Euthanasia - what is it really like?

[paintedtrails]

I don’t know why I read all the posts but I have and I help but cry…
I have had to euthanize 2 horses unexpectedly, neither of which I got to hold and comfort like I have every other dog or cat of ours and that irks me in some way.

My first suffered a tragic injury on the trail. The vets asked me if I had ever witnessed a euthanasia happening in a horse and I said no. Due to the break in his shoulder (and other unknown possible breaks), they did not want me to witness him contorting as it took affect. I had friends to hold on to with my back to him a bit away…They said he went down very gracefully and then I came back to say my final goodbyes and get some of his tail. I wish I had thought to get a shoe…

My second horse I had to give the OK to end his suffering over the phone to the emergency clinic from Colic. They saved my halter, lead, mane and tail hair that I came to pick up a few days later. I hated not being there for him too…

Many hugs to you and friend, as no matter what it isn’t easy on us.

[RedHorses]

I couldn’t write this last night.

My first horse dropped hard enough to roll over onto his other side when he hit the ground. My vet said “Let him go.” as he collapsed, and I did. Then I knelt on his neck, rubbing his face and talking to him until he was gone. His breathing got harder, then nothing.

My second collapsed slowly, with an expression of mild surprise that his legs weren’t holding him up. The vet grabbed his halter and applied directional force to get my horse to roll onto his side. Again I knelt on his neck, rubbed his face and talked to him. He stopped breathing peacefully, and then his body’s autonomous systems triggered a couple of deep gasping breaths, and that was it.

With my second horse I had the vet scheduled for first thing in the morning. One to avoid the inevitable wait for the vet uncertainty, and also to minimize the disruption to other boarders (I asked the BO to close the barn that morning as my horse’s death did not need witnesses). As it happened the vet was late due to an emergency call. But it was okay. I hand grazed my horse and walked in memory until I saw the vet’s truck. “It’s time to go.” I said to my horse, and he lifted his head out of the grass and walked with me to meet the vet. He was ready to go.

[OTTBs]

“The hardest thing was being done with those goodbyes, stepping back and saying ‘ok do it’ essentially. How do you do that? Decide you’ve said enough, said what you needed to, pet him enough,… and step away?” This reminded me of visiting with my brain-dead father in the hospital before he was taken to be an organ donor–when have you said enough goodbyes, spent enough time… I have only put a cat to sleep, he had not been doing well and had spent the night at the vet’s for hydration. I knew when I went there that if nothing seemed improved about him that I was having him put to sleep. So I don’t think it was too hard to say some goodbyes, take some video, and say OK to the vet.

I have seen one horse put down, with a fractured pelvis. It went peacefully as I remember. I have watched horses being moved after their deaths including my horse, and do not understand why so many people say you shouldn’t watch. For me it was good to know my horse was being handled respectfully, and I watched my trainer’s horse for the same reason. (If you really don’t want to know, stop reading here.) They do put a rope around the horse’s neck just behind the head and drag the horse that way. (Well, 2 I know were moved this way. The first one I saw I can’t remember so maybe they did something different.)

I can say I’m not sure I’d want to watch a burial, particularly moving the body into the hole. I helped bury a goat. We moved him in a wheelbarrow and he did NOT come out of it too gracefully. Can only imagine a horse being worse.

[tazycat]

@OTTBs

I can say I’m not sure I’d want to watch a burial, particularly moving the body into the hole. I helped bury a goat. We moved him in a wheelbarrow and he did NOT come out of it too gracefully. Can only imagine a horse being worse.

No you don’t want to watch them put horse into the hole to bury,i watched one of the 2 i had done. To this day i cannot get rid of that image, of him flopping into hole and the way he landed. Yes he was gone and just the body BUT it’s still hard to see. Last one i put down i was there for him till he passed,but i left before backhoe guy buried him. Didn’t want that as my last image of him. Last i saw of him he was peacefully laying flat out like he was asleep…annnnd i’m crying again.

[maunder]

Unfortunately I have had to have a number of horses euthanized. It happens when you have multiple horses you are responsible for and that they are elderly or special needs.

Except when I was younger and had to put my first horse down due to Wobbler’s Syndrome, I have always held the rope. As long as I can be calm and supportive to my horses I want to be there with them.

