From:
"Roger Vaughn"
Date: 2004-08-05 23:59:31 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Euthanasia Question
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <49792.192.168.132.39.1091750371.squirrel@mail.seaconinc.com>
I've had the tummy shot done before. The technical term, as Mike
mentioned, is "intraperitoneal", or IP for short. With that your vet
injects an overdose of sodium pentobarbital into their peritoneum -
the space between the organs in the belly - where it's quickly picked
up and distributed by the veins and organs. Like Mike, I'm also told
it's painless, but since people complain that a rabies vax - given to
humans the same way - is the most painful thing they can imagine, I'm
not sure I believe it. The drug is painless, and they drift quickly
into warmth and forever sleep, but I'm not so sure about the
injection. Because of that, I asked my vet to inject subcutaneous
morphine a few minutes before to dull any pain. (IV morphine is
better than SC morphine, but again you have the trouble with the small
veins. For a last shot, SC morphine is good enough. Gas would also
do, but then they're passed out while passing, if that matters to
you.)
Injecting into the heart ensures that the drug (sodium pentobarbital
again? I don't know.) gets around the body quickly. It would be
easier to inject into a major artery in a larger animal, but hitting
an artery in a ferret isn't too easy. I understand this is extremely
painful, unless like Sukie says, the ferret is already out of it. I
hope never to have to go through one of these.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, most of
my lost ferrets have passed on their own.