euthanasia

Hi. So my old girl Chewie is doing poorly and the time has come. I've
read that the ideal euthanasia for rats is gas anesthetic before a fatal
injection. Unfortunately, my vet does not do gas for anesthesia. She
does injection in the rear leg for anesthesia. We have had rat surgeries
on 5 of the rats with this anesthesia and it has worked well. I live in
rural North Dakota in the US so finding a vet that can do gas is proving
to be difficult if not impossible.

A very good vet in Minneapolis who we use for a resource does gas
anesthetic until the animal is completely unconscious and then gives a
cardiac injection. He says it is fast and absolutely painless because
the animal is asleep.

So my question... since I can't find a vet to do gas anesthesia, is it
acceptable to do injectable anesthesia?

The American Vet Medical Assoc. put out a study on acceptable and
unacceptable methods of euthanasia. It says that if an animal is
unconscious, it cannot feel pain and therefore the method of euthanasia
is less critical.

I really need for this to be okay. What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Marlo

Quite a few people do get their rats euthanased without the initial
anaesthetic gas and it does not have to be a painful experience. I
have had one rat injected without being sedated before hand, and it
seemed okay. She squeaked once, when the vet put in the needle, but
not when he was pushing the plunger. But I would suggest that the
injection should *never* go into the heart, kidneys or other major
organ, as I imagine that this would be painful. The vets I've used
have always injected into the abdominal area, taking care to avoid the
stomach etc. I'd suspect that injecting into the leg muscle would
hurt, mainly because most intramuscular injections sting.

If you do not have the option of the anaesthetic gas, ask about the
injection going into the abdominal area, taking care to avoid the
major organs. Debbie Ducommun, in her Rat Health Care Guide (which I
have a copy of) suggests initially using diazepam, unless the rat is
in respiratory distress. This is given orally or by subcutaneous
injection to sedate the rat. She then suggests the sodium
pentobarbital to be given in an intraperitoneal injection and to use a
finer needle (27 to 29 gauge). Perhaps you could discuss this option
with the vet.

I hope Chewie is going well, and that she passes away peacefully when
her time comes.

Dewi