I can't tell you how many friends have come to me and asked me to put their animals down. Several cats and dogs. I don't like it but I do it to ease an animal's suffering or take out a vicious dog with too many issues.

Why can't people do this themselves? The owner is the one who can best relax the animal before the shot. Taking an animal to the vet in a strange place with strange smells and people and coming back to pick up the beloved pet in a garbage bag is not considerate of the life of loyalty that animal has given you. To me, it is a coward's way out. That animal will suffer MUCH less with a bullet in the ear than those shots. Those shots hurt. The first shot is a sedative so they don't cry out. The second shot hurts but stops their heart. A bullet is instant.

I am in no way comparing my dad to an animal but, I was the one who removed the cannula from his nose. I was the one who held his hand and did my best to smile at him as he passed. I was the one who closed his eyes after he passed. It was one of the hardest, most merciful, most loving things I think I have ever done. It goes through my mind every day.

I really sux sometimes being a man. Doing the right thing. Setting the example.

How do y'all cope with being the executioner?

It's never good. I just remember its the best solution.

I tend to drink excessively but I may not be the best role model.

I followed in the footsteps of my role model

I get the same request generally friends of my wife asking her if I would maybe mind putting the animals down. I Wonder why their husbands cant or won't. Had one husband stand by as I put down one of the family goats. I guess he was just not comfortable with his ability to get it done fast and efficient.

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In the last few years I put down 2 horses, 4 goats and one of my dogs. Some were mine most were friends.

I also seem to be the go to for removal of problem critters. Sometimes its me doing it directly others its loaning traps and giving instructions.

Its not pleasant but its necessary and someone needs to do it. Looking at it another way its nice to be know as someone that can help solve problems.

I have seen a couple executions gone bad and I am never going to see that again. I was responsible for one. I take my dogs to the vet. They will be lying on the back seat with me petting them. Vet comes out and give the injections while the dog is laying on the back seat of a truck they are very familiar with. No blood, no convulsing or thrashing around - just relax and go home if you want. I left my last dog to be cremated after he had been put down.

I would note that our dogs are in our will

done several animals mostly for other people, that doesn't bother me.

I don't feel like the executioner , executioners are killing the living for some crime.
I am the mercy to stop the pain , the animal is dead in time either way. it's slow suffering or lights out.

I have taken dogs to the vet , I don't like it but my wife said don't be the guy who shoots your kids dog , let the vet do it so they don't look at you as the killer.
not sure if they would have but that reassurance you aren't reading the condition wrong is worth something.
and I haven't yet miss read the condition. I think the vet has wondered how I kept them going that long some times.
I don't care for the shots , you can see them stressed getting the first injection.

to quote my hunting partner , a real man balls his eyes out and pulls the trigger when it's time.
that said if you can't do it right , sometimes pulling the trigger is getting someone who can do it well to do it for you.


I was there for my wife's death , caring for her , we started her on the pain meds the morning she died the nurse walked me though crushing and mixing the pills in the pill crusher and drawing them up on the oral syringe , I administered the doctor ordered meds that let her calm down and relax and ultimately pass.
she probably would have died later that day any way , maybe the next , no point in the stress of being uncomfortable and restless.
The cancer had taken her mind at that point , her ability to speak , to move as she wanted, it happened over just a few days but that is the way liver failure works.
The pain meds just let them relax ,you didn't kill your father you just did your best to ease his pain in the ending that was eminent.

sometimes easing the pain is letting them go it blocks the natural adrenaline that keeps the heart going every last second.

sometimes being the man and doing the right thing does suck , but passing that responsibility off on a stranger doesn't seem right , you see it through when you really care for them.

no shade on people who take their dog to the vet , like I said I have done it as much for the reassurance I was not wrong in my diagnoses.

I stop putting pet to sleep, take the to a vet!

If the right thing to do was always easy we'd all be saints

Maybe you need a new vet if that's been your experience. I never had a dog put down until a couple of years ago. Everyone said they just lay down and go to sleep. So, maybe what you described is what a lot of vets do. It's not my experience. My dog did not like going inside the vet's office, so we didn't. We went to a little strip of woods outside where everyone took their dogs to pee that she loved nosing around in. I let her nose around until her heart was content, then sat down on a fallen log with her and waited... feeding her bites of leftover Easter ham.

When the vet came out, I knelt down beside her, petting her and talking to her, as he picked up a foreleg and quickly located a vein. When the needle went in the vein, she never flinched. She was dead before he could pull the needle out of the vein. She never knew what hit her. The only one that cried out was ME, because it was so much more sudden than I had been expecting. I am certain she felt nothing. Having put down many critters, I know that whatever that vet used was even more efficient than a well placed bullet.

I had a female American Water Spaniel who was like one of our kids. She was 12 and had a diagnosis of lung cancer. She was very ill and suffering. I will never forget those sad eyes when she looked at me when I put the gun to her head. I couldn't pull the trigger. Ended up taking her to the vet. All my animals we take to the vet since that time. They cremate all of them.

