Scott's MD-PhD Adventure

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Fizzled Out

Animal Class: Euthanasia

What does euthanasia mean? Let's see what Webster's has to say...

An important parameter is reliability - if you have to do a physical method, like cervical dyslocation, and you're having a bad coffee day so you have the shakes, you might not always fully kill the animal.

It should also be irreversible - you don't want the rats chewing out of the bag the next day.

You should only use compressed gas when euthanizing with CO2. In the past people have used dry ice but that just freezer burns the mice. People have also used alka seltzer, you know the plop plop fizz fizz, but that's not enough CO2 concentration to kill them.

There's a special microwave with a focused beam that goes right to their head while they're in a restraint. Don't put your popcorn in here though!

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