General Care Discussion :: Putting turtle out of its misery

[PcBuilder14]

Why are you 2 saying to bite your tongue, tell me waht you think I figured at least a few of you would be mad at me, I can tke it!

[jacqui]

we understand we just dont want the turtle to suffer, and I know you dont. I think doing the job yourself would be horrible for you and the turtle.

[PcBuilder14]

Yeah I know for sure I wasn't going to do it. My mom said to get my dad to do it so I won't know or see how it died but I will either call tomorrow or Monday.

[littlecakes]

I'm glad that you are going to try calling vet's offices. Even if your father were to be the one to kill your turtle and not you, for your beloved turtle, it would be horrific either way. With vet assisted euthanization generally they give a sedative or something that numbs the brain, then something that stops the heart beat. It us supposed to be the least traumatic and least painful way to die.
And although some others have suggested lying about finding the turtle, I would suggest the honesty is the best policy way. If you can't find a vet that is affordable to your family, tell them how old you are, how much this would mean to you, and that you are desperately asking for help. If you just tell them you found it, they may just take it away and you will never know what happened to him. Or they might even turn you away or refer you to animal control.
If your parents do not want to pay for the visit, maybe you can coax them by telling them it can be in exchange for your next birthday or for christmas or something, extra chores......

[littlecakes]

Oh, I just found someone online that works at Texas A&M in Texarkana that is a professor of Biology and is an Editor of Herpetological Conservation and Biology I'm going to email him and see if he can recommend a vet that knows about turtles that would be willing to see you and your turtle. Texarkana is close to you right?

[PcBuilder14]

Yes, about 20 miles, that's where we buy all our stuff including turtles.

[littlecakes]

Well, let's see if this guy will email me back and have good info for you. I will PM you if he does.

[PcBuilder14]

ok, thanks!

[Bumby's Mom]

I am just going to put this out there for everyone and I really don't care who gets mad over it. If you can't afford to take care of animals DON"T GET THEM. It is not fair to the animal that they have to suffer and if you aren't willing to sacrifice money for the animals needs then you don't need them. Does anyone think I like spending several hundreds of dollars when I take my duck to the vet? Or spend over $200 trying to save an animal only to be told it can't be saved? I do it because I have to because it is what the animal needs and deserves. If the turtle is sick you should contact a wildlife rehabber or a humane society of some sort and surrender the animal to their care.

[Nettle]

@Bumby's Mom: Perfectly understandable, but if you don't have the money, then nothing can be done about it. Point blank. There's nothing "willing" about it.

If everybody was forced to give up an animal because they couldn't afford some outrageously expensive vet trip, then I'm sure a good half of the people on this forum would no longer have any need to be here.

[Lucky and Lucy Tortuga]

hey there, I say you go with the "drop it off at the vet" route. PLEASE. having a doctor do it is humane.

[imderanged]

I used to work for a vet, and this sort of thing came up more often then you might think. They usually didn't charge much at all for this kind of service, if anything at all. We has a kid bring in a little wild shrew he found on the ground. I guess a cat got it or something, cause it was pretty bad off. The dock used a little bit of the same stuff we used for dogs and cats to end it. If all that is left for this little guy is suffering, then this is what needs to be done. I am confused though, this vet that is across the street from the petstore, he wouldn't see the turtle in the first place?

[taylor_a]

There are plenty of ways to humanely euthanize an animal that don't involve an injection from a vet (double pithing, for example). However, these methods are so easily botched, especially if you have no experience with them whatsoever. With a botched job, you end up having the animal die extremely painfully and slowly, and can be considered animal cruelty.
I'm a zoology major and while we learned some of the techniques for lab physiology purposes, students were never allowed to personally euthanize the animals we were to use, only the professors were.

[raverqueenage]

It isn't really the money that's the problem for me its just that I don't have any money.

Um, wow, let me re-read this a couple times to try and make sense of it....


If you have no money at all....THAT IS THE PROBLEM.




Am I wrong? Anyone?

[zoologist]

No you're not wrong.

PCbuilder, i think that you just don't want the animal any more *which you have admited in other posts*, and killing it is the easist and guilt free way for you. saying that it is too sick to live is NOT your call.
take it to a vet and spend whatever you need to to take care of this guy. you got the turtle, you need to be responsible for it now!
if you don't even want to spend money on the poor guy then why do you care how it goes? just throw it in a river, let it go in your back yard. why does it matter? you don't want to spend money.
Save up that money! cause boy, you know that money buys everything! perhaps even a new heathly turtle that you can abandon when it gets sick too.