The most humane euthanization, imho, would be to have the vet make a
house visit. I've had that done and it was very peaceful.

One thing to consider is that morphine is a controlled substance. You won't be
able to get it yourself. You will probably have to ask your vet to get it and
come to the house to administer it legally. I've been told that morphine
overdose is a good way to go if administered properly. They get very high and
feel great, then get unconscious then their organs stop. You just don't want
the organs to stop while they're conscious. That might be scary and painful.
Generally the vet gives valium to calm the animal, sets up an IV then gives
pheno to stop all organs. It's almost instant. I think they should give enough
valium to get the cat unconscious first, then the pheno.

The problem with administering it orally is that it slows the sytem down and
by the time you get a fatal dose in them, the organs don't work enough to
process it, leaving the animal more or less in a coma situation for hours or
days on end. (You don't even want to know why I know this.) Depending on
your animal's underlying health issues that make this a necessary decision,
some organs might not even work enough to get even a sedative dose of a drug
into the system and certainly won't process it enough for death to occur.
That's not humane.  There's also the issue of regurgitation, which can
happen, and with the cat sedated enough that the gag reflex is disabled, the
cat could choke to death on the vomit.  Also not humane.

Really, the only effective way to euthanize an animal is through injection.
Most vets will come to your home and do this for you and it's much less
stressful than you packaging up and going to their office.  It's far more
peaceful than you may think, and you can be there at the end after their
last supper and hold them while they pass.  It's quick, and painless, which
an oral dose of any drug is NOT.  If you love your cat, give her the final
best gift any owner can give, which is a quick and painless death--from your
veterinarian.

...> I think morphine may be more expensive but it's a nicer way to go.

Normally, I just killfile these types of posts, but I'm curious how you know
1. that morphine may be more expensive, and
2. that it's a nicer way to go.

From where are you going to get morphine?

Have a vet come to the house, and you can sedate the kitty first,
before the vet arrives. If you can, get your regular vet to give you
medication for it.  If not, the human antihistamine chlorpheniramine
(Chlor Trimeton) can really knock a cat out at a dose of 2-4 mg.

When we had to euthanize my kitty, who had a painful cancer, we had a
vet come to the house.  Since we already had pain medication for him,
(torbutrol), I gave him an oral double dose before the vet arrived.

Then we set up a nice little pillow with a trash bag over it and a
towel over the trash bag.  (bodily fluids can leak at death.  In our
case they didn't, probably because poor Victor was not eating or
drinking.)  It was nice to have it be like a special place and a
little ritual.

The vet then gave him a shot of sedation, which was very quick and
since Victor was already pretty out of it, he didn't react much to. I
held him in my lap, petting him during the shot. Once he was
unconscious, we put him on the pillow, the vet gave him a stick to the
heart and then it was over.  We carried the body out to the vet's van
and he took care of all the cremation and getting the ashes back to
us.  That was very helpful, not to have to deal with all that.

I kind of wish I hadn't watched the cardiac stick, though.  It's how I
remember Victor now and that's hard on me.  On the other hand, it DID
leave me absolutely sure Victor was dead, and so I didn't have the
fear that some people do that their cat was still alive, might have
woken up in the van all alone. (irrational fear, yes, but some people
go through all kinds of stuff as part of grieving.)

It's wasn't cheap, but it was done with love, respect, no fear and
virtually no pain.  If I ever have to euthanize another cat, that's
how we will do it again.

BTW, is your cat already ill?  We let one of our cats die of old age
(22 years old.)  Some people act like you HAVE to euthanize your
animals but our old cat, who was in kidney failure, went very
peacefully during the night.  Not all things that kill cats are
painful and she had a good quality of life up till the end.
___________________________________________________              

             Camilla Cracchiolo
              Registered Nurse
            Los Angeles, California

camilla4@mindspring.com     webpage temporarily down