Do any of you keep a humane killer / gun at home just in case?

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pennyturner

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As above really.

With 11 equines under my care, it has often occurred to me that it would be sensible to have a way of PTS immediately for the nightmare scenario of an extreme accident. Might take hours to get a vet.

In the past I believe many YO's had a hand gun 'just in case' but of course UK law no longer allows.
Have thought about a humane killer but I believe they require more skill, so personally not comfortable.

Has anyone else given this some thought, or (*cringing*), had experience?
 
pennyturner said:
As above really.

With 11 equines under my care, it has often occurred to me that it would be sensible to have a way of PTS immediately for the nightmare scenario of an extreme accident. Might take hours to get a vet.

In the past I believe many YO's had a hand gun 'just in case' but of course UK law no longer allows.
Have thought about a humane killer but I believe they require more skill, so personally not comfortable.

Has anyone else given this some thought, or (*cringing*), had experience?
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Heavens no you have to know how to use such a thing and be experianced at doing it .
You can shot a horse with a shotgun ( which we have ) but I would never consider trying ( I would be more likely to kill one qiuckly with a kitchen knife )
If your with a good equine pracise you should never have to wait hours they have be able to attend cilents in emergency within a certain time I can't remember what but its certainly not hours .
If your lucky enough to be in a hunting area that's another way you might be able to get someone to you quick so the kennel number is worth having to hand .
If I could not get a vet or the kennels my next call would be one of our friends whose a cattle farmer they all shoot stock when its needful .
 
I would have thought you would need a licence for humane killer. OH has a two shot guns, but dont think he could do it, he has them for clayshooting.
 
I wouldn't know how to use one and would be afraid of making things worse to be honest.
I'd presume you'd still need a license for a humane killer. There have been cases of them being used on humans :/
Also, do you not need to have a bit of a poke about after shooting with a humane killer, or did I dream that part?

I like the idea of being able to end suffering quickly, but wouldn't have the skill or bottle to do it. I couldn't even finish off a pigeon that I hit in my van but didn't quite kill :(
 
we do as other half is a farmer, so if Buddy ever needed immediate slaughter then my partner is on hand. he got a 410
 
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Using a humane killer is a very skilled thing and not one anyone can do. Even the experts get it wrong sometimes, which means a second attempt is required. It is also potentially a very dangerous thing to do and can put the handler at risk of inury or death.
So my answer would be 'no' - call all your local vets in the event of an emergency and cover all their call out fees - paying the first one to do the sad deed.

Most times when there is a catastrophic inury adrenalin will cover the horse's pain for a time.
 
I have the local knackerman's number in my phone and his card in the feed room - he does a 24 hour service and certainly wouldn't make you wait hours.
OH has called him in the middle of the night to attend animal related rta's and he's always available and prompt.

I do think it's sensible to have a plan - but probably a more practical one than DIY for me.
 
I don't think I could bring myself to do it; I can't even kill a mixy rabbit (Even though I really want to put it out of it's misery) let alone my horse.
 
The longest we have had to wait for a real emergency out of hours call has been 20-30 minutes. That's not much longer than walking from field to house, getting kit and returning.

I'd be mortified if my YO used one on my horse, I would want the euthanasia carried out by someone skilled and very used to using it on horses.
 
MerrySherryRider said:
The longest we have had to wait for a real emergency out of hours call has been 20-30 minutes. That's not much longer than walking from field to house, getting kit and returning.

I'd be mortified if my YO used one on my horse, I would want the euthanasia carried out by someone skilled and very used to using it on horses.
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a horse is no different to a cow (shooting wise)...if in pain or unwell a farmer will shoot cows and sheep..why is a horse different?
 
I would only ever let someone v. experienced at shooting large animals do so. I wouldn't even want auth vet to do it as they do it so infrequently and have minimal training. Hubby carries firearms for work and does dispose of animals but would only ask him to do so in extreme circumstances. I'd always go with hunt or vet (injection).
 
I had to wait for nearly an hour for my vet to arrive when my boy needed to be pts. Holding a stressed, terrified pony in the pitch black who kept trying to walk on a compound fracture to his near side hind cannon and splint I can tell you it was the longest hour of my life. I'd have done anything to set him free sooner... I was in shock though and probably not thinking straight so would have been no good even if I decided to act.
 
buddy's mummy said:
we do as other half is a farmer, so if Buddy ever needed immediate slaughter then my partner is on hand. he got a 410
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I wouldn't want to try killing a horse with a 410 (or any shotgun ideally) it probably wouldn't make a clean kill and would make a heck of a mess of the animal.
OH has a firearms licence and various rifles which would be better.

But horses are very hard animals to kill cleanly. The front of the skull is very hard and if you tried to shoot a horse close range with a shotgun you'd more than likely just get some ricochet back into your own face and a badly injured horse.

Half killing a suffering animal is worse than leaving it in the original pain so I'm afraid I'd wait for the vet, unless they couldn't get there (unlikely) in which case if get instructions over the phone from the vet on how best to try and achieve a clean kill.
 
Thank you everyone for contributing to this thread. I don't know where else I would go to get such level headed discussion.

As far as I am aware there is no licence required for a captive bolt gun. I think they're usually used for on-site destruction of cattle, perhaps with pithing also, but I think I read somewhere that it's harder to get the placement right for horses.

I'm not particularly squeamish, and have destroyed small animals and chickens, but I don't think I would know whether I could actually do it unless faced with the situation. The reason I've given it thought is that I'd hate to feel that I'd prolonged suffering through lack of preparation.

The point about the knackerman is a good one. Ours is superb, but I hadn't considered him as an emergency service.

