Blood on body post euthanasia?

[SarEQ]

Last Monday was a bad day.

Our little, ancient, rescued hedgie started seizing and screaming. I called the vet we’d seen when we first moved, but the exotic vet wasn’t there that day. They gave me another number, and that place was fully booked. It took me four hours of constant calls and being referred back and forth to find a vet who’d see and euthanize the poor hedgie.

So I packed up DS (age three) and the very sick hedgehog and drove a horribly long hour to the vet.

They checked her over, gave me a couple of causes, and said to diagnose I’d need to let them gas her and X-ray and do bloodwork. She wouldn’t unball for them at all.

DS was having a total meltdown (nap time and watching his pet traumatize him) and the vet offered to take her in the back to euthanize. They needed to give her some gas to make her unball so they could do it. I normally would have insisted on going, but with a hysterical three year old screaming for his pet… I didn’t. They took her back in my shirt so she’d smell me and promised to be loving while I tried to calm DS.

They brought her back in a taped box. I peeked in the box to make sure she was there (paranoid) and went home brokenhearted but satisfied. She was in a ziplock in the box.

When we went to bury her later, I pulled her out of the box to wrap her in a blanket and found the whole right side of her head (the “down” side) and body was covered in blood.

I’ve seen a number of euthanasias, through working at a vet and doing rescue and my own pets. I’ve never seen blood.

Has anyone seen this? Could it have been a normal reaction to the injection, or did my poor girl likely have a bad death. It looke like the source was her mouth and/ or nose. It was hard to tell. It certainly covered her muzzle.

I’m so upset. We adored her. She would play with my toddler (climbing in his trucks to ride and snuggling for stories). She was so great.

Then she got so sick and I couldn’t get a vet to see her. Then I didn’t go back with her. And now I think she might have had a bad death. I’m so mad at myself for not going with her, for not figuring out a way to handle DS and her at the same time.

Poor kid still cries daily. He misses his little friend.

[Emryss]

The blood is likely from having bitten herself during a seizure. She was almost certainly not in an aware state at that time, especially if she already was under anesthesia gas at the time. Her death was a mercy in this case.

You did the right thing by your little pet, as best you could. I wish you and your little boy peace. Sorry for the loss of your beloved pet. It’s never easy.

[ken]

I’ve only been present for a dog & cats, but have never seen blood. I haven’t a clue about a hedgehog, but my guess is that the blood could have been a combination of the underlying condition & the euthanasia. I’m very sorry for your loss. Don’t beat yourself up. She is at peace now & you spared DS the unfortunate circumstance. Godspeed little hedgehog.

[Marshfield]

It can be normal, and may very well not even have been present when they packaged her up. If there was a heart or lung problem, blood or bloody fluid can pour out post-mortem

[SarEQ]

Thanks all.

It’s been a rough week, and this has been eating away at me.

It helps to know that there are possible causes for the blood that don’t involve a bad death.

I’ve decided losing a pet is much worse with a kid in the picture.

[talkofthetown]

Godspeed little Hedgie.

[SquishTheBunny]

So sorry Its never easy to lose a pet.

As for the blood, it can be totally normal for fluids (likely not straight blood, but blood mixed with serousy fluid) to leak from the body (mouth / nose, from the lungs etc.) after death. Never a nice sight to see, but it does happen more frequently than one would think.

If the patient has been deceased for a few hours, generally a technician/ACA will clean the pet up the best they can before the owners take the remains home. However, in certain situations its not always doable.

Again, sorry for you loss.

[Bluey]

Yes, it is normal to see blood that leaked out, in euthanasia or natural deaths.

Don’t worry, as sick as it was, it probably didn’t know anything was going on.

I hope your kid will be ok after a while.

[GraceLikeRain]

It won’t change the outcome but you will make yourself miserable worrying. I am so sorry for your loss.