Euthanization - Best course of action?

[Condawg]

A few months ago, I screwed up big time with my leopard gecko.
I made some bad decisions, mostly consisting of "His worms are all gone... I'll wait until I go out with my brother to get some more," and putting it near the back of my mind like that.
I didn't take action, and my brother and I didn't end up hanging out. I can't drive, but I should have said something.

Regardless, he was in pretty bad condition, and Lena, having more experience, has been taking care of him since.
She's told me that he's in critical condition now, and he'll probably have to be euthanized.
She told me that I could put him in the fridge for a bit until he's in a coma, and then freeze him, and it shouldn't hurt him, but I've read that it might be painful in the final seconds, and I want him to go as peacefully as possible.
What's the best course of action here?

Should I take him to the vet? Have I been misinformed about the freezing, and that would work fine without harming him?

Thank you.

 

[Redleg]

Yes, take him to the Vet, they have the ability to make the process less painful for the leo, or any animal

 

[t04jas]

So, you starved him? The least you can do for him now is have a vet put him down as painlessly as possible, even if it does cost you a few bucks. Don't you think you owe him that at least?

A few months ago, I screwed up big time with my leopard gecko.
I made some bad decisions, mostly consisting of "His worms are all gone... I'll wait until I go out with my brother to get some more," and putting it near the back of my mind like that.
I didn't take action, and my brother and I didn't end up hanging out. I can't drive, but I should have said something.

Regardless, he was in pretty bad condition, and Lena, having more experience, has been taking care of him since.
She's told me that he's in critical condition now, and he'll probably have to be euthanized.
She told me that I could put him in the fridge for a bit until he's in a coma, and then freeze him, and it shouldn't hurt him, but I've read that it might be painful in the final seconds, and I want him to go as peacefully as possible.
What's the best course of action here?

Should I take him to the vet? Have I been misinformed about the freezing, and that would work fine without harming him?

Thank you.

 

[sleepyjones]

Never heard the fridge thing, but although it might not hurt the gecko, I don't imagine he'll enjoy it much ... it's a cold blooded creature and your putting him in a cold place.

Im not sure if it's a relevant comparison, but people are warm blooded creatures, and I wouldn't like to be put in an warm oven to die.

If it comes to that, get him to the vet who'll give him some gas.

I think your brave for posting this in here, you might expect some abuse.

 

[Condawg]

So, you starved him? The least you can do for him now is have a vet put him down as painlessly as possible, even if it does cost you a few bucks. Don't you think you owe him that at least?

I wasn't complaining at all about the cost, but I've heard from a few places online that the vet will just do the same thing.
With that said, I guess it would be better for a professional to do it either way. I've got to find a vet that handles reptiles, though.
I think Lena had one that she took her bearded dragon to a few months ago. I'll ask her about it later today, if I remember.

EDIT:

I think your brave for posting this in here, you might expect some abuse.

I get enough of it as it is from my brother, but I hope that the members of this forum can see that I'm just asking for advice, not judgment.
I realize I screwed up, and now I'm just asking for the best course of action.

 

[sleepyjones]

I worry that you not only starved it, but didn't water it, clean it or anything.

If you went to change the water, or even check the water, or clean the tank, remove feces etc, surely it would have reminded you "Oh, I need to get food", but you still didn't get food so I assume you didn't do any of these things.

Live food isn't hard to get, there are plenty of stores that'll post it to you, check the million listings on ebay, If you no longer wanted the gecko, or couldn't support it you should have given it away earlier, or even sold it and got back a few bucks.

"I forgot", or "We didn't hang out" is not an excuse

Stuff like this makes me so angry


The best course of action is take him to the vet, get the vet to check him over, and see what the vets advice is.

 

[Condawg]

I worry that you not only starved it, but didn't water it, clean it or anything.

If you went to change the water, or even check the water, or clean the tank, remove feces etc, surely it would have reminded you "Oh, I need to get food", but you still didn't get food so I assume you didn't do any of these things.

Live food isn't hard to get, there are plenty of stores that'll post it to you, check the million listings on ebay, If you no longer wanted the gecko, or couldn't support it you should have given it away earlier, or even sold it and got back a few bucks.

