Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Taran:

We've had to do this on several occasions where nothing else worked safely. We have both indoor and outdoor runs with doors that swing both ways, and we use that. The leash is passed through the gap on the side of the door where the hinges are to bring the dog's head to the corner, and then someone slowly and gently pushes the door so that the dog ends up against the fence on one side and the door on the other. If it's a big dog, we will inject from behind, but if it's smaller we can give the injection through the wire of the cage door. 

I would add that we also always try to premedicate these guys with trazodone and Gabapentin, both the night before and the morning of (and sometimes even a third dose if we have to perform euthanasia later in the day) to try and take the scary edge off for them. 

I also remember another doctor performing this with a "regular" door that leads to our exam room, if no wire runs are available. 

Hope this helps. 

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Oh no you didn't come across as judgmental at all! It is incredibly insightful to hear from someone who has used a press-gate in practice. It makes sense that on paper it sounds ideal, but I can see where problems could arise. I don't necessarily have any decision-making or authority to change things, but my department and I are working on our Euthanasia Certification and the general plan is that we will be re-assessing our SOPs and re-training the staff involved in euthanasia. This would include consulting with our on-staff veterinarian on pre-sedation options as well.

Thank you so much! And if you have an SOP for euthanasia (not the decision-making, but the act itself), would you be willing to share? 

Thanks again!

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Taran. I have uploaded a copy of our shelter's euthanasia policy and procedure document. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

As a note, I feel strongly that euthanasia is a medical procedure and that veterinarians should be involved in all policy and procedure conversations. The Certified Euthanasia Technician role in the shelter is important and necessary, especially for shelters that do not have a FT veterinarian on staff. However, veterinarians are the only professionals who have comprehensive training in pharmacology, physiology, appropriate drug selection and use, controlled drug regulations and other considerations. I have come across CETs who do not understand how sedatives and euthanasia drugs actually work or who are not competent in patient assessment, despite being able to reliably "hit a vein". This can easily lead to unnecessary and unacceptable emotional or physical trauma for staff and animals involved in these procedures. All of our CETs are part of the FT medical staff (as assistants or CVTs). Most shelters are (thankfully) no longer euthanizing enough animals for other shelter staff to become technically proficient or maintain proficiency in this procedure, in my opinion. While a veterinarian is not directly involved in every euthanasia procedure performed at our shelter, the program is closely supervised and monitored by veterinary staff. We discuss options, difficulties, planning, drug protocols and adjustments for individual animals, and ensure legal compliance with record-keeping and controlled drug logging.

Anyway, I've gone way beyond your question about safe restraint for dangerous dogs. As may be apparent, I have pretty strong feelings about this topic having seen the good, the bad and the ugly in both private practice and the shelter environment.

Oh no you didn't come across as judgmental at all! It is incredibly insightful to hear from someone who has used a press-gate in practice. It makes sense that on paper it sounds ideal, but I can see where problems could arise. I don't necessarily have any decision-making or authority to change things, but my department and I are working on our Euthanasia Certification and the general plan is that we will be re-assessing our SOPs and re-training the staff involved in euthanasia. This would include consulting with our on-staff veterinarian on pre-sedation options as well.

Thank you so much! And if you have an SOP for euthanasia (not the decision-making, but the act itself), would you be willing to share? 

Thanks again!

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

No worries! I am very excited to work with our vet and rewrite our SOPs, as the whole thing needs some serious revamping…Our current handbook says IP is injected into the liver and nobody questioned it????- The employee that wrote that is no longer employed with us, but supposedly the way things are now are how someone was trained long ago and it just kept getting retrained. Our vet used to be 3, and when she was on/got back from maternity leave the other two left - she is stuck in surgery for the majority of her shifts. They tried to find another vet, but didn't have any luck.

Our shelter is an open-admission shelter and the largest in the area, projected to contract with over 40 jurisdictions next year. Unfortunately, euthanasia is a daily occurrence and pairs of staff are scheduled every day to do the procedure. For staff mental health, we are considering alternating days for euthanasia, so that they aren't being done every day and staff can take a breath.

I am open to any and all suggestions on how to make the procedure as humane, stress free, and smooth flowing as possible for the benefit of the animal, and the staff performing the euthanasia. Our state is very vague regarding who is permitted to do euthanasia, as long as it is under direct supervision of a veterinarian, who does not have to be physically present in the room, but on site if needed.  We have mentioned to the State Board the importance of having some sort of set guidelines that specify who can euthanize, be it CETs, vet tech, vet, or "trained staff" and what that would entail, but who knows if they will actually implement that. 

Within the next few months we are going to put together our new SOP, outline changes to handling, drugs, drug security, etc. and present it to our executive director for approval. The entire process will involve our Veterinarian, as she has the knowledge, experience, and DEA license!

