At Home Euthanasia

Euthanasia at Home for Pets

Euthanasia of a dearly loved pet is not easy. An at home euthanasia is more personal, not rushed and less stressful for pets and their owners at an emotional time.

I make euthanasia as smooth and peaceful as possible for pets.
Deciding when to put a dearly loved pet to sleep is one of the challenging steps. I can provide information so you can make the right decision for your pet and family and I can have a chat about your thoughts and concerns if you could do with some guidance and reassurance.



Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of a pet to limit the pet's suffering.

Making the decision to euthanase a pet is tough. The following links may be helpful:

As the vet entrusted with performing euthanasia, I want the pet to barely be aware of the procedure as they quietly drift off to sleep.

My approach has two steps. I use sedation as the first step, which can be given with a simpler injection so the pet becomes very sleepy before an intravenous catheter is placed. This is more pleasant for the pet owners too, as this phase is a slower drifting off. Sedation works best when pets are relaxed. The home environment is familiar and much less stressful than a clinic.  My aim is to keep the pet as relaxed as possible throughout the whole procedure.

Euthanasia itself requires an overdose of anesthetic drug to be injected and an intravenous catheter to be placed. This second step is done when the pet is well sedated so they barely realise it is happening. I place the catheter with pet owners present (as long as they are comfortable) and little or no reaction from the pet is more reassuring for them.

The injection that ends the pet’s life works reasonably quickly. With the pet already very sleepy, we mostly notice the breathing stop as the pet loses consciousness and passes away.

Pet owners are given the time they need to be with their pet during and after the euthanasia procedure. An at home euthanasia is not rushed.

The aftercare options for pets after euthanasia are burial at home or cremation. Pets may be cremated separately and their ashes returned to their family. There are a number of options available for the return of ashes.



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