"Euthanasia" is a Greek word that translates to "good death." The topic of euthanasia is highly controversial and emotional, but it is a daily reality for animal shelters in the United States, including Town Lake Animal Center. Over the last few years, we have had to euthanize just over 50% of the animals that come to the shelter.
We must humanely euthanize dogs, cats and other domestic and exotic animals because no one wants them, and it would be impossible or inhumane to keep them at the shelter indefinitely.
Most of the animals we euthanize are too ill, aggressive, or unsocialized to make good pets, but we also have to euthanize animals with treatable medical or behavioral problems,problems, and some healthy, friendly animals. There simply are not enough good homes for all of the animals we receive.
The shelter takes the responsibility to provide a humane death for injured, ill and unwanted pets very seriously. Our staff is highly trained in the medical procedure of euthanasia, and we serve as a training facility for other shelters and veterinary clinicians.
Humane euthanasia involves minimal restraint of the animal and the intravenous injection of an overdose of anesthetic drug agents. This is the same procedure used by private veterinary clinics. Proper administration of the drugs leads to almost immediate loss of consciousness and total death for most animals within a few minutes. The animals experience no sensation of pain, fear, suffocation, or other stress, and this is the important difference between euthanizing an animal and simply "killing" an animal. If they seem to enjoy human company, they are held, spoken to, and petted in the early stages of the procedure.
Although we certainly would prefer not to have to put any animals to death, we will continue to offer this professional service for animals in the Austin/Travis County area that have no other options. Perhaps someday in the future, our community will do a better job of responsibly managing its pets-socializing and training them, providing them with good veterinary care, keeping them safely contained, preventing unwanted litters, and committing to pets for the animals’ entire life, which would allow us to reduce the number of pets we euthanize. Please help us with this effort!
"Euthanasia" is a Greek word that translates to "good death." The topic of euthanasia is highly controversial and emotional, but it is a daily reality for animal shelters in the United States, including Town Lake Animal Center. Over the last few years, we have had to euthanize just over 50% of the animals that come to the shelter.
Humane euthanasia involves minimal restraint of the animal and the intravenous injection of an overdose of anesthetic drug agents. This is the same procedure used by private veterinary clinics. Proper administration of the drugs leads to almost immediate loss of consciousness and total death for most animals within a few minutes. The animals experience no sensation of pain, fear, suffocation, or other stress, and this is the important difference between euthanizing an animal and simply "killing" an animal. If they seem to enjoy human company, they are held, spoken to, and petted in the early stages of the procedure.