Hi Taran. I have uploaded a copy of our shelter's euthanasia policy and procedure document. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

As a note, I feel strongly that euthanasia is a medical procedure and that veterinarians should be involved in all policy and procedure conversations. The Certified Euthanasia Technician role in the shelter is important and necessary, especially for shelters that do not have a FT veterinarian on staff. However, veterinarians are the only professionals who have comprehensive training in pharmacology, physiology, appropriate drug selection and use, controlled drug regulations and other considerations. I have come across CETs who do not understand how sedatives and euthanasia drugs actually work or who are not competent in patient assessment, despite being able to reliably "hit a vein". This can easily lead to unnecessary and unacceptable emotional or physical trauma for staff and animals involved in these procedures. All of our CETs are part of the FT medical staff (as assistants or CVTs). Most shelters are (thankfully) no longer euthanizing enough animals for other shelter staff to become technically proficient or maintain proficiency in this procedure, in my opinion. While a veterinarian is not directly involved in every euthanasia procedure performed at our shelter, the program is closely supervised and monitored by veterinary staff. We discuss options, difficulties, planning, drug protocols and adjustments for individual animals, and ensure legal compliance with record-keeping and controlled drug logging.

Anyway, I've gone way beyond your question about safe restraint for dangerous dogs. As may be apparent, I have pretty strong feelings about this topic having seen the good, the bad and the ugly in both private practice and the shelter environment.

Oh no you didn't come across as judgmental at all! It is incredibly insightful to hear from someone who has used a press-gate in practice. It makes sense that on paper it sounds ideal, but I can see where problems could arise. I don't necessarily have any decision-making or authority to change things, but my department and I are working on our Euthanasia Certification and the general plan is that we will be re-assessing our SOPs and re-training the staff involved in euthanasia. This would include consulting with our on-staff veterinarian on pre-sedation options as well.

Thank you so much! And if you have an SOP for euthanasia (not the decision-making, but the act itself), would you be willing to share? 

Thanks again!

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hi Rachel, 

Thank you for sharing information about your oral pre-medications.  We do a similar combination (gaba + traz + ace) and have had good results, but are using closer to 15-30mg/kg gabapentin.  How are you administering the 100mg/kg gabapentin?  It seems like at that dose a 50lb dog would receive 2,273mg a gaba; even with 400mg capsules, that's 5-6 capsules depending on whether you round up or not. Combined with the rest of the cocktail, that's 12-13 capsules/tablets and, of course, quite a bit more for a large dog.   We have mixed results with really aggressive/anxious/fearful dogs even getting the 5-6 capsules in reliably.  

I would love to know a couple of things- 
Do you find a significantly improved level of sedation with this high level of gaba? I know gaba is quite safe, but have you seen any negative reactions with this dose?

What is your secret recipe for hiding this number capsules- we routinely keep wet food (dog and cat), hot dogs, cream cheese and squeeze cheese in our arsenal but are always looking for good recommendations for these circumstances.  

Thank you!

Lauren

Hi Taran, there are no perfect solutions here. While I have used press gates or squeeze chutes to restrain potentially dangerous animals many times over 20+ years, I find myself myself utilizing this technique less and less. It is extremely stressful and potentially dangerous for both the animals and humans involved, even when the people involved are trained and competent, which is part of why you can't find resources or videos demonstrating their use. The level of struggle and panic it induces in the animal often results in broken toenails or teeth, gouge marks on walls and floors, urination/defecation and other complications. It is not a good look for veterinarians, staff or animal welfare agencies and not in keeping with the trend to recognize and reduce FAS in the animals we care for.  

I have found that oral sedation (we use 100mg/kg gabapentin, 20mg/kg trazodone, and 5mg/kg acepromazine PO, ~2-3 hours prior to handling) usually results in sedation that is adequate to allow for safe IM injection. I have also used pentobarbital orally (3x injectable dose) and that will generally induce unconsciousness or profound sedation, even if the animal doesn't eat all the drug (it tastes bad and requires creativity to mask). If the animal refuses to eat or is still unable to be safely handled, we use a blow dart. 

The learning curve is steep for the blow dart, but once you are comfortable with the technique it works really well and the animal often hardly reacts to the dart and goes down smoothly and calmly. A much better experience for the animal and the people in my experience. We got our blow dart system from Addison Biological Laboratory in Missouri and they are a small company that is great to deal with. They can provide a lot of advice and training on use of blow darts.

I don't mean to sound sanctimonious or judgmental but I have a lot of regret about some of the old ways we used to handle and restrain animals. When you know better, do better :-)

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

Hello! I have heard about press gates being utilized as a squeeze cage for dogs to help immobilize them for an IM injection on a dog that cannot be safely handled, but I haven't been able to find any actual examples of it being used or how to go about installing one. I am wondering if anybody here has a press gate that they utilize or know of any resources to point me in the right direction? 

Signed, 

Tired of using a control pole to shove a fearful/aggressive dog into a corner to inject IM sedatives prior to euthanasia 

#EducationandTraining

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Taran McLain
Humane Officer
Sioux Falls Area Humane Society
SD
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