Euthanasia, derives from the Greek language and means “good death”. It is used to
designate the humanitarian act of ceasing animal life. This paper aims to present the
importance of the act of euthanasia within the unique health and medical clinic of small
animals, the different methods for its realization within what allows and recommends
the Brazilian legislation, as well as good practices and ethics, and the destination of
waste generated by the practice. For this, extensive research was carried out through
articles, guides to euthanasia, dissertations, books that encompassed the topic of
euthanasia and its implications. Although euthanasia is a fairly common practice in the
medical clinic of small animals, it is rarely addressed during graduation in most
veterinary medicine courses in our country. When a veterinarian chooses to perform
euthanasia, he or she needs to keep in mind all the issues that involve his decision,
such as ethics, public health, pharmacology in view of his method of choice and
technique to be applied, animal welfare, animal behavior, pain and awareness and
disposal of waste. In the light of this, the importance of discussing the topic is verified,
aiming to obtain an understanding of the cases where euthanasia is really the best
option for the animal and the method that best suits the case, causing less suffering
and greater practice .
Keywords: Humanitarian death in dogs and cats. Unique health. Methods of
euthanasia. Animal welfare.
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