Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello Everyone!

  I work at a municipal open-admission shelter in London, Ontario, Canada.  We occasionally have biter dogs that are quaratined at the shelter and ordered for euthanasia by the health unit.  

  Some of these dogs are too aggressive or terrified to handle and we end up having to catchpole them and inject with a syringe pole.  The whole process is stressful for the dogs, staff, and myself.  Picture alligator rolling, poop everywhere, and bleeding mouths from chewing on the poles.

  I've tried sedating orally with gabapentin, trazodone, acepromazine, and alprazolam.  I've even tried oral dexmedetomidine and pentobarb mixed into food. I've used these drugs separately and together in various combinations (not recommended I know, but these dogs are being euthanized so I'm not too concerned about side effects) and at VERY HIGH doses, usually to minimal effect.  We end up with a drunk, aggressive dog that still fights the whole process.  

  Does anyone have any oral sedation techniques that can make euthanasia a nicer process for the dog and people involved?

  Once we get an injection into the dog we are set, but getting them caught with a pole and poked with another pole is a crap-shoot!

Thanks!

Dr. Tracy

Hello,

Doctors have been successful with telazol powder (10-20mg/kg) and ace (2.2mg/kg), mixed in food. 

Try darting these aggressive dogs while in their kennel. You can use a blow pipe dart system and since the animal is confined it is very easy to hit your target. The dog may pull the dart out after it has discharged. Cover the front of the kennel with a blanket or sheet to minimize stress and monitor. Once the dog is down, you can either euthanize in the kennel or take him to a euthanasia room. This is much less stressful for the dog and safer for staff since you the need for a pole is eliminated and nobody comes into contact with the dog until it is immobilized. Staff should be cautioned that sedated dogs can still sometimes react if they are not completely anesthetized-which should be the goal when darting. Best of luck.

Fatal Plus made by Vortech comes in a powdered form.  We have found that adding the powder (in Capsules) into a treat is effective with aggressive dogs.  Of course, the front of the kennel is covered to minimize stress.  Not a perfect solution yet it is safe and reduces stress for the dog.

Hi Tracy,

Looks like you've had some good replies below.  

With using dexmedetomidine, it is important that it is given by a route where it isn't swallowed.  Once swallowed, it's almost completely broken down by first pass metabolism.  Rather than mixing it in with food, you can try to administer the liquid into the mouth so it is absorbed OTM.  Just prior to Sileo coming on to the market in the US, a criticalist colleague of mine and I published a short case series using this method in the Canadian Vet Journal in 2015.  Not the most reliable results, and remember this was a case series, so not all cases followed the exact same plan.  

Clinically, I would say that if you can keep the environment around the dog quiet and calm, I'm thinking covered cage fronts and keep other barking dogs quiet or away, any of the protocols below are destined to work better.  

I found that the dexmedetomidine mixed with morphine was by far the most effective in our case series.  Though not the most sophisticated administration, we squirted it into the dog's mouth via a syringe with a 22 to 18 gauge needle from a distance of ~ 3 feet for those dogs we couldn't get anywhere near.  That allowed orotransmucosal contact and absorption.  

Also, if you're willing to try oral meds ahead of time, we've also given large doses of trazodone in a cheeseburger the morning of (for later day euth) or the night before (for first thing in the am euth) and then use any of the injectables mentioned or OTM route just prior.  I find I need to give a dose of at least 8 mg/kg of trazodone a good couple of hours for those dogs that won't let me anywhere near them.  They're still not your fans, but generally I can get close enough to safely give an IM injection in the rear. 

Play around with the protocols mentioned, and see what works best for you.  

I will also say, that anything you can do during their bite hold to reduce stress can help to prevent them from getting this reactive by the end of it.  Even doing a quiet kennel exercise (everyone tosses treats as they pass by), keeping noise lower, and managing visual triggers can help to prevent this.  

I recently did an audio recording about noise in shelters and was absolutely floored by the amount of noise in shelters that is human made just by lack of awareness.  Think about how you shut the door, put the bowls down, move the mop bucket, etc.  

Hope this helps a little,

Sara

Morning,

I agree with the fatal plus powder suggestion. We recently used it in a very aggressive 110 pound dog who had already bitten two workers. I make sure the dog is hungry and put into very tasty food. Give about 1 hour after eating and there should be enough sedation to handle him. The drug is not expensive and I do use a lot of it to make sure I have an animal who is no longer a danger . Also be very careful that the remaining food is thrown away and the bowl cleaned well.