The Cost of Euthinasia

[Littlefizz]

When I was much younger and I had a patchwork hairless rat, I didn't really notice how bad her respiratory problem was until it was too late (I feel so guilty about that). I came home and she was pretty much blue so I freaked out and took her to an emergency vet clinic, she was put in an oxygen tank where she started to pick up put they said the infection was probably too far gone to try meds and if we took her home she would just suffer and die. So we decided to get her pts... She didn't get gassed Just a needle and she was gone in like 30 seconds... I had no idea at the time that this wasn't humane... I was only ten. But now I find out they should be gassed first??? WTH now I feel a million times worse... We paid 350 to have her 'humanely' pts. so the 350 included an oxygen tank, the needle, and they cremated her (I didn't get the ashes.)

Just out of curiosity how big is a bag of ashes for just one rat? It can' be too big.. I just want to know if the freezer thing would be worth my time... LOL I don't think the roomies would be cool with a bunch of frozen dead rats in the freezer though. I wouldn't be either, I would cry every time I opened the freezer.

 

[fenshae]

Fizz -- don't feel too bad, same thing happened with my girl Athena. I was out of the country at the time, but my roommate took her to the vet and after oxygen and a needle in the heart we got to pay $270 for our trouble and a tin of ashes. I think we all learned the hard way.

Athena's ashes came in a tin about the size of....um...a pack of cards? The alarming thing is they weren't exactly *ash*....they were more like little bone bits. Part of me was morbidly fascinated and wanted to try to glue her back together.....I didn't, of course.

Anyway. I bury my rats out in a patch of desert by the university. They tend to stay in my freezer until I'm about to make it out, so it's not an uncommon conversation in my house: "Honey, what's in the box?" "dead rat." "Oh. never mind." I'll probably have to move to cremation soon.

When Echo was put to sleep, it cost me $18 -- the cost of the meds, they didn't charge me for the visit; they wouldn't let me come into the back with her but they promised they would gas her first, so if I believe them, then...yah. And when my roommate took Radar, it cost about $40, they just charged for the office visit. I guess we are supremely lucky down here.

 

[Littlefizz]

Athena's ashes came in a tin about the size of....um...a pack of cards? The alarming thing is they weren't exactly *ash*....they were more like little bone bits. Part of me was morbidly fascinated and wanted to try to glue her back together.....I didn't, of course.

Anyway. I bury my rats out in a patch of desert by the university. They tend to stay in my freezer until I'm about to make it out, so it's not an uncommon conversation in my house: "Honey, what's in the box?" "dead rat." "Oh. never mind." I'll probably have to move to cremation soon.

Hah, oh weird. There was no ashes or just a lot of bone fragments? I remember when my Grandma got cremated we spread her ashes over the hill on her farm... I was too freaked out to examine the ashes too closely though.

I have one of my rats buried in my parents backyard but they wouldn't be to happy if I turned their yard into a ratty grave yard. I think I'll just invest in some kind of box to keep ashes in and make a ratty memorial.

 

[lilspaz68]

Only recently they started grinding down the human "ashes" so that the bits of bone wouldn't freak out people. They obviously won't be doing this for petowners any time soon.

 

[twitch]

i've paid as much as $40 and as little as $5 to have a rat pts. from the vet that i paid $5 she told me straight out that she was still making a profit on it even then considering the little time and meds that it takes to do. at the place that charged me $40 if i wanted to have them cremated it would of been about $150. which is insane as i know the crematorium that they use, the same one that i go to, and they only charge $10 for a rat. so considering that the absolute cost to a clinic to have a rat pts sleep, gas and everything, is only about $15 and the other place was wanting to charge me $150... that's $135 profit for a 5 minute thing. and that was a couple years back before the most recent price hikes... yeah, not impressed with the profession...

 

[SQ]

$50 to $250 each, depending upon the time of day and the vet involved.
All were pts the same way.
Rats being pts late at night as an emergency were the most expensive.

My vet does not charge for an exam although he does do a quick exam, and he charges only a very small fee for his time. The major cost is the gas, and the cost of the injection given into the lower right abdomen of an unconscious rat. He charges the least. The prices for emergency vets have been the highest. Normal day time prices in Halifax were very high.

Giving them gas so that they are unconscious for the needle is the only humane way to do it.

I have a collection of boxes of dead rats in my freezer. I will be getting them cremated but the company that does it (they collect bodies from all the vets offices) charges so much if you want a private cremation with ashes returned, that it is financially necessary for me to have a group cremated at a time ... makes sense to me as they lived together, slept in rat piles together, etc. When their ashes are returned, they will be buried in godmother’s yard where my other group of cremated rats is buried.

