I understand not being able to let go of a loved one... but I just feel like we are torturing someone when we have to run an hour long code on a near brain dead patient. (although it is pretty cool when the family decides to allow organ donation and we have a clinically dead patient with a heart beat (external pacing) and breathing (vent-ed). To keep organs viable til the transplant team arrives) It is an amazing and tearful flurry of activity as all the helicopters come in!

Do you use a scale like Glasgow coma or pain reflexes or just the cranial nerve tests? Another random ?... do animals get "dolls eyes?" It's mean, but I love showing the new grads dolls eyes for the first time!
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ChunkyPiggies

Post   » Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:26 am


I can not tell you how many times that happens with my patients. I understand not being able to let go of a loved one... but I just feel like we are torturing someone when we have to run an hour long code on a near brain dead patient.

We had a cat go agonal, then die. The owner insist on us trying to keep it alive. He was 40 mins away and wanted to see his cat alive. We must have stuck the cat with epinephrine three times, did CPR four times. After 30 minutes of this, the cat was braindead (no eye reflex) and just 5 minutes before the owner got there, we declared the cat dead. The poor thing only had a ventricular twitch from the epi rather than real heart beats (he was on an ECG).

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