[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by ParallelJJCat

I promise you your cat was not hurt. You said they gave her a sedation shot first- that means she was unconscious and couldn't feel anything. An cardiac shot is only painful if the animal is awake.

Earlier in the thread, I told the story of my dear, dear Nic. He was in a similar shape to your girl- his veins had collapsed. He was given a shot to sedate him first, and when they couldn't find a vein I asked for them to do the cardiac shot. It wasn't for his benefit- he was sedated and wasn't feeling anything. It was for my own, so that I didn't have to watch them keep poking him. Do you think I would have allowed that if I thought for one second it would hurt him?

You did the right thing, and so did the vet. Your girl went peacefully and knowing you loved her. AN IC INJECTION IS AN ACCEPTED METHOD OF EUTHANASIA BY THE AMERICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION- PROVIDED THE ANIMAL IS SEDATED FIRST. Sorry for the caps, but I wanted it to be very clear that you did not hurt your cat.

There are some shelters that are euthanizing animals by the cardiac injection without sedation first- it is common in very young animals where the vein is hard to find. That is disgusting, disturbing, and completely unacceptable by an ethical standard. What you did for your girl was a gift.

Thanks....even now it hurts to think I might have hurt her. I'm more at peace now. Its a tought decision to euthanize, you have to decide on an individual basis if and when to let them go.

Once my kids found a stray cat, the thing was no more than a skeleton. We took her in, got her back to health, then took her in to be spayed. They found she was already pregnant, with 8 kittens! How that poor, starved little body could produce kittens was beyond me. But they just aborted the kittens as part of the spaying process, I never thought to ask if they had to gas them, or what......I'm so glad my kids never knew, itw would have been too painful for them, it bothers me, but was the best. Those little kittens probably wouldn't have made it, or been born deformed, etc, and its so difficult to find a home for them. We still have the mama cat, we call her the Dragon Lady, she chases the other male cats around and is queen of the house!