Prior to that I had shot one dog I had who bit my granddaughter. That one didn't bother me in the least. But, it was messy.

the first one I took to the vet seemed to take forever , that first needle the dog flinched and kicked and was restless as it slowly over what seemed like forever to finally sleep it was probably 7-10 minutes
second needle it didn't fight but it wasn't still either it kicked like most everything does when put down. it is probably just muscles reacting.
maybe I did need a new vet , maybe they mixed too little of whatever it was they used.

the vet had given the first shot , left came back in what he thought was enough time and it wasn't he left again and came back again and then he had calmed down and was just sleeping sedated.

Im friends with several vets and very good vets, they all can tell stories of euthanasia procedures not going well.

Have put down a bunch of them....It's awful, and adds another scar to your soul....Just remember that you care enough to help them out....Your doing it for them.

If you think dogs are bad, horses are 10X worse.

Cats are the only upside in this grisly business...Complete indifference, Lol.

We shoot them makes it quick. But it gets to a point that it's helping. Like I had a doge and she was old had tumors and didn't have a good life.

Those shots can make a horse flip over and bust it head on the ground but they drug them so it's "peaceful". Friend is a vet and if they let him he would rather shoot them then give them a shot.

Had the same thing happen with me. Finally I just started saying no.

I know a large animal vet who carries a 45 as his euthanasia kit he is mostly cattle and dairy.
makes sense a big slug in the right place works

personally all the cattle I have done got a 308 , what I had that I knew was more than enough and it always was just need to make sure you watch the shot direction.

I've driven two-hours out of mh way to put an animal down for someone, plain and simple some people just cant do it, just don't have it mentally. And honestly many times im happy they called me because they're such a wreck when I get there them trying to give them a bullet themselves would probably end up pretty bad .

Idk I can just kinda emotionally shut down , but also see it as , not an honor or anything but a privilege maybe? Still nit the right word but when your the kne skmkne calls to put down a an animal they loved and cared about for a decade because they trust you to make it as quick and painless as possible, well I fell thag should mean something .

Now I've alsk had some whe. It was a farmer just waning me to put down a lame animal, they didn't care about ,just couldn't be bothered tk do it themselves , those , those are the ones that really bother me

I can tell you 100% positively - for me, it is easier to put down someone else's pet than it is my own.

Been there and done that, it's never easy, and it shouldn't be.

I don't have MY dogs anymore, just miss daisys little ones, she insists letting the vet do it, and he's really good. Has no problem knowing I used to do it to, we were BSing and he admitted to over 5,000 euthanasias in his career, said it's not unusual for 3-5 a day...

I would still take care of them, but got to admit it's easier on me...just wish the vet would come over and help dig the holes...

I just shut down the part of my brain and just go on muscle memory. I know what I have to do so don't think on it just do it. . One of our buck goats had to be put down while I was in the hospital . I just coached my wife on the phone and she was able to handle it.

I had to put a dog down one Sunday morning. The closest vet was 60 miles and not open on Sunday. I selected a gravesite in the woods next to a lone Confederate soldier, and marked it with a stature of a dog. Visited her often.

Our next dog died in my wife’s arms.

We probably won’t get another because a dog’s lifespans is longer than our at this point in our lives.

Me and my oldest son is who does the deed for folks around here...
Really dont like it but it needs done. Im proud hes kinda took over for
me now.

Been doing it my whole life for friends and family

Always a sad chore, and not always clean and quick, but If I take care of an animal it's whole life, I feel obligated to take care of them that one last time. I have 11 Beagles buried out back and one more running around.

I take them into the vet, drop them off and leave. I don't care what anyone else does or what they think of the way I do it.

Yup and I’ll never forget those times I was told to go out, kill my dog’s puppies and bury them BEFORE got to school! This started when I was in grade school and my dog, Queenie was a heck of a pheasant, ruffed grouse, & rabbit dog but was the (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) of the neighborhood!! My old man would tell me when I got up to eat breakfast and get ready for school that Queenie had had her pups and I needed to go out and kill’em(a wack behind their heads with a stick) & bury them. This burying was an ordeal because my old dog would track me down to where her pups were buried unless I walked all over the field before digging the hole. I had to haul cement blocks out in the field to the burial site to cover where I’d buried the pups so she couldn’t dig them up! This is what I had to do every frigin time she had pups before going to school!

Wouldn't it have been easier to get the dog spayed?

Likely, but, not cheaper. Think "The Yearling".

The story doesn’t end with me killing Queenies pups. She had a batch while I was at school and the neighbor’s boxer had come over and was attacking Queenie(I’m sire she was protecting her pups). I’m in the house seeing the boxer had my dog in it’s jaws and shaking her so I grabbed the old man’s .330 Savage and ran outside. The fight was over and the boxer was running back to it’s home (new neighbors) across the road. The boxer got blew up about half way to the road!!! My dog was ripped all to heck with her bag almost torn completely from her body. I got the .22 and buried her & her pups that afternoon. Neighbor was (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) but the old man told him to F-off and that this dog had killed mine. End of story!!

