This thread brings to mind another mis-applied word: "euthanized." "Euthanasia" ("good death") is supposed to mean mercy killing--e.g, putting a wounded animal "out of its misery."

If I murder you by giving you too many sleeping pills, so that you drift off peacefully to sleep, never to wake up -- that is NOT "euthanasia."
Likewise, killing unwanted dogs and cats just because they are unwanted--while it may be necessary--is not "euthanasia." It is population management and the lethal means may be without pain, but it is not necessarily mercy killing.

I have even seed the term "euthanized" applied to dogs who were, in effect, executed for biting people. You cannot argue in these cases that it was for the animal's own good. Hence, it is not "euthanasia." It's a "euphemism!"

Genie