Sucky Vets vs Awesome Vet (and RIP Hoochie) Warning: Sad

[BeeMused]

I'm very sorry for your loss, it's always so hard to lose a family member. Perhaps this poem will help just a bit. The author seems to be unknown.

The Last Battle
If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this, the last battle, can’t be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they’ll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me,
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree,
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you,
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We’ve been so close,we two, these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.

[Barracuda]

Post this on Yelp if you can find a listing for those vets. It's not just for restaurants. People should know.

[bhskittykatt]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

If they couldn't do it, they should have referred you to someone who could. I know there have been a few times my vet couldn't squeeze us in for urgent-care situations and they not only referred us to another vet, but even called the other place and set up the appointment for us.

At least the emergency care clinic was compassionate. I hope that someday, when you are ready to welcome another furry family member into your heart, that you can find a regular clinic just as good (perhaps the emergency clinic could even refer you someplace).

[Dave1982]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I only knew Hoochie for about 9 months, but I'm a cat person and Hooch and I got along real well. That alone is rather remarkable since in my experience older cats don't always accept "new" people very easily.

I worked at a vet clinic in high school and the vet refused to euthanize a pet without an exam. She told me it was because she wanted to make sure that was the best course of action

That makes sense, and it did occur to me that that might be why. But as you and EE said, it could've been done a lot more tactfully. Heck, they just needed to say "we aren't comfortable euthanizing animals we haven't had the chance to examine, just in case it turns out to be something treatable." But they didn't do that, or any of the other things you guys mentioned. So yeah, not happy with them.

FWIW, the emergency vet agreed that we'd made the right decision. I think once the vet felt how thin and bony Hoochie was, and knew she was 19, she knew it had to be done. Nonetheless, she did make a point of asking if we wanted them to try and see if it was something they could fix. We declined, since even if she could be made better, she was so old that she couldn't have that much time left, and we didn't want to put her through any more suffering.

The doctor didn't argue with that. In fact, something else I didn't mention. As I imagine most vet clinics do, this one had a special private room in the back where they usually do these things. However, as it turned out another family had arrived right before us and their pet also had to be put down. The receptionist came into the exam room shortly after the vet took Hoochie out back to insert a catheter and said they were going to see if the could squeeze us in ahead of the other family because Hoochie was the sicker of the two animals and they didn't want to keep her waiting longer than necessary.

In the end though we ended up doing it in the exam room with the door closed. The other family had already been let into the private room and it was a big family so they knew it'd take a while for them to get through their goodbyes.

So yeah, I don't think there was any doubt on their end that it was the right call.

[angelkirie]

RIP Hoochie, she was a good looking cat.

I haven't had the horrible experiences you did with regular vets, but I have had similar, exemplary service from emergency vets. They do cost an arm and a leg, but in my experience, are more dedicated to their patients. Not sure how widespread the chain is, but ACCES in the PNW has been a huge help to many of my family's pets.

[thatcrazyredhead]

Redhead, you present a plausible explanation and reasonable argument for having an exam before putting an animal down -- the only ones I can think of that are reasonable excuses -- but when an owner calls in saying that an animal is dying, I would think that they would make some time to see the animal immediately, or at least refer them to another clinic. Telling someone who's claiming that their pet is dying and needs to be put down that they have to wait is just inhumane.

I completely agree with you there, EvilEmpryss. The vets I worked for did see emergencies. I'm not sure if they themselves would classify euthanizing a pet who has been ill for a long time as an emergency, but as long as the owner was willing to pay the emergency exam fee (twice the regular exam fee druing business hours, three times after closing), I doubt they would argue. At any rate, any individual who answered the phone at my clinic would have shown MUCH more compassion and understanding than poor Dave encountered.

[Seshat]

Our ElderlyCat's regular vet saw her as soon as he could, on her last day in the world. His tech (who answered the phone) told us he had an emergency on his hands right then, but would probably be free at (time).

So she did spend a few extra hours on this world; curled up in my lap and knowing she was cared about. But in a competition of emergencies, treat the one who could have a good life but only if treated NOW. Then end the suffering of the dying one.

And Elderly didn't really .. well. She was very much not well, but she seemed to enjoy the 'being with us' aspect of the last day.

[raudf]

I'm very sorry for the loss... having just been through it recently with a rat of two years, it's a pain that doesn't easily go away.

The vet I used for Mickey was fabulous. I'd taken Mickey in for pneumonia and they did everything to get his breathing back to normal, including keeping him overnight, even though only ones there are the ones that check the boarded and post op pets. I'd gotten him the next day, brought him home and did exactly as they told me. His breathing improved to the point that he was actually breathing through his nose again and the rattle in the lungs had gone down. The second day... I found him trying to circle walk.. trying, because his hind legs didn't work the way they should. He couldn't eat, drink or brux (the grinding of teeth that acts like a cat's purr). I took him back to the vets.

