Horrific euthanasia - what went wrong?

[fordtraktor]

besides, halfway down the neck the spine is in the middle of the neck. That’s the normal place to give a shot IM, the “triangle zone” – are you sure the vet wasn’t giving a sedative IM, then waiting for it to take effect then later giving the barbiturate?

OP, I am very sorry for your loss. I don’t think there is anything that you can do or that your vet did wrong. Sometimes things just go awry. take comfort in the fact that much of it was probably reflex and the horse was probably gone through most if not all of it. This is the hardest part of owning horses – but you did the right thing, and don’t beat yourself up over what can’t be helped.

[TrueColours]

The needle went into the SPINE. Where the mane is - not down below in the “triangle zone” for giving IM shots. I truly do remember and know the difference between giving an IM shot “in the triangle” and getting this GINORMOUS needle and syringe and getting above the mare and sticking it into her spine.

It wasn’t my horse - it wasn’t up to me to question what he was doing. I had never seen a horse euthanized before - I had no idea if this is how it was done all the time. The “upset” level with me and with the mare’s owner was high - neither one of us really thought to ask the vet what he was doing and what he was sticking in there and why he was sticking it into this mare’s spine

I had never seen a syringe or needle so large. It must have been a 16 gauge or maybe even larger

[Laurierace]

Except at the poll, the spine is nowhere near the mane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_system_of_the_horse

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;7872636]
Except at the poll, the spine is nowhere near the mane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_system_of_the_horse[/QUOTE]

Exactly what I was going to say! To reach the spine anywhere else, that needle would have had to have been most of a foot long. The only thing that would make the remotest kind of sense is if he was trying to chemically “pith” her by putting it directly into the brain stem–and that is something I’ve NEVER heard of any vet trying to do since there isn’t any need. It gets there just fine in a few seconds via the circulatory system. Sounds like by that point it was a foregone conclusion she couldn’t get up.

You’ve really piqued my curiosity; no way he was trying to get a sample of spinal fluid to test for rabies or something, was he? For that they usually take the whole head! You saw something seriously freaky there . . .

[stolen_virtue]

OP, I am so sorry. For me all of them have gone peacefull. I hope the sweet memories of your lovely pony can ease your pain.

[MustangSavvy]

Sadly, the excitement phase does happen and there is very little you can do about it. The seen some that were very peaceful and others that were dreadful. Once they animal goes into the excitement phase they are gone.

The biggest reason that I have seen the tranq and other drugs not work is because of the cancer. The cancer just eats it. We once gave a cat a near fatal dose of tranq (the cat could not be handled safely) and it took forever for the cat to go under. That was riddled with cancer. I have seen it with pretty much all animals we have euthanized…

RIP pony!

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=MustangSavvy;7872776]
Sadly, the excitement phase does happen and there is very little you can do about it. The seen some that were very peaceful and others that were dreadful. Once they animal goes into the excitement phase they are gone.

The biggest reason that I have seen the tranq and other drugs not work is because of the cancer. The cancer just eats it. We once gave a cat a near fatal dose of tranq (the cat could not be handled safely) and it took forever for the cat to go under. That was riddled with cancer. I have seen it with pretty much all animals we have euthanized…

RIP pony![/QUOTE]

OK, that may explain my horse above who took 3 loads and wouldn’t go down; he was a very elderly gray with plenty of melanomas, one of which pressing on his brain or spinal cord was the likeliest cause of his neurological symptoms. Good to know!

[Ghazzu]

[QUOTE=TrueColours;7872496]
I wasn’t the owner in this case. The owner was standing off to the side, VERY distraught and crying. This wasn’t an emergency / traumatic injury situation. The owner came into the barn and found the mare in her stall unable to get up. By the time I arrived, and the replacement vet had arrived, the mare had struggled enough trying to get up that she was now partially in the stall doorway and mostly still in her stall. The shoulders forward outside of the stall and the remainder still in the stall.