 

[Dahlas]

I personally think anything over $25-$30 is awful. No wonder more people don't take their pets in to be PTS humanly.......Those prices are outrageous.
Bronwyn your father sounds like a very compassionate vet.....that is wonderful.

 

[Prime654]

To get my 3 original ratties pts was less then $30 each. They kept and creamated the bodies (i was in university then and didnt have a final resting place for them).

 

[lilratsy43]

I have one of my rats buried in my parents backyard but they wouldn't be to happy if I turned their yard into a ratty grave yard. I think I'll just invest in some kind of box to keep ashes in and make a ratty memorial.

Haha that's my parents yard. Though I use the front yard, all my babies have been buried in the same area...that's like 7 rats and a hamster. No one in my family seems to mind.

 

[jorats]

We've got about 180 rats buried in this garden.

 

[Cait]

Other people will collect the bodies in a freezer and get them all cremated together as well.

Hope they don't let visitors look in their freezer!

Mine are usually all in gift boxes...I don't let visitors near my freezer... :laugh4:

or hubbies in my case!
:cheeky:

*teehee* I keep mine in the freezer, at least until I get a chance to get to my grandma's and bury them.

The other day (literally, this happened sometime this week, maybe yesterday, I have no sense of time) someone left a bag of chips in the freezer. No I do not know why. So my sister Alyssa comes into the office. "Did you put chips in the freezer?" Me: "No..." Her: "..... It's not a dead rat, is it?" Me: "No...". Her: "Well I had to check."

Everyone knows I keep them in the downstairs freezer. Duh.

 

[Dahlas]

That looks like a wonderful resting place.....Usually I bury all my pets at my friend Beth's. She has a beautiful big garden overlooking a river.......
But I decided to bury Dozer in my yard under my Lilac bush......I will put the whole family there.......since he was born here and spent his whole life here I didn't him to be buried anywhere else.

 

[Cigar]

Clover's euth. was $35 + taxes.

To have her cremated would have cost the same as a small cat. I would've been looking at almost $200. I was so sad.

 

[Maple]

In 2008 I paid $95 for a euth. That was gas & taxes included.

 

[sausage4ever]

Oh, ya, cremation is very expensive... can't you bring the body back home and bury him in your yard?

No I don't feel good doing that as we live in a condo and I'm not sure if we may move again one day (or if it's against condo rules), mind you I do have Lava mouse, a canary and LEWII-MIA (our turtle) buried in the yard.

Also I'm in Uni. and like to keep my boys close.

 

[gramma2jaakk]

Since I was at the vets today with Sally, I asked our vet about the cost to have one of them PTS. She said they haven't ever done a rat, but have done other exotics and said it usually runs $35 to $50. We had a long conversation about it.

It is priced according to the weight of the animal. A dog or a cat could be from $150 to $200, depending on the size.

I got teary-eyed talking about it. Neal says I keep my heart too close to the surface. And then the vet also got tears, then admits that she recently had to put her own cat down. She was going to let him decide when he was ready to go, and she said he went downhill quickly. He went from bad to worse in 2 hours, so knew he was ready.

When I have to have one of the girls put down, they will also give me a little plaster paw print. She said it is something they do for the owners to help ease our minds that we were doing the best thing for the animal.

 

[jorats]

It's really a good idea to have that talk with your vet before it's actually time. People aren't very rational when they have a very sick rat needing to be put down.

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

Whew who knew that the costs of putting an animal to sleep would be so varied!! :gaah:
I swear that my vet see's $$ signs when I walk through the door. :redhot:
I wish there was a vet that would be more caring and compassionate when an owner of a small pet needs to be PTS.
I cried my eyes out with Sonora and Whisper and the vet seemed to care but then we had to fork over $150.00 before I could leave.
How much does a little gas and a shot REALLY cost? Anyone know? I bet it would be less than $10.00.
Sad and poor in Toronto....

 

[Rissa]

You do have to consider the vet needs to pay for the cost of their receptionist, the vet techs, the building, the utilities, etc etc.

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

Yeah I know but in the last two years I have paid well over $6000 for my animals and I am one family.
I know they have HUNDREDS of patients.
Maybe it's just the cost of living in Toronto but it still burns my butt that it is so expensive.
Every animal deserves the right to have excelent vet care no matter if it is a cat, dog, rat or other small animal.
It is my responsibility but I've learned my lesson (the hard way)that having alot of animals is going to cost ALOT of $$ :doh: .