"I forgot", or "We didn't hang out" is not an excuse

Stuff like this makes me so angry


The best course of action is take him to the vet, get the vet to check him over, and see what the vets advice is.

I still changed the water and cleaned the tank and stuff, but he was looking fine for a while, so I figured that he would be alright until I could get out.

As for ordering it off the Internet, I had cash, but I didn't have money in my bank account at the time. I figured, I'd have to put the money in my bank account, wait a day for that to process, then order it and wait like, four days for it to get here, and that it would just be faster for me to go out and get it when I could.

There was lots of substrate in the container that the worms were in, so it was hard to tell how many there were left. And every time before that, when I needed food for the guy, things would line up and I would get it. However, I failed to take the action necessary that time to get the food to him on time.

And I'm not trying to use those things as excuses.
I know that I screwed up. It's all my fault, nobody else's, and it's not the fault of any situation. I was in the wrong state of mind about the situation at hand, and I should have been thinking things through a little better. Don't know why I didn't, but I didn't, and now he's losing his life because of my mistake.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.
I'll get to the vet as soon as I can.

 

[sleepyjones]

Oh well ... chalk it down as a lesson learned.

You never know, you may still able to turn it around with expert advice.

Good luck

 

[Riyo]

I still changed the water and cleaned the tank and stuff, but he was looking fine for a while, so I figured that he would be alright until I could get out.

As for ordering it off the Internet, I had cash, but I didn't have money in my bank account at the time. I figured, I'd have to put the money in my bank account, wait a day for that to process, then order it and wait like, four days for it to get here, and that it would just be faster for me to go out and get it when I could.

There was lots of substrate in the container that the worms were in, so it was hard to tell how many there were left. And every time before that, when I needed food for the guy, things would line up and I would get it. However, I failed to take the action necessary that time to get the food to him on time.

And I'm not trying to use those things as excuses.
I know that I screwed up. It's all my fault, nobody else's, and it's not the fault of any situation. I was in the wrong state of mind about the situation at hand, and I should have been thinking things through a little better. Don't know why I didn't, but I didn't, and now he's losing his life because of my mistake.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.
I'll get to the vet as soon as I can.

How long was it without food? Was it healthy before you stopped feeding it? How old is it?

 

[Condawg]

How long was it without food? Was it healthy before you stopped feeding it? How old is it?

It was three or four days, I think.
I don't recall exactly. I remember that I did put some mealworms in there, and they were in there for a bit after I ran out of food, so he didn't have absolutely nothing as soon as I ran out, but they didn't last really long.

As far as I know, it was healthy beforehand. He wasn't always incredibly active or into being handled on a daily basis, but he ate regularly, had a regular shed cycle, and seemed fine.

Not quite sure how old he was. The breeder that I bought him from didn't have that information, so it's hard to pinpoint. He was probably around a year old or so when this occurred.

 

[Riyo]

It was three or four days, I think.
I don't recall exactly. I remember that I did put some mealworms in there, and they were in there for a bit after I ran out of food, so he didn't have absolutely nothing as soon as I ran out, but they didn't last really long.

As far as I know, it was healthy beforehand. He wasn't always incredibly active or into being handled on a daily basis, but he ate regularly, had a regular shed cycle, and seemed fine.

Not quite sure how old he was. The breeder that I bought him from didn't have that information, so it's hard to pinpoint. He was probably around a year old or so when this occurred.

If it was only three or four days then something is not right. That is NOT enough to starve a gecko. :main_no: They are built for going periods of time without food. I've had geckos go off of food for a week or more and they are still quite fine.

 

[sleepyjones]

Three or four days without food wouldn't 'cause too many problems.

Geckos can go longer than that without food when they're ovulating, or breeding.

I thought you were talking about a month or something, which is about the length of time without food that would seriously cause harm to the gecko.

I apologise now for my harshness ... if your talking about starving a leo to the point where Euthanasia is an option that you are considering, then the gecko would have not ate for probably a month at the least!

 

[Riyo]

Three or four days without food wouldn't 'cause too many problems.

Geckos can go longer than that without food when they're ovulating, or breeding.

