I Need Help Asap At Home Euthanasia

Jammerdubbs

Regular Member
You may or may not be familiar with my buddy Bernie the sun conure's situation. He has been having seizures. I have taken him to the vet today because they have gotten worse. She said he needs to be euthanized ASAP. I would rather do it at home to minimize stress levels on his last day by my side. I have done a little bit of research and I came accross an article about using CO2. You use baking soda and vinegar in a home made gas chamber and the CO2 will put them to sleep and eventually take their life. However, this has not been studied in birds, at least not that I can find. I proposed this to the vet and she said she has never heard of it, but if I can figure out how to do it correctly, it would be ideal in his situation.

My question is have any of you done this before? What is the proportion of the baking soda to vinegar? Is there a period of excitability? Please help me out, I need to do this before Tuesday, as I go back to college. Thank you in advance.
 
I sympathize with your situation. However I would never attempt this. I understand you wanting to reduce the stress for him, but what would happen if you got the dosage wrong!? It just doesn't bear thinking about. I honestly think out would be far less stressful for him (and you) to fall asleep 'professionally' with you by his side. Whether it be a home visit or at the surgery. Best wishes. Xx
 
Really feel for you, Jammerdubbs. So sorry. I have never heard of the vinegar and baking soda method either and I wouldn't like to try it in case it goes horribly wrong. I like MJGB's suggestion of having it done professionally at home if this is do-able for you. xx
 
Do you know the reason for her seizures? it is a hard thing for any owner to go through but also I am not sure just how I should reply. for you to try to put your bird to sleep yourself may be classed as cruelty and could be illegal. I have had birds that have had seizures and I could never give up on them. I would worry about doing a bird more harm if it did not work. Its such a hard thing to have to go through as I know how you are feeling and only wanting the best outcome for your bird. but to have the bird put to sleep by the vet would be quick and you can always give your bird its final resting place at your home. I m sure others will give there advice.
 
So sorry to hear this news .......
does the vet believe then that Bernie is suffering as a result of these seizures? I ask because we have a few members with birds who do have this problem and as Michael says they go through these episodes, but illness over time takes it toll we know.
In this country I don't think it would be allowable to do what you are proposing, and I too Echo what other members have said about letting the vet carry out the procedure but you be there with Bernie.
It's a difficult thing whatever and whenever, so sending you :besos:
 
I'm so sorry to hear that you have to say goodbye to your lovely lad but please do let the vet do this with you there by Bernie's side, or perhaps holding and stroking him if it's feasible.

My immediate thought reading the CO2 idea is that surely it would feel like suffocation to him until Bernie passed out from lack of oxygen? Maybe it's just me but it sounds a potentially nasty way to go, with at least some time when the poor lad would be struggling to breathe but still conscious? Sorry, I'm not trying to be horrible but I do think it's a bad idea :(
 
Do not do this. I do have to kill chickens and ducks at home from time to time. it is part of the responsibility of breeding poultry and as a result have done a lot of reading up on different methods and what is legal and what is not. and been taught correct way for quickest kindest death.
what you have read about is unreliable, could potentially cause suffering and would be illegal. there are no gentle hands off methods of killing a bird at home. that and most of the notions flying about the internet are untrue, illegal and not as kind as they sound.
I must impress on you that the most gentle way to do this is to take him back to the vet
 
@Jammerdubbs
I am so sorry to read this. Are you sure that Bernies life needs to end due to seizures? Has he received any treatment for this, has it been investigated?
Please, as has been said do not attempt to end his life yourself, you owe him a peaceful end which a vet would provide either at home or in the surgery.
Please bring us up to date. My thoughts are with you.
 
So sorry about Bernie, have you had a second opinion is the vet sure his life has to be ended?

Please don't do this yourself sure he would be more stressed doing the CO2 idea, my immediate thought would be suffocation from lack of oxygen and for me it would be a worse way to go :(

If there is no other option then please let a professional vet do it and you can be calmly by his side x

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It is obvious there is a lot of understandable sympathy for your situation all round. There is however a clear response from all, use the expertise of a vet.
It is a situation all pet and animal keepers dread. Good luck..
 