Well, good for you Angela.

Splayed??? Heck, who would splay a mongrel dog in the 1950’s for goodness sake's, a dog with “papers” maybe but not a mongrel!!! If my dog hadn’t been such a good hunter the old man would have had me “splay” her with a .22 even before I had to!

2x

This is where I am at. It just sux is all. All of mine have been as clean as possible and very humane. Dead as soon as the trigger is pulled. Doesn't get any faster. I just hate pulling the trigger.

Need to be like wolfie and go into that other mind set. Business now, cry after.

But I tell everyone to hurry up and get another dog. If you are a good dog owner, there is another dog out there in need of your companionship.

t’s obvious most in this thread grew up different than I did in Mid-Michigan and maybe in another time than I did when of high school age! LOL I was given a hound by my dad’s friend because it wouldn’t mind him and since I was always hunting & trapping I took it. One day me and the hound were supposedly rabbit hunting and I heard a lot of dogs barking and they were coming in my direction. Pretty quick a little doe ran past me and a pack of mutts were running her. My hound took off with the pack. It wasn’t long and the dogs barking was coming toward me again. The doe ran past me pretty darn close with it’s tongue hanging out and the pack close behind with my hound toward the front. I was using a Remington Model 11, 12ga with high-base 6’s (if you remember what kind of a shotgun that was) I killed my hound 1st and two dogs close by before they took off to the north and the doe went west. Took my collar and walked the 2 miles home!!

You are one dog killin' dude.

Been following this thread today and all I can say is that veterinary staff may be overwhelmed and scarred over from what we do, but we have patience and empathy during this difficult time for owners and pets. I cannot imagine having to perform euthanasia on a pet in any other way. But I realize that it is a humane option and not everyone has the funds for veterinary euthanasia. Although in my opinion , it is not expensive. (I’ve spent tens of thousands on care for my pets and that’s my choice and have no regrets)
We have a separate quiet suite for this procedure with a couch and a lamp to make everyone more comfortable. Often when owners choose not to be present the staff will remain with the animal and speak softly and give cuddles and special treats. We gave one dog some breadsticks from Olive Garden, she wolfed down three while we were placing the IV and didn’t seem to mind.
The pre med drug is an opiate that takes away pain and makes them calm. I can’t speak for the animals for what they’re thinking and feeling at the time but we do our best with what we know.

I have been, learned at an early age!! So when people ask these kinds of questions on this board and there are honest people who can tell the history of the answer, it might be best if they didn't ask the question for the answers may not be all sweet & roses!!!

Had an old timer tell me once when we were discussing another person and his advice was " If you can't shoe a horse or shoot a dog you shouldn't have either"
Fortunately for me only had 1 dog that had to put down the other just slipped away in the sleep at night and there are times that is almost more gut wrenching than putting down. Especially when at the side of your bed

To be honest I don't think what's the type of thing to say back in my day or act like you better

Is there a one shot euthanasia injection or is it two to prevent the pain from the second injection?

Vet here gives a pre shot that really knocks them out, then the finishing shot...dog is already asleep before the 2nd one....

I had brought a beagle to the vet once and there was an old woman ahead of me that was having her little dog put down, she was very upset...Vet took the dog in the back and the next thing you heard was the dog scream, the old woman lost it crying.....The vet had zero empathy, and was a complete D***. this was over 50 years ago and I still remember it...
Done my own ever since till these little guys of my wife's.....

Modern vets have a way better protocol now...

Series of three. The first is butorphanol and we give that IV. They’re still awake and coherent but without pain or fear it seems. Then they can sit with their family for up to an hour before it wears off. Then propoflo is administered to effect and then they fall asleep. Last injection is an overdose of pentobarbital.
The only time we use a different protocol with full IM sedation is a different combination of drugs (that still contains the butorphanol) with aggressive or fractious animals that may pose a bite risk. We give that injection in the muscle of a back leg until they fall asleep. Then the final injection given Iv

There is no quicker, more human death than with a bullet. I don't do it because I like doing it. I do it because it's the best thing for the animal and I'm the best one to do it because I won't screw it up, I do it calmly, efficiently and correctly.

I do it because I love the people in my life. I carry the burden of doing the hard things for them.

And bullets only cost pennies

I very much appreciate this. Gives a better perspective as to why.

Thanks Donner.

Been called in on a few of these. So much so I’ve considered starting a pet undertakers business. Actually know of a gal who does pet cremations and makes a killing through the vet offices. All puns intend

There are dogs, and then there are family pets. I have dogs that lived in a kennel. I have had dogs that lived in a fenced in back yard. I have dogs that lived inside and slept with a family member. Shooting a dog that lived outside is not the same as shooting a dog that slept in your bed. Shooting someone else’s dog is nothing like shooting your own.

Been doing it all my life but I put my stuff down also it’s how we was raised

Yes sir