Most humane method of euthanasia?

My boy is getting worse quickly and I don't know if he will be coming home from his vet appointment on Friday. He is losing a lot of weight, though still eating, he is very thin and I can feel his spine. A few days ago he started eating with one paw, today he was having trouble eating with either paw. His breathing is getting louder. I watched his brother suffer until the end (he couldn't eat, was skin and bones, dehydrated, cold, couldn't move far) with the same thing and I can't watch him get to that point and suffer too. So if the vet doesn't think he can get better from this, he is 3 years old, we'll have to let him go. It kills me.

I've never had to euthanize a rat before, they've always slipped away in their sleep. What is the most humane way for the vet to do it? I don't want him to be in any pain when or right before he goes. I feel like the gas anaesthetic would scare him and I don't want him to be scared. Can they do it the way they do dogs and just give him medicine and he slowly slips away as I hold him? Or is it better to just bring him home and let him pass at home when he's ready?

I just need to be prepared and make sure he doesn't get a needle to the heart or something else that is inhumane.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. It's always a hard decision. But he's an old rat and this is your last gift to him.
My vet uses a sedative, then gas and then a needle to the heart. Rats really need to be gassed first. Please insist on this. The needle prick to the heart or stomach is very painful.

My vet euthanizes like jorats does.

There is the sedative or gas then the IP injection but its best to ask your vet the procedure they use.

Mine does the sedation first, mine checked to make sure if they felt anything or not by pinching their toes really hard. If they still did then they would gas them and keep checking until the felt certain they could do the injection without the rat feeling it.

See this : http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7652


Vet gives the gas + oxygen mix used for surgery.
(I am allowed to hold and comfort my rat throughout the entire procedure, from start until they have passed away)

Vet will test reflexes - toes, eye etc to ensure no response/ deeply unconscious
Once the rat is deeply unconscious from the gas + oxygen mix, even more deeply unconscious then required for surgery,
then the rat is injected with the same medicine used to put dogs and cats to sleep.
My vet injects into the abdomen or the liver

Important! - your rat stays unconscious and breathing in the gas + oxygen mixture until s/he has stopped breathing and their heat has stopped beating as verified by the vet checking twice, a few minutes apart.

Make sure you discuss all of this with the vet before hand. Most vets do not know how to do it properly.
Try to be in the room, for your rattie and for your own peace of mind.
If you are not allowed in the room then watch from the doorway .... I have had some bad experiences with vets in the past

Never allow a conscious rat to be injected with the med used to put them to sleep
For rats with breathing problems, the gas + oxygen mix will actually help them to breath better because of the oxygen.

In answer to your question, it is better to be humanely put to sleep then to die gasping for breath - that is a horrible way to die

so very sorry

I've always insisted that my rats receive the sleeping gas/oxygen prior to any injection and my vet uses a small animal mask to allow the rat's head to slip inside this and breathe the gas mixture so that I can still hold/pet them while they slip into unconsciousness with the sleeping gas. Only when they are unconscious (same as the other post; the toes are pinched to ensure that they are truly out cold) do they get the injection. The gas/oxygen continues to get administered until the vet uses the stethescope to state that the heart has stopped beating. I know, like many others here, how hard a decision this is to make; your heart sobs. And yet, you know in your heart that you'd rather see them go more easily, with help, than to suffer a slow, agonizing natural death that far too often takes its time. Sometimes the body just won't give up when the rat's spirit is more than ready to go. They let you know when they want your help. You'll see it in their eyes. My heart goes out to you; we only ever want what is best for them, no matter how much our own heart may break in the process of making this decision. Blessings to you at this difficult time.