Vets and docs (coroner) are only persons legally allowed to pronounce and declare death in th uk.
Hence why coronor must pronounce death and why vet perform euthanasia and no one else (ignore abetoires..) - to ensure a clean ethical death is the outcome.
There is a grey area for home euthanasia when feeding one species to another, however what you are proposing is illegal and really terrible for the bird.
The experience would be that of high stress and lack of understanding with emotions all round - bird is not on deaths door, but suffering seizures - so will no dout want to breathe when the air starts to run out and smell of vinegar - very much doubt it will lie down and go to sleep... not the way I would want to go or watch my frIend go.. not to mention you don't know what you are doing.
If your vet is willing for you to do this then they are very much in the wrong and would be interesting to hear their reasonings.

You must get this done professionally.
 
The other reason not to do this stepping aside from the fact this would be an inhumane method is for your own sanity. taking a life hurts even when necessary, and if you do it badly and the creature suffers it will damage you badly. first time I had to dispatch a cockerel I cried for a week after-and I had been shown how and it was quick and done properly. a beloved pet suffering because you get it wrong? you will never get over it. even if you did use a correct method with a lack of experience there would always be the question mark in your mind that maybe it wasn't done right. for your future peace of mind doing it your self is not an option.
 
taking a life hurts even when necessary,

Definitely second this, I have to do it now and again as an aquarium keeper. It hurts me greatly to have to decide when something is going to die and that's just for a small fish, I cannot imagine how I'd feel with something so much bigger and more intelligent

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I generally agree with what has been said here, especially with regard to Sunnyring's comments about the effect that trying to do this yourself will have on you.

I will add that if I was in your position, before the decision that he needs to be put down was made at all, I would want to be certain that you can answer yes to all the following questions:

1) Has the cause of his seizures been properly investigated, and is it understood so far as is possible? (Seizures in birds, as in humans, can have many different causes, and so it is very difficult to make accurate prognoses without knowing the cause.)
2) Is his condition not treatable, or has all treatment which could be reasonably expected to work in his case been tried and failed?
3) Is his condition progressive in nature? (This has not been established unless question 1 has been answered to the extent that some sort of named diagnosis has been made - guesses, even well-educated guesses by professionals, do not cut it, especially if the professional in question is not an expert in neurological conditions.) This is to say that it can be expected to continue getting worse, with no hope of remission or alleviation of symptoms by treatment, or of the condition stablilizing or improving by itself.

You don't give details of his condition or what the vet said about it, so it's not clear to me (or presumably anyone else posting here) which category he fits, but if you cannot answer a definite yes to all the points above, I want to draw your attention to this, which I think is important to consider for anyone who has an animal which suffers seizures:

Most humans (and animals, so far as we have any way of telling) who have seizures do not suffer severely during the actual seizures - many humans who have seizures are not even aware of what is going on at the time, and have to be told later by others what actually happened, so we can assume something similar for animals. Seizures can point to severe underlying conditions such as deteriorative genetic illnesses, brain tumors, late stage organ failure, or poisoning - in which case euthanasia is likely the best option for an animal where the actual cause cannot be treated sucessfully. However, in cases where the seizures themselves are the main problem (eg. many cases of epilepsy), the animal is unlikely to be suffering much if at all during the actual seizures - the main danger to its well-being is therefore from associated threats such as injuring itself through accidents while seizing (eg falling off its perch in the case of a bird), or suffering hypoxia leading to brain damage, which can happen as a result of recurring or prolonged seizures. In these cases I think it is important to weigh carefully whether the animal can still be given a fulfilling quality of life by its carer despite the seizures, and to remember that in many cases it is more traumatic for the carer to witness the animal having seizures than for the animal itself.

Many animals (not to mention humans) who suffer recurrent seizures are in fact capable of living fulfilling, and often long lives even where the seizures are not fully controlled, besides which, many potential seizure causes are treatable, and in some cases completely curable.
 
used to meet a lady dog walker with an epileptic crossbred collie. Mostly controlled with meds but occassionally still had one. It was apparently not nice to see and distressing for owner but the dog did not seem bothered aside from being a little out of it and unpredictable for a few minutes after the fit. looked happy enough when ever I saw it.
 
We had a Lab who has seizures, not nice to watch at all, and then our late Springer William had them too, once they recovered they were sleepy and disorientated but okay.
 
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