>I recommend your vet. Or, look around the internet. Somewhere I read
about
>euthanizing rats. The writer was quite concerned about the method used by
>vets as being inhumane towards rats and recommended something else. She
>would hold the dying rat on a pillow on her lap and give it something (look
>it up) and the rat would die in her arms.
>
>I wasn't entirely convinced by that author's method. Both rats that we
have
>had die, died while we were not around.
>
>Mostly, I would rather use a vet because it seems a bit weird to be
>experimenting with homemade ways of killing rodents. And perhaps illegal
is
>some areas. Definitely weird. Possible even sick, disgusting, vile, and
>otherwise inhumane.
>
>Deb Adams
In college I worked in a lab which needed rats as experimental
subjects. There I was taught a quick and efficient method of
ending an animal's life, that didn't seem to have it linger or suffer
*IF DONE CORRECTLY*
Since I did this procedure hundreds of times in the lab, I can
do it at home, and it will work on hamsters and gerbils also.
It is not for the squeamish, and it takes a great deal of personal
courage to do this to an animal that is your pet. I do not recommend
home euthanasia, period.
My vet when asked recently said he'd charge $10 to put down
an animal under eight ounces (225 grams) 'walk in' as long
as he wasn't in surgery. Normally he charges $25 for the average
sized animal, plus disposal fee (starting at $25). With the
reduced fee, the owner has to remove the animal after the
procedure is done.
You might inquire of your vet, they might give a discount as
a gerbil is such a small animal, and the owner removes and
takes care of the animal after the fact....
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
