Being at home, offers a peaceful and reassuring environment for both you and your pet for that final goodbye. The familiarity of home, not only  reduces anxiety and stress for your pet during their lasts moments but allows you to grieve in your own time and in private.

To enable a peaceful passing and ensure your pet is calm and relaxed, we use a 2 step euthanasia procedure.

Step 1 – Sedation

Sedation allows your pet’s last moments to be relaxed, calm and pain-free, which is why we first administer a sedative, as a single injection. If your pet is still eating, this is a good time to give them their favourite treat as a distraction. Whilst the sedative takes effect, we can step away to give you and your pet some private time alone together. The sedative’s effects usually take between five to fifteen minutes to work. However, every animal is different and sometimes they may require a second injection to reach a deep sleep. By this time, they are usually very relaxed and this second injection is painless.

Step 2 – Euthanasia

The euthanasia injection is only given once your pet is deeply asleep and has lost awareness. An area of fur is clipped and the solution injected into a vein. Sometimes, because of disease, we may need to clip more than one area to find a suitable vein. If this is required, as your pet has been sedated, they are unaware of what is happening and feel no pain.

For cats, we often find the most appropriate method of administering the euthanasia injection is into their abdomen. This is only done, after the cat has been given a mixture of drugs which induces anaesthesia within minutes. This ensures they experience no feeling during the euthanasia injection.

As your pet passes away, the rise and fall of their chest becomes more shallow and eventually stops moving as their lungs cease to inflate and deflate. Their heart then stops beating. Occasionally, some pets may have a few last gasping breathes or their muscles may twitch. This may be distressing if you are unaware this can occur but this is just life leaving the body and your pet is unaware of this and is in no pain during this process. We then confirm your pet has passed away by checking for reflexes and listening to their chest for heart and breath sounds.

Your pet may defecate or urinate during or after they pass and their eyes will often stay open. All this is normal and it is important to know they are unaware and not suffering.