I thought you were talking about a month or something, which is about the length of time without food that would seriously cause harm to the gecko.

I apologise now for my harshness ... if your talking about starving a leo to the point where Euthanasia is an option that you are considering, then the gecko would have not ate for probably a month at the least!

Depending on the age of the gecko going without food for a few days isn't going to bother it at all. If it was a year old like he said then it would have had no ill effects. The only thing I can think of is if it has some sort of disease or parasite that was already deteriorating it's health. There has to be more to this story.

 

[Condawg]

Well, if there are any other contributing factors, I'm unaware of them.
All I know is that he went a little while without food -- definitely nowhere near a month -- and then he started looking sickly.

I haven't seen him since Lena has been taking care of him.
It's not because I don't care, but apparently he's gotten a lot worse, and even the condition that he was in before he left made me bawl my eyes out.
From what I've been told, his eyes are essentially collapsed into his head, along with some other stuff. We don't talk about it much.

 

[Riyo]

Well, if there are any other contributing factors, I'm unaware of them.
All I know is that he went a little while without food -- definitely nowhere near a month -- and then he started looking sickly.

I haven't seen him since Lena has been taking care of him.
It's not because I don't care, but apparently he's gotten a lot worse, and even the condition that he was in before he left made me bawl my eyes out.
From what I've been told, his eyes are essentially collapsed into his head, along with some other stuff. We don't talk about it much.

My advice would be to take it to the vet, get some fecals done, and try to figure out what is wrong with it. Like I said before, 3 or 4 days without food wouldn't even phase a healthy gecko.

 

[GeckoRing]

I think you are doing the right thing trying to get some advise....we all screw up in life at some time, courage and character is shown when you try to make it right, not hide. That being said, I agree with the other comments, a week without food should not cause these kind of problems. It is most likely something else. Going to a vet would help to find out what the real problem is. A gecko can turn very quickly with some problems, getting immediate help may even save him.

 

[t04jas]

I apologize for my earlier comment, if he only went for 3 or 4 days without food and you were still changing his water and cleaning up after him, the lack of food probably wasn't the main reason he started to look sickly. It sounds as though there may have been an underlying problem that was exacerbated by the lack of food. A trip to the vet may help, if the vet is able to diagnose him you might be able to nurse him back to health. Good luck with him.

Well, if there are any other contributing factors, I'm unaware of them.
All I know is that he went a little while without food -- definitely nowhere near a month -- and then he started looking sickly.

I haven't seen him since Lena has been taking care of him.
It's not because I don't care, but apparently he's gotten a lot worse, and even the condition that he was in before he left made me bawl my eyes out.
From what I've been told, his eyes are essentially collapsed into his head, along with some other stuff. We don't talk about it much.

 

[Alusdra]

He definitely sounds sick from something else. He may still have to be euthanized, but this sounds more like a disease. Like others have said, a couple of days to a gecko is no big deal at all. A vet visit is definitely in order.

As to the euthanasia, it used to be considered ok to do the 'freezing method' but it is NOT. Recent studies have shown that reptiles remain conscious the whole time that they are freezing and that this is very painful.

Cooling—It has been suggested that, when using physical methods of euthanasia in ectothermic species, cooling to 4 C will decrease metabolism and facilitate handling, but there is no evidence that whole body cooling reduces pain or is clinically efficacious. Local cooling in frogs does reduce nociception, and this may be partly opioid mediated. Immobilization of reptiles by cooling is considered inappropriate and inhumane even if combined with other physical or chemical methods of euthanasia. Snakes and turtles, immobilized by cooling, have been killed by subsequent freezing. This method is not recommended. Formation of ice crystals on the skin and in tissues of an animal may cause pain or distress. Quick freezing of deeply anesthetized animals is acceptable.

From AVMA Animal Welfare Site, Guidelines for Euthanasia

Link to the PDF

 

[clarkee_04]

dont make a rash decision, make sure that he cant be salvaged

 

[Wreptile]

dont make a rash decision, make sure that he cant be salvaged

I agree.
Don't euthanize him just because he didn't eat for a few days. If he looks that bad, there is something else wrong.
So take him to the vet to figure it out. Don't euthanize just yet, because there is a very good chance he will survive.