I knew from his symptoms that he'd could have suffered an aneurism, a stroke or a badly ruptured eardrum.. with the pneumonia. One of his eyes kept clouding off and on and with the weight loss it was too much. I could tell he was ready to GO. I simply told my oldest that Mickey would be coming home with us... I didn't have the heart to tell him the condition he'd likely come home in. In my son's mind this rat was bullet proof, having thrown off other illnesses that would have killed the unlucky.

The vet's office was.. oh, deities, the compassion! They made sure we got the first room available, and made sure a box of tissues was close at hand. The vet told us there were other options we could try, until he found blood in Mickey's ear. I told him what my experience with rats told ME. A rat in this condition will not thrive. He'd lost too much weight to fight off everything and the eye glazing said there was likely more issues than visible. The vet nodded, told me that it was what he was about to recommend given the rat's overall condition and asked me if I wanted the body to take home and bury. Of course I did. I promised myself and my son that Mickey would be coming home. They wrapped the body and put it in the cage so I could take him home in state. I honestly think if they hadn't had their hands full with a huge dog and a couple of cats, the staff would have been hugging me. Just as well.. I wanted to get Mickey home.

Three days later, I got a condolences card from the vet... and burst into tears all over again. That was my baby rat-rat. Needless to say, I'd recommend my vet in a heartbeat. They see any type of animal and at any hour if it's an emergency. Though for really bad emergencies, they'll stabilize and send pet and owners to the emergency vet's hospital in Little Rock, where the pet can get the kind of 24/7 care they'd need.

Oh and the vet didn't charge me a dime for that visit. They'd charged me a really cheap rate for the previous visit/overnight stay, but not for the final visit.

[SongsOfDragons]

Big hugs to all.

The largest pet I've ever kept were budgies, three of them over a period when I was 11 to about 14. Bobbie, a male bright green; first with Twinkle, a dilute yellow/blue pied female, then with Sunny, a female Lutino. My parents couldn't give a crap, looking back at it. My mother hated animals. I persuaded them for so long for a bit of animal companionship as I was an only child. I did all the research and everything. But their craps ended there - they wouldn't let me bother with the vets, even though there was a bird specialist at the end of the road. Too expensive, not a bother, it's just a little girl's stupid budgie.

So of course when Twinkle died on my hands, and when Sunny and then Bobbie got sick, there was nothing I could do. Just be there, really. I probably shouldn't have even bothered getting the birds if it was like this, I know, I know. I was eleven. Stupid and idealistic.

Sunny died the night before we were due to drive up north to my nana's. We didn't have time to bury her...so we wrapped her up in a box and put her in the freezer so we could bury her when we got back! XD

Now they've moved four hours' drive away, they don't bother visiting me. I go to visit them - something that royally pisses off my housemate, but I like it as it gives me some privacy from my mother's overbearing! I'm doing more research, got about four books on the subject, because we may be moving to a bigger place in a year and I'm hoping to adopt a pair of cats ^^ who will have vet care!

[Gaki]

That is absolutely insane. BIG HUGS to everyone. I've had quite a few animals leave me to be at the "Rainbow Bridge" before and that's as rough as it gets.

Fortunately we have a 24 hour vet office not too far away and I don't mind the price as they have a vet who is well-versed in taking care of birds (it took me forever to find a doctor who was good with birds and Beebs loves him.) It's the very same vet office that we took our two dogs to when they had to leave us.

Gods the love and compassion from that place! And of course when I brought in Beebs with his pneumonia they all commented "Your bird is so NICE! He doesn't bite at ALL!" They just thought he was the cutest thing. Warms my insides.

My dog, Kara, was the sweetest Irish Setter ever but as an Irish Setter she was epileptic. Her last day saw over five major seizures and they were so bad we couldn't let her live like that. When her mother had died I'd promised her that I would be there for her when the time came and I was. She was most definitely my best friend and I still miss her so much.

[angelkirie]

raudf, I went through a very similar situation with my rats. (The experience I was speaking of when I posted about emergency vets before.) We lost all four of our rats within a year. Lucy developed a head-tilt, and then pneumonia. We had her on 24 hour oxygen at the emergency vet, but within minutes of taking her out, she'd start gasping again. I loved our vet because they were totally willing to help me try and find/jerry-rig some sort of oxygen rich cage environment for her if we wanted to. We did, but it wouldn't have provided a very good life for her.

I've got more sob-stories, but I won't put you all through that. I just wanted to say how much I identified with you raudf - and how that consolation card from the vet afterward totally killed me too.

That said, I will never own rats again. They were maybe the best pets I've ever owned, but I can't handle that pain. Their lives are too short to be so lovable.