The one time we needed him, our vet was on site at 9.30pm on a Sunday within 10 minutes. At the time, he lived only a couple of miles away, but I still have to give him credit.
 
Love said:
I had to wait for nearly an hour for my vet to arrive when my boy needed to be pts. Holding a stressed, terrified pony in the pitch black who kept trying to walk on a compound fracture to his near side hind cannon and splint I can tell you it was the longest hour of my life. I'd have done anything to set him free sooner... I was in shock though and probably not thinking straight so would have been no good even if I decided to act.
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Oh Love, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through. I'm so sorry if this thread has caused you any distress.
 
pennyturner said:
Oh Love, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through. I'm so sorry if this thread has caused you any distress.
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No honestly please don't worry! It was 2 years ago so I'm fine sharing it now. There was a minuscule chance it would heal if the miracle had happened that no infection had got in the open wound to the bones. But it meant cross tieing for months on end which could cause pneumonia etc. He hated being in. Letting him go was actually the easiest decision I've ever made
 
We have a number of guns at home, a couple would be suitable to shoot a horse. I couldn't do it though. There's not much I couldn't/wouldn't do but I just know I wouldn't be able to shoot my horses. My husband says in an emergency he would do it for me but tbh I have enough drugs in the house to be able to keep most horses painfree for as long as it takes for the vet to get here.
 
ester said:
I don't think you'd be allowed bottles of injection either....
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Luckily my dad always has a bottle in his car (vet) so neither of mine had to wait long.

My dad once handed me some pieces of paper he thought I would find interesting. They were on how to shoot a horse (where exactly to aim etc). Even if I had them next to me for reference, I would never consider doing it myself.

Not only would messing it up be unbelievably harrowing, but you would then have half a tonne of injured and terrified animal on your hands. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
 
alliersv1 said:
Also, do you not need to have a bit of a poke about after shooting with a humane killer, or did I dream that part?

I like the idea of being able to end suffering quickly, but wouldn't have the skill or bottle to do it. I couldn't even finish off a pigeon that I hit in my van but didn't quite kill :(
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Yes its called pithing I believe. You put something like an egg whisk into the brain cavity and give it a twirl. Just to make sure the brain stem is dead. I think they do it when they have a lot of animals to pts in case they haven't done the job properly but may be wrong there as when I saw "Kill it, Cook it, Eat it" they cut their throats after they were stunned so not sure. Don't even know if a stunner they use in slaughter houses makes a hole or just smashes against the skull. But recent posts on here refering to humane killers have had people say that you can no longer pts a horse with a humane killer (if you ever could).

Alec Swann is the best person to ask.
 
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suestowford said:
Yes to this. When a horse got hit by a car on the main road near us it ran for nearly a mile on three good legs and one broken one. That must have been adrenalin kicking in.
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Yes my boy Miki had an open (compound) fracture of the tibia and yet he still managed to whinny when he saw me when I stumbled down the field to say goodbye before the vet arrived. If I hadn't seen his leg with bone and all I would have sworn there was nothing wrong with him. In fact the only damn pain he felt was when the vet managed to c**k up the job by having to shoot him twice. Dreadful job. If the vets can't get it right i am damn sure I wouldn't be able to.
 
I would not personally want to do the job.

But very sadly when the vets from two different practices called failed to turn up to a horrendous road traffic accident with a horse from our yard. The yard owner asked the police if he could go back to the house and get his rifle (deer stalking type don’t know the size) put the poor horse out of its misery double broken front legs and still trying to get up. Everyone was in total shock and the police were wonderful in doing what they could poor horse. YO had to shoot the horse luckily he is a very good shot and the horse was done in one. Worse for me was the vets called NEVER came.
 
it's not something i would want to do unless i had been shown how to do properly, I'm not squeamish and do a bit of rabbit and small vermin shooting but i would not want to get it wrong with a large animal like a horse. i have the hunts number in my mobile plus 2 vets, i would hope that at least 1 of the 3 would be on site within 30 mins max if needed
 
Festive-Fen said:
I would not personally want to do the job.

But very sadly when the vets from two different practices called failed to turn up to a horrendous road traffic accident with a horse from our yard. The yard owner asked the police if he could go back to the house and get his rifle (deer stalking type don’t know the size) put the poor horse out of its misery double broken front legs and still trying to get up. Everyone was in total shock and the police were wonderful in doing what they could poor horse. YO had to shoot the horse luckily he is a very good shot and the horse was done in one. Worse for me was the vets called NEVER came.
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That is my worst nightmare. In the end, presumably, the police would have called in a firearms officer, but how long would that take?
 
applecart14 said:
Yes its called pithing I believe. You put something like an egg whisk into the brain cavity and give it a twirl. Just to make sure the brain stem is dead. I think they do it when they have a lot of animals to pts in case they haven't done the job properly but may be wrong there as when I saw "Kill it, Cook it, Eat it" they cut their throats after they were stunned so not sure. Don't even know if a stunner they use in slaughter houses makes a hole or just smashes against the skull. But recent posts on here refering to humane killers have had people say that you can no longer pts a horse with a humane killer (if you ever could).

Alec Swann is the best person to ask.
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Stunners do just that - render the animal unconcious electrically and then slitting the throat kills them.
 
A 410 would NOT do the job,it would only further injure a horse. Where would you shoot it with a shotgun, a head shot?

The rifle - for hunting deer - would be OK, if you know where to aim.

Re the non-showing vets at the car accident - how terrible for everyone and lucky that the YO had a suitable gun.

We had a large steer shot by the vet here that had broken its leg and she had to "pith" it as well. All a bit grusome.
 
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