EPM was very much suspected in this case based on the clinical signs …

This gigantic needle very much was stuck in her spine - about halfway down her neck. Cant remember what colour the liquid was inside now and neither of us asked what it was or why it was administered this way. Neither of us had been present at a euthanization before. We had no way of knowing that this wasn’t standard protocol that every vet followed. It absolutely wasn’t Euthanol - that was given IV a few minutes later[/QUOTE]

I doubt very much that the needle was in the spine.
It is virtually impossible to hit the spinal cord from a lateral approach in the cervical region.

[Sannois]

Ugh So very sorry.
My worst nightmare. I have had to put many animals down over the years, and I have been most fortunate to have had them all go well.
including 3 horses of my own, and assisting with 2 of a friends.
I was a vet tech when I was younger and saw an old GSD fly off the table, and it took 3 of us to restrain her and the vet to inject into the heart. Most upsetting. I had a friend who had a very old pony that she could not handle being present when the time came. It was good because the scenario was the same as you described. The vet was an old timer, I remember him telling me at the time that he had this happen more times with ponies. No idea why.
You little guy is at peace. Again so very sorry.

[Lady_Eboshi]

To be honest, I’m a lot more comfortable assisting the vet without the owner present. It’s doing the animal a disservice to telegraph to them that you’re terribly upset and something horrible is happening. Some owners have been great, but I make sure they can handle it first otherwise I volunteer to be the one.

You learn to just plain do the deed first, without letting on to them that anything beyond the ordinary is happening, then allow yourself the emotions after the fact–when they can’t upset the horse. The trick is to NOT trigger their own fight or flight reaction and that means controlling your own.

I’ve got no problem with the Deed but I try not to watch the burials anymore and don’t let the owners watch that either.

[allons-y]

Bullet has been my preference for decades. I watched 2 beloveds PTS by vet as a teenager - both struggled and of course I was horrified. Now I say my goodbyes, leave them in stall with halter nearby. I go home to cry and regroup. Angel cowboy comes, loads on trailer and does the deed ‘over there’. Now Im moving away and hope I dont need this service for a verrrrry long time. The worst part afterward was seeing my horse’s stall empty. Ive learned to ask another boarder to put theirs in immediately, it really helps.

[vxf111]

I have seen a horse shot and a horse euthanized via injection. Honestly, the shooting was quick and painless and if I had someone nearby who was a great shot like that man- I’d choose a bullet every time. It’s a luxury nowadays to have someone like that on call

[spirithorse22]

[QUOTE=vxf111;7872968]
I have seen a horse shot and a horse euthanized via injection. Honestly, the shooting was quick and painless and if I had someone nearby who was a great shot like that man- I’d choose a bullet every time. It’s a luxury nowadays to have someone like that on call :([/QUOTE]

I agree. I’ve preferred that method and now especially after reading this thread! Good grief. When I was a teen, we put down my old competition horse with vet’s urgings, and my dad wouldn’t let me see it b/c he feared I’d see what the OP saw. I am torn about the fact I wasn’t there at the end for him, but I’m not sure I’d have ever forgiven myself if it went badly. I don’t know and didn’t ask when it happened, except I cried for weeks anyway. I will go with a bullet the next time and be there.

[CrowneDragon]

I’m sorry you had such a bad experience
My vet told me the first euthanasia call she got sent out to do as a shiny new graduate was an Appy with bad veins that would not go down. Owner hysterical, horse fighting and agitated and very much alive. She used up all of her euthanasia solution and had to go back to the clinic for more (not good!). Ended up calling one of her professors from school who told her she had to do a direct cardiac puncture.
I recall reading a story a few years ago about folks who had an aging pony whose time had come. Their vet euthanized the pony and confirmed there was no heartbeat. A group of people lifted the pony into a truck bed to be driven to the burial site. Truck got to the site and the pony was on its feet in the bed of the truck! :eek:
Sometimes crap goes sideways. With big animals it can get very dramatic and unnerving. I have assisted with many euthanasias but not with my own horses. Can’t do it. I’m sorry you had to watch that. I wish they would all just quietly crumple but you never know how the drugs are going to affect them.

[Lady_Eboshi]

I want to say and emphasize here though, that “going bad” is a relative rarity. Of all the ones I’ve seen, only that one failed to peacefully and immediately go down gently before the first needle was withdrawn.

