Horses and cattle...whatever works. I worked in a slaughterhouse for years long before I ever became a veterinarian and know how to put a cow or horse to sleep with a .22 quickly and efficiently. The trouble with most rednecks is that they believe one has to have a .357 or a cannon to kill a large animal and when they shoot the animal the bullet goes everywhere and exits the brain where it is dangerous. If the owner wishes for me to do the deed with a euthanasia solution, its their call.
I had nothing and have had nothing to do with legislation with respect on how to euthanize a large animal. My beef is with the rednecks that think they can treat, deworm and vaccinate these animals with medicine from a feedstore and mangle the job more often than not.
Hmm, interesting comments about the rednecks treating their own horses and mangling the job.
Out here in Montana we are encouraged to treat and deworm our horses. I have had the vets send me and the horse home quite a few times with the meds and instructions on how to treat problems from colic to scratches (not scratched skin but that fungus they can get from mud) to infections or serious injuries.
I would never pay a vet to deworm our horses. We ALWAYS deworm our own horses, vaccinate them with feedstore meds (except for the vaccines that only the vet can give here..such as intranasal strangles and west nile virus).
I have gotten up out of bed every two hours to check the vitals on horses who have colicked following the instructions of my vet. Cleaned and medicated wounds twice daily according to the instruction of my vet and with the meds form his office, etc. There is no way our vets could keep up with all the demands unless the horses were hospitalized and most aren’t, they are sent home with instructions for the owners. Some folks can afford to keep their horse at the clinic for nursing but most of rednecks take the animal home and do the job themselves.
Our 4H daughter cleans her geldings’ sheaths when they need it..no problem. Something she learned in 4H and it has to be done. A job not for the faint-of-heart but easy and fairly quick.
Out in the west we rednecks are more independent and learn to do a lot of stuff on our own. Gosh, I thought most horseowners did most of their own stuff.