Tagged as NSFW because triggering topics.
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How do we know that when we put animals down it won’t hurt them? Like how can we be sure animals aren’t in pain if they can’t speak?
Mainly asking because I saw a 2 sentence horror story saying they can and now I’m irrationally worried. I could never imagine hurting my kitty ever and really just worried about the hypothetical.
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In some cases we know from trying it on humans. The most common compounds used to put animals down are barbiturates, which are also used as sleeping medicine. In higher doses they lead to a loss of consciousness and loss of breathing. Barbiturates are also used to kill humans, as a lethal injection for the death penalty or assisted suicide. Another chemical used for this is potassium-chloride, which induces hyperkalemia (hyper meaning high, kalium standing for potassium, and – emia meaning presence in blood), which prevents muscles from contracting, including the heart. Aside from euthanasia this is also used to stop a patient’s breathing and heartbeat if surgery requires this.
Whilst those two methods basically put the patient to sleep without them ever waking up again, there are other methods considered painless where the patient stays consious, like shooting, snapping the neck, decapitation, or gassing. Those methods aren’t used for pets though. The first 3 are often used for lifestock intended for consumption, as there are no chemicals involved that could ruin the meat. Shooting is also the preferred option for injured wildlife that could still injure someone. Gassing is often used to kill large groups of animals, especially when disease is involved. The downsides to all these 4 methods is that while painfree the animal might still sense that something is wrong and be scared.
Sorry if that was long and rather technical
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