Definition

The word Euthanasia comes from Old-Greek:

• 'Eu' comes from Eury meanning general, wide, total,
• 'thana' comes from Thanatos, the Old Greeks God of Death,
• 'si' is the suffix meanning method.

Euthanasia is thus a method to give the death by a certain and total way.

The word is used to distinguish medical puttings to death from murders.
Theoritically, thus:

• An euthanasia is a mild death, made in the interest of a victim, to stop his sufferrings.
• A murder is a violent death which is supposed to benefit to the one who make it (temporarly in the main).

Why/How

On animals it is used for the following reasons:

1. Put an end to the sufferings of an irretrieveably wounded one or an incurable sufferer,
2. Destroy a non-wanted litter when we were unable/didn't know how to avoid the pregancy,
3. Eliminate an adulte animal when we don't know how to deal with, to avoid him hopeless and useless sufferings.

Do not try to do it yourself, even using a method which seems correct to you.
You can't guarantee that  'all will be well done':

• Is you method fast enough?
• You can't be certain that your method is painless,
• You may hurt if the act is interrupted before its end,
• You may hurt yourself too if the animal struggles, bites and scratches you,
• You may expose other ones if the animal gets to escape.

Let professionnals taking tidily the charge of this dirty job:

The veterinarian make an injection in a vein.

A general anesthesia may be done, but it is rare: The death is instantaneous when there is no problem (very main case).

The injection is difficult in youngs and new-borns veins because they are very thin.
It happens thus in their heart.
This is painful.
Thus, if possible, anaesthetize them before, by putting them in a waterproof box or a cardboard box containing a cloth or some cotton soaked with chloroform or ether (Warning: ether is extremely explosive).

Be kind with them, including the mother in the babies case.

Euthanasia is always a difficult act for the one who bring the animal to the veterinarian as for the veterinarian himself.

That's why we recommend the sterilisation to avoid non wanted new-borns.
 
For the others, by mercy, do not let anymore your Pets reaching this point:

Abandonned bitch eaten alive by Mange on Tahiti Island.