Prices/Costs and what to do when your horse needs to be PTS?

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little_mistress13

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I am thinking of the future and wouldn't have a clue if it came down to my horse suffering and needed to be PTs.

I have read different ways such as the slaughter house, vets etc.

How much does it cost to send it off the slaughter?
Do you have it PTS then ship it off or ship it off and then do it there??
If a vet PTS then what do you do with the body if you don't send it to slaughter?


(I don't mean anything like cremations and burials)
 
There isn't much you can do with corpses other than cremation or sometimes burial. You don't have to have individual cremation or have the ashes back, which cost more.

You can sometimes donate corpses to the hunt or a zoo but they will not necessarily want or need one at the time you wish to dispose. The horse will need to have been shot.

If you send to slaughter you take the horse to the abattoire and they are killed there. They pay you for the meat. But this is an option open to very few horses.

Obviously its not suitable for emergency PTS. Neither is it an option for horses signed out of the food chain, which any horse with a generic passport will be (those passports arrive with the page pre-signed by the PIO). Any owner can sign the horse out of the food chain and subsequent owners can't sign them back in. If your horse needs certain drugs and you want to go ahead with treatment you will need the horse signed out of the food chain.
 
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I have them put down at home by the vet, near their buddies so that they are calm, and their friends know what's happened, and then get the body removed by the people the vet uses. Vet organises the removal, and the cost is added to the final vet bill.
 
I would never send a horse off to slaughter. They are PTS at home by the vet. Alternatively, you can get the hunt to come and shoot them at home and take away the body.
 
Personally I would never send them to slaughter either. However my preferred option is the knackerman, or slaughterman, at home. They then dispose of the body for you. Round here it costs about £100. The reason I use them is not cost but the fact that they are by far the most experienced at this and they always do a quick, quiet job which the horse knows nothing about.

Remember the hunt can't use them if there are any drugs in the system. And my own experience of injecting by a vet was not good at all. But that's just what happened to mine. Either way I will continue to use the slaughterman at home.
 
Personally I would never send to slaughter or get the "knackerman" round. I have only had to PTS one of mine so far - PTS by injection by vet and got our local farmer down with his digger to dig a hole in the corner of our field, then bury the horse. This is the method I will continue to do.
 
I have had horses put down by lethal injection and then taken away for a group cremation which cost near on £600 and that was the cheapest options with the injection. I had one shot as it was the only option for him and it cost £264 including shooting and cremation (no ashes back) Theses are the only 2 options I would consider for my horses.
 
Auslander said:
I have them put down at home by the vet, near their buddies so that they are calm, and their friends know what's happened, and then get the body removed by the people the vet uses. Vet organises the removal, and the cost is added to the final vet bill.
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This, but the removal people in my area invoice us directly. I take a lock of mane and tail and that's it.
We had our first pony cremated and that's £600 sitting under my bed and used as a stool for the old dog to hop up and down on.

All my other have hair in a frame with a picture.
 
It cost £85 to have Poppy PTS by the hunt last year. They came, did the necessary and took the body. (She was a small 11.1 tho so costs but more for larger). I'm still debating what to do with my older boy when his time comes. He's a bit needle phobic, but I want to be there as I've had him 20yrs so far and want to say goodbye. Not sure I could cope with the finality of a bullet.
 
I had my old boy pts by injection by the vet and then an individual cremation with his ashes back which set us back about £900.
Hopefully, as my mare is only 10, her time is a very long way away, but does worry me sometimes as she is VERY vet and needle phobic but the thought of having her shot makes me feel ill. I REALLY don't know what I will do when her time comes.
 
Emby said:
I had my old boy pts by injection by the vet and then an individual cremation with his ashes back which set us back about £900.
Hopefully, as my mare is only 10, her time is a very long way away, but does worry me sometimes as she is VERY vet and needle phobic but the thought of having her shot makes me feel ill. I REALLY don't know what I will do when her time comes.
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I like you did not want to have my horse shot but he was so bad for the vet we had no option but to have him shot. It was so quick and humane and not at all traumatic for him which at the end of the day is the main thing for me. Had we even attempted to have him done by injection it would have been so distressful for everyone involved, I like them to go as peacefully as possible. My first choice would always been injection but I wouldn't hesitate to have one shot should I need to. I didn't stay and I don't feel bad because I was so distraught at the thought of losing him I was shaking and again I didn't want to upset him. So I said my goodbyes and gave him to my friend, the knackersman was lovely feed him loads of polos asked my friend to move the bucket out the way and shot him before she had placed the bucket on the nearby stump. It literally was that quick and painless for him. The guy was so professional and kind.
 
little_mistress13 said:
I am thinking of the future and wouldn't have a clue if it came down to my horse suffering and needed to be PTs.

I have read different ways such as the slaughter house, vets etc.

How much does it cost to send it off the slaughter?
Do you have it PTS then ship it off or ship it off and then do it there??
If a vet PTS then what do you do with the body if you don't send it to slaughter?


(I don't mean anything like cremations and burials)
Click to expand...

Have you now brought a horse op?

(You didn't respond to same question on your last thread about cost of shoeing, nor on the previous one where you were not sure if to buy, as you could not trot on your loan horse, nor on the previous thread about you cantering bareback hat less and barefoot - was that on the small pony you were buying for your niece?)

Whilst your question is a very valid one, it has been covered almost on a monthly basis, I would urge others to post with care, as I think you might be returning to school shortly? Unless your 2 small children prevent you? <sigh>
 
One thing i would NEVER do is send it to the slaughter. It is just cruel to send a horse who has given many years of its life to end up there where it is likely to be terrified and hurt until it is eventually killed, then chopped up. Might be a waste to some, but not to me. I would have a hunts man or vet out to my yard and shoot it and bury it if allowed, if i couldn't bury it i would get it cremated. Id be very reluctant to have injected, i think shot (when done right) is much better.
 
I always have mine done at home twice I have used injection it's less nice for the horse but it was the right thing to do at that moment.
I 'like ' the vet to shoot them followed by the hunt removing the body , I had one buried but found it noisy and undignified performance and won't do it again .
 
Goldenstar said:
I always have mine done at home twice I have used injection it's less nice for the horse but it was the right thing to do at that moment.
I 'like ' the vet to shoot them followed by the hunt removing the body , I had one buried but found it noisy and undignified performance and won't do it again .
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Mine had the hole dug and walked up to it and was shot into it, which i was told was very calm and quick for the horse and no dragging required. He was so out of it anyway. Obviously this can't always happen.
 
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