Since horses are perceptive creatures, they may sense that the handler is upset, nervous or agitated and become so themselves. It’s my very firm belief that they don’t ‘know’ they are being ‘killed’ or ‘know’ you have planned something dire for them. Horses don’t think this way. They are more likely to see vet+aggitated owner= something different is happening.

The only less than serene euthanasia I attended was a friend’s horse, who had lived with chronic laminitis for way too long. I held him for her and the attending vet didn’t use sedation. The horse went down with stiff legs and traveled - flipping.

Every euth I’ve had to do for my horse friends has been peaceful and serene with a vet I trust, with sedation and with me attending.

It never gets any easier and in fact I have a mini with neurological issues that will be put down this month. He likes being held and supported so I will do that for him.

I do not watch the horses being buried.

[cswoodlandfairy]

I had to put my old man ( 30 year old) down the other week. He was drugged first and then given “the shot.” It was very peaceful. He basically buckled his knees as if to lay down and rolled over. Just as if he went down to roll and he was gone. I am greatful he went that way, he was unsteady on his feet on a good day. But it was very peaceful. Miss that bugger a ton, but glad he is pain free.

[Angela_Freda]

@OTTBs

“The hardest thing was being done with those goodbyes, stepping back and saying ‘ok do it’ essentially. How do you do that? Decide you’ve said enough, said what you needed to, pet him enough,… and step away?” This reminded me of visiting with my brain-dead father in the hospital before he was taken to be an organ donor–when have you said enough goodbyes, spent enough time… I have only put a cat to sleep, he had not been doing well and had spent the night at the vet’s for hydration. I knew when I went there that if nothing seemed improved about him that I was having him put to sleep. So I don’t think it was too hard to say some goodbyes, take some video, and say OK to the vet.

I was only relating how it felt to me, that it felt impossible [ and yet I did it] to let go so easily, so simply, and end a 23 year relationship that meant the world to me.

Letting my father go was easier, and that sounds horrible but it’s true.
Maybe that’s because my horse was a bigger part of my life, but also so integral to me, to who I am. Yo was part of how I defined myself.
Riding was also something that defined ‘me’ too… and though I had already stopped riding 6 years earlier when Yo retired, I was still a horse owner, I still went to the barn, I still provided hands on care for him.
When he was gone, when I let go, I wasn’t any of those things any more and that was hard to handle for me.

SO I guess really it’s about me, not them. Which sounds selfish, but it’s not. I let them both go, as much as I hated it, and wanted another option… but I did it.

[Guilherme]

We’ve done a half dozen or so over almost 30 years. The protocol our vets used was to sedate the horse and then use a second agent to stop the heart. All but one were “quiet events” the the horse took one, last, ragged breath and then dropped. One was really traumatic and dangerous, in that instead of one last breath it was one, last, rearing convulsion before dropping. The vet was very experience and had been our regular for years. He had no explanation as to why this one was so violent. He had seen it before (and had pretty strong safety protocols for the person holding the horse). Likely it was an individual reaction.

Here are the AVMA guidelines on euthanasia:

https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia.pdf

G.

[Elenimac]

I just had my 30 yr old gelding euthanized. Within 4 days of sudden onset neurological symptoms he could hardly walk but kept himself marching, even when confined, couldn’t go down, was utterly exhausted.
So - has anyone else experienced the following as “normal”?
The vet administered 3 syringes of euth solution, after sedation had worked well and we could lay him down. Three. Because one and 2 did nothing.
That didn’t do it. After one more syringe, then one syringe of lidocaine to the brain - still not working - she injected one more with solution and then 1 more lidocaine. So in total, 5 euth, 2 lidocaine.
It took him over an hour to die. I’ve never seen it go like this. Ever.
Vet bill for this is well over $900. I’m just wondering if anyone else has seen this sort of “normal.
I’m saddened beyond belief - not only for losing him but because of how it went. Peaceful. But well over an hour to die with so much drug in his system?
TIA.

[Bonnie2]

One guess would be it wasn’t in the vein. Also possible his circulation was so compromised the drug wasn’t getting to the organs. Another guess would be the preferred euthanasia solution was unavailable (sadly, not unusual) and the vet had to use something they weren’t familiar with. Multiple syringes alone is not unusual since really big syringes are hard to source and smaller hands find them difficult to use effectively. So sad for you to have had this happen! Some comfort that your horse was unaware. Hugs!