How do you mercy kill?

[Atlarge]

There is a lot of dissagreement on this, I prefer just throwing them against a hard surface. It seems like they wouldn't really have enough time to regiser the pain, so I tend to use it.

What do you do?

 

[William]

Please tell me your joking..

 

[Allivymar]

Actually, chucking against a hard surface them isn't always the quickest way; there is no guarantee you've crushed the brain, especially with small fish and they suffer.

Chopping the heads off IS the quickest and supposedly most painless way, but I know I couldn't do it. I prefer using clove oil, or if that can't be found, putting the fish in ice water and then freezing it.

 

[grimlock3000]

If you really want to do it right, cut the fish head off in one quick motion. Bashing a fish onto a hard surface is NOT humane Many fish would still be partially alive after being bashed, even if they have stopped moving.

 

[Atlarge]

All of the books I have read have recommended said method. Freezing was the other method recommended and that seemed more cruel then the alternate. Obviously with smaller fish you can't propperly throw them, so I do use the cutting method on them. The only way the throwing method works is if the fish hits the floor head on, it does destroy the brain/notochord so even if the fish remained alive it wouldn't be aple to register pain.

 

[xray]

Why in the world are we killing fish. I try to save mine. If they do happen to pass, I flush them. Whats humane about killing.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Overdose with clove oil is by far the best way I've heard of so far. They just go to sleep. I actually use small doses to tranq. my fish for certain procedures.

 

[Christmasfish]

Most of the books my daughter has suggest clove oil as the preferred method, and do not mention physical methods at all! Yeesh!
I have never killed any animal by bashing it! You wring the necks on smaller things and cut the throats of other if they were not killed outright with a shot to the head or heart. I suppose ice fishers may do that..or seal hunters.. 8O

 

[Atlarge]

Why in the world are we killing fish. I try to save mine. If they do happen to pass, I flush them. Whats humane about killing.

Some times the damage is obviously irrepearable and the best thing is to just end the suffering.

And you shouldn't flush fish. Throw them away in a ziplock baggie, or cremate them like my friend did he has a little jar with ashes from all of his dead fish.

 

[glasstapper]

wow

 

[enjoyfish]

LOL

 

[Menagerie]

My fiance and I are kicking ourselves for not grabbing MS222 from the ichthyology lab before we moved. That was approved by the university for sedating fish and toads, also for putting them down.
Oh well, probably could not have snuck it through the boarder anyway
When our fish are very ill, (and I have never been able to locate clove oil) they are placed in tank water in a jar and put in the freezer. Since the metabolism slows down at colder temps, we believe this is humane.

 

[Christmasfish]

My fish that died were fighters that I could not put down as long as they were trying.

For memory I make imprints with a similar color paltte washed over them, a quick haiku and then they are cremated and put in a flowerpot with flowers the same color as they were.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Great idea, planting them. I'll have to remember that. My houseplants flourish with fish water!

 

[Deitta]

That has to be the most spiritual way of dealing with ashes of a pet that I have heard of! You could even take the paint imprint and place on a painted pot for the plant. Even reminds me of what I have asked to have happen to my ashes! No imprint in my case though. 8O I have been using the freezing method. I never heard of clove oil until comming here, but this way I can just dishwasher the plastic cup (no breaking if I get distracted and forget to pull the glass out) and put it back into circulation.

 

[AussieGal]

And you shouldn't flush fish

Can i ask why... if they're already dead, what's wrong with flushing them?

 

[AussieGal]

Another suggestion is to take them to the lfs to try to save them. Mine has a 'fish hospital' where you can take your sick fish and you can let the professionals look after them. I'm lucky, the guy at the lfs I go to LOVES fish, they're his life, so he really puts in the effort and cares.

 

[shawmutt]

reasons for euthanasia:

http://www.gsas.org/Articles/1999/title-euthanasia.html

ways to do it:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/nicoldaquaria/euthanasia.htm

I wouldn't recommend the "blender" method, I mean

, but it gives an excellent overview of the methods and effectiveness of each--with a bit of humor (sorry, I got a sick sense of humor sometimes). In all seriousness, killing our pets is something no one likes to do, but the responsibility of pet keeping includes doing what is best for them.

 

[Atlarge]

You shouldn't flush them for ecological reasons, you could spread whatever they died from into the waterways. It's not relly a big deal, but every little bit helps/hurts.

 

[William]

Unless you live in new york where its common practice to do so during heavy rain or for whatever other reason that overflows the system, Most places don't dump raw sewage into waterways.

It all goes through a treatment plant, Where its pounded with all sorts of harsh, abbrasive filters and chemicals that nothing has a hope of survival from it.