hamster euthanasia - an ethical question

[BiggusLaddus]

Sharp tap to the neck with the edge of a trowel. Will kill it instantly, the hamster won't feel it and the only little bit of mess you might get is a few drops of blood from its nose.

Really don't like the sound of that freezer idea. There must be a big difference between shutting down slowly cos its a bit too cold and being turned into ice.

[Clammy]

I'd back away from the freezer idea if I were you:

BBC said:

A hamster has survived a chilly ordeal after being shut inside a freezer for up to three days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/375879.stm

There's some useful advice on this site where the consensus appears to be CO2 poisoning.

Rather than constructing the elaborate industrial hamster snuffers discussed there I'd just put the cage in a binbag, tape the binbag opening to my exhaust pipe and leave to cook for half an hour.

Either that or drown it.

[benzo]

Take it to the vet, have a proper diagnosis and get it done properly. Also, you might not get any nookie if you wonder up to your ladies hamster and smash the fk out of it with a hammer. God knows what she would think if she caught you gassing the hamster in a box.

Edited by benzo on Saturday 13th September 14:26

[Clammy]

benzo said:

God knows what she would think if she caught you gassing the hamster in a box.

Edited by benzo on Saturday 13th September 14:26

As long as you leave out the Max Mosely paraphanalia you'll be fine.

[shadowninja]

Brown and Boris said:

My kids had 2 mice from a pet shop for about £2. 2 years later one developed large lump and after spending shed loads of money on it the vet put it to sleep. The other onethen developed the same lump. The vet gave it iodine and it went down. It grew again a few months later and I gave it the rest of the iodine and it seemed to be working. Then over a weekend it starting having fits and twitching. I was faced with calling out the emergency vet or dealing with it myself.

I knew it had to be quick or the mouse would suffer so I laid it in a large match box wrapped in tissue paper to keep it still, laid it on the lawn and brought a shovel down at a great pace from a great height. Sadly the draft and impact ejected the tray from the match box where said mouse was lying and sent it horizonally across the lawn in a cloud of tissue paper. Not knowing if the mouse was now just injured and in pain I very rapidly ran after it across the lawn and made sure with numerous blows with the shovel.

On completion of the deed, I stod back slighly guilty and I looked up to see the nieghbours kids watching me from a bedroom window, terrified.

I'm going to bookmark this thread. Every time I read this post, I laugh. I know I shouldn't but I do.

[Driller]

Steam iron. You can them pin him up on the wall for old times sake.

Don't forget to put the iron on III.

[shirt]

didn't need to euthanase in the end, nature got there first and he was dead by the time i got in from work.

funeral is today. he has requested that you don't send flowers but instead give a donation to a hamster charity of your choice.

RIP

[TheEnd]

Is he off to Valhalla?

[okgo]

Hold it by its back legs and shoot it in the head with an air pistol.

Failing that throw it the nearest river.

[bi9_jk]

shirt said:

didn't need to euthanase in the end, nature got there first and he was dead by the time i got in from work.

funeral is today. he has requested that you don't send flowers but instead give a donation to a hamster charity of your choice.

RIP

My condolences



Should you have had to euthanaise I would have recommended Pure nitrogen, It would have caused death without him realising. I'm not sure how this would have worked on a rodent but it is so humane that the "capital punishment" actavists feel that it is a too humane way of killing people and oppose it.

[putridp]

I find it incredible that this question is being asked, isn't the answer blatantly obvious? Take it to your vet and ask for them to put it to sleep. This shouldn't cost much at all, and the little you do pay will let you sleep that night that it was euthanased professionally and without any unnecessary cruelty.

If you're not losing sleep whilst the thing is taking days to die then you're not cut out to be looking after animals.

Freezing a mammal to death is unnecessarily cruel and deserves a conviction.


edit: DIY home euthansia is possibly okay, but if somebody is having to ask here about what to do it's not a good sign that they'd be capable of bringing about the painless death required.

Edited by putridp on Saturday 13th September 15:03

[LDNrevs]

Are you so cheap that you won't take it to a vet? Bloody hell man, it's 30 quid to have him looked at and dealt with if need be.. you've left it over 2 days.. that's not on mate; not a good keeper of pets in my book.

[ali_kat]

shirt said:

didn't need to euthanase in the end, nature got there first and he was dead by the time i got in from work.

funeral is today. he has requested that you don't send flowers but instead give a donation to a hamster charity of your choice.

RIP

ROP

I'd have suggested finding someonne with a pet snake that's hungry......

[speedy_thrills]

Take it to the vet, that's what they are for.

[bear puncher]

make it wrestle the healthy one? have a few friends round place bets etc. make some money off it

[okgo]

LDNrevs said:

Are you so cheap that you won't take it to a vet? Bloody hell man, it's 30 quid to have him looked at and dealt with if need be.. you've left it over 2 days.. that's not on mate; not a good keeper of pets in my book.

Its a hamster, I have accidentally run over more important animals than that.

[bear puncher]

okgo said:

LDNrevs said:

Are you so cheap that you won't take it to a vet? Bloody hell man, it's 30 quid to have him looked at and dealt with if need be.. you've left it over 2 days.. that's not on mate; not a good keeper of pets in my book.

Its a hamster, I have accidentally run over more important animals than that.

"accidentaly"

[Bonnie and Clyde]

shirt said:

apreciated that it's "just a hamster" and the bin was going to be his final resting place. used to keep mice as a kid and they die after 6-8mths so i got used to the concept of a bin burial very quickly.

but OH is having none of that, its a trip to her parents and a burial alongside her childhood hamsters!

can't do any crushing/snapping as she'll be there and i wouldn't want to anyway. just want a quick painless method and the freezer sounds the best to me.

No thats not the best way. Its horrible. How would you like to be shut in a freezer when your not feeling well and then left there to die. Take it to the vet it may only need some calpol (or something)
You should'nt buy them if your not gonna care for them until they die.

[Bonnie and Clyde]

zcacogp said:

carter711 said:

Or just do the same thing that guy did in his AM DB7 ragtop a few weeks ago ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1042676/Bu... )

Tasteful!

Mind you, she looks worrying


Oli.

What a waste of car. The bell end

[putridp]

okgo said:

LDNrevs said:

Are you so cheap that you won't take it to a vet? Bloody hell man, it's 30 quid to have him looked at and dealt with if need be.. you've left it over 2 days.. that's not on mate; not a good keeper of pets in my book.

Its a hamster, I have accidentally run over more important animals than that.

It's against the law to allow animals under your care to suffer unnecessarily.

Leaving an animal to die whilst suffering for over 2 days instead of having it euthanased obviously causes unnecessary suffering.

The OP is not capable of keeping animals.