Equine Euthanasia

WHEN IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

Many of us derive huge pleasure from our horses throughout their lives, however from time to time most of us will have to make the sad decision to bring our horse or pony’s lives to an end.

Our priority as veterinary surgeons is to make this ending as peaceful and humane as we possibly can from the point of view of both the horse and you, the owner.

Generally speaking, we use 2 methods to put horses to sleep:

- By humane killer.

There is no doubt that this is a quick method of putting a horse to sleep, however it can be traumatic for owners who wish to be present, can lead to bleeding and may not be suitable for horses which are head-shy. In addition, as you can imagine, we have to be extremely careful about handling and transporting firearms, and using them where members of the public could potentially be at risk. For this reason, where a horse has to be put to sleep as an emergency, or in a public place, use of a humane killer may not be possible.

- By injection. 

The availability of an effective lethal injection, has made this the method of choice for many veterinary surgeons. A lethal injection is given slowly into the horses’ blood stream, following a pre-med injection if required. Generally this acts like a general anaesthetic and the horse should go to sleep fairly rapidly and smoothly, however, being large animals they sometimes drop to the floor quite heavily.

Clients often ask us which is the better method of putting horses to sleep, and, to be honest, from the horse’s point of view, there is probably little to chose, so the preferred method is best decided between the owner and the veterinary surgeon.

If you wish to discuss this sensitive issue at any time, please do contact any of our veterinary surgeons at the hospital.