Re: Cost of euthanasia

["C.M.Newell" <reshan@deyr.ultranet.com>]

At 02:08 PM 2/4/99 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
>On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, C.M.Newell wrote:
>
>> 	I will not  euthanize a healthy animal simply because the owner wants it
>> done.
>
>Just curious, why not?


Don't *like* euthansia even when it's medically indicated; couldn't
face killing an animal simply because the owner wanted to. Let them hire a
butcher for that.
 
>
>And does this extend to animals that are 'vicious' (as in a dog) but are
>otherwise healthy?

No--I don't consider a vicious animal healthy.

>
>And if that is the case, what do you suggest be done with physically
>healthy horses that nobody wants?

Depends on the horse. I'm not unalterably opposed to someone killing a
horse for no other reason than that they want to and it's their horse--I
just don't feel that I need to be involved in it.

>
>I have a couple of horses that only I would want (because of their
>dispositions). It would be unsafe and unethical to sell/give them >to
somebody else;

That is not as straightforward as  what my profession often refers to as
"convenience euthanasia".


>
>Were something to happen to me, I am firmly of the opinion that 
>humane to send them straight to the killer than to have them get there via
>20 different people's back yards).

No argument with that. But consider this--the MSPCA actually had someone
bring in an Old English Sheepdog because they had redecorated their house
in Oriental style, and he no longer fit the decor--would you consider that
a good reason to kill an animal?

Another woman at a practice I worked at wanted to kill a gorgeous Birman
because it hunted birds and left them on the doorstep. I suggested keeping
it inside. No dice. *I* offered to take  the cat home. No dice. My boss
also refused to kill the cat, but offered to take it in. She got furious
and hung up the phone.

>
>It seems to me, that by refusing to humanely put down a healthy horse you
>give the owner no other option but to sell it to the meat man 

Or shoot it themselves. Or find another DVM who doesn't mind. I'm not
saying that someone who *doesn't* mind is a monster, just that *I* mind.



>I don't mean to suggest that you are wrong in your refusal to euthanize a
>healthy horse, I am just curious as to why you do so and what is your
>rationale behind that decision.


The scenarios you envision are those of animals which are not being
euthanized simply at the owner's whim--horses with baggage of one sort or
another are not the same as horses which someone simply wants to be rid of. 
You have every right to kill your animals, so long as you avoid violating
any cruelty laws; likewise I have every right to refuse to kill your horse
if I think it's a stupid thing to do.
And I  have had one or two requests from folks who I turned down--in a
couple of cases, I helped find a home for the horse. In another, it was
someone I didn't have a very high opinion of to start with, who had a
rather "dog in the manger" attitude, and didn't want someone else to have
the horse. I didn't feel bad about saying no.
            --CMNewell, DVM