Those of you who’ve been traumatized, PLEASE talk to your vets about the actual physiology of what you saw; most of the “unquiet” stuff is just reflexes shutting down and the animal is gone beyond consciousness. Stuff happens but it happens maybe 1/10th of 1% of the time.

The point is they are ALWAYS beyond pain in a minute or two, though it can feel like a “long” minute to us.

[Griffyn]

Im sorry OP for your loss. All of this was most unsettling, but Im glad you asked, so at least you have peace of mind in knowing that it sometimes just happens that way. Peace.

[CaitlinandTheBay]

[QUOTE=MustangSavvy;7872776]
Sadly, the excitement phase does happen and there is very little you can do about it. The seen some that were very peaceful and others that were dreadful. Once they animal goes into the excitement phase they are gone.

The biggest reason that I have seen the tranq and other drugs not work is because of the cancer. The cancer just eats it. We once gave a cat a near fatal dose of tranq (the cat could not be handled safely) and it took forever for the cat to go under. That was riddled with cancer. I have seen it with pretty much all animals we have euthanized…

RIP pony![/QUOTE]

I worked in a vet office in high school and helped with a lot of euths we had a cat once, elderly, riddled with just about every disease in the book, finally got the owner to accept it was time to say goodbye, left cat with us to be euthed at the end of the day. Easily one of the most horrific euths I’ve seen. He was partially paralyzed so he couldn’t move but wouldn’t go. He was sedated (which honestly finished quite a few of them) and then had to be injected four or five times. Final one was right in the heart. It took nearly an hour for us to finally get him to let go. So glad the owner wasn’t there for it.

OP, I am so very sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine going through that.

[OverandOnward]

Loved the beautiful and moving poem!

I am so sorry for your loss, OP. Kudos for you for giving your guy a quick ticket out and avoiding longer suffering.

However rough it appeared, I wouldn’t assume that anything necessarily “went wrong” or that the horse suffered, unless the vet says something did go not as planned.

I am all for euth when the situation is right, but I do think anyone in attendance needs to be aware ahead of time that the horse may struggle. It seems people don’t always know what to expect, and in fact may be expecting something else. It doesn’t mean the horse is aware of what is going on. As someone said, it’s a biological reaction, not a conscious reaction.

For that reason I don’t think the owner needs to feel it is important for them to be present at a euth if they are reluctant to witness it. (Exception would be an inhumane vet like the brutal one described above, just to protect their horse.) I don’t believe it makes any difference to the horse - the whole point is that they don’t know what’s happening. The owner can say their good-byes at a calm and peaceful time.

Although it is hard to see a horse reacting in a rough way, compared with a slow death by inches of old age or some infirmity, euth is still quicker and more humane.

The vet that handled the first euth I attended explained everything wonderfully in a phone call ahead of time. He explained that it is a myth that “animals pass away painlessly in their sleep”.

The vet explained that natural death is frequently agonal and protracted. Organs don’t all give up quietly at the same time. Death is often a slow and painful process as things fail one by one, and the animal is aware of it and may be fighting it. It can go on for many hours or even days.

However rough it may seem at the time, euth was more merciful than the alternative in all of the cases I personally know.

[AlexS]

I am so very sorry for your loss, and horrific experience. I’ve not been through that with a horse, but have with a well loved dog, and it was one of the worst things I have experienced. There’s just no words for how awful that is, and you have my deepest condolences.

[fordtraktor]

One thing this thread has taught me is that next time I have a horse euthed I am going to take a “backup plan” to the barn with me, just in case. :(. there will be no driving back to the clinic for more supplies while a horse suffers on my farm!

So sorry to hear of these experiences. Lady E is right, most do go much better than this. I don’t think there is anything the least bit wrong with having someone else step in and handle this for you after you say your goodbyes. And I think OverandOnward’s observation is both true and comforting, a natural death is much worse in many cases. I should know, my mom was an ICU nurse for 38 years… Natural death is not pretty or easy. A swift end is a gift we can provide our beloved pets.