the Cost of Euthanasia for a Pet

The fee was for the examination and euthanization of a 5 month old kitten by a qualified veterinarian in an emergency services office that was open late.

As it was a vet's office, a variety of other services are available, including spaying and neutering, vaccinations, and referrals to specialists. Costs vary with the difficulty and duration of the procedures.

My girlfriend at the time and I got a kitten from the local shelter. Neutered and vaccinated and checked out. He was incredibly sweet and affectionate, but very demanding of attention. We'd had him about two months when I came home after work to an empty apartment (girlfriend was in Phoenix at a horse show), getting in (around midnight) just in time to get some sleep before I went to school in the morning and found the kitten standing on our computer table. I gave his head a scratch and he tumbled off the table, landing on the floor with a thud, where he laid mewing piteously.

On closer inspection I find his tummy hard and distended and him bleeding slowly from his ears, nose, mouth, and from around his eyes. To say the least, I freaked out.

Not having a car I was glad I'd offered to stash my manager's husband's birthday present in our apartment as she'd driven me home from work and, when she saw what happened to the kitten, had offered to take him to an emergency vet place she knew.

When we got to the emergency room, the vet asked if he'd been into any rat poison, because his symptoms were exactly what rat poison was supposed to do. But my girlfriend and I didn't even put out those little black roach traps (we didn't have to, though now that I think about it our apartment complex had sprayed for bugs outside that day). Blood tests, if done, would have to wait not only until morning for the lab to open, but several days for the results to come back and our kitten was unlikely to survive the night, so I elected to have our kitten euthanized.

The vet left the room for a moment, then returned with a small syringe filled with blue liquid. He was laying down on his side with his head up when she gently gave him the injection. He laid his head down, stopped mewing, then stopped breathing. After it was over, the vet gave me a box to bury his body in, and my manager drove me home.

It's not easy getting a pet put down, and I've only had to do it once, so I don't really have much in the way of advice. Maybe find a vet you trust for regular treatment of your pet before you have to have something like this done.