A client whom we have never seen previously arrived at 6 o’clock to euthanize her cat.
“Who made this appointment?” I asked, miffed. My staff, usually well versed in how to handle these situations, made the appointment without so much as a “Why?” Or, even better, “Let me make sure that’s OK with the doctor.”
“I told her she needed to talk to you first,” said the person who made the appointment.
“That is not the same thing,” I re-explained, “as telling her she needs to talk to me to MAKE SURE I AM OK DOING THAT. Have we ever seen this person?”
“No.”
“Do you know why she wants to euthanize?”
“No.”
“Do you know who her prior vet was?”
“No.”
“Has she already signed an estimate for the euthanasia, therefore sitting in the room with the expectation that I am just going to go in, say hi, and euthanize her cat?”
“…..Yes.”
I don’t know what the heck happened today, but it was not a good situation.
My tech went into the room and emerged with the following: The client has a 15 year old cat who has been urinating excessively and vomiting ‘some’. Last time at a vet: 2004. Active. Alert. “Can we get it over with now?” the owner asked, checking her watch.
So, we explained that there are lots of reasons a cat might be urinating excessively. Some, like chronic renal failure, are devastating lethal irreversible diseases. Others, like urinary tract infections, are curable with a course of antibiotics.
While it is certainly possible in an older pet that terminal disease is the cause, it’s not a given. And without even trying to learn if the cat is treatable, ending his life is not something I am comfortable doing. “We can do a couple of basic tests to determine if he has a chance,” we told the owner. “For everyone’s peace of mind.”
The owner paused. She scratched her head.
“Maybe if it was my retriever,” she said. “But not for this one.”
And she left. These are the things that leave dents in your goodwill.
By now the cat is gone, I am sure, at the hands of someone who does not carry their euthanasias around in their heart like tiny chain links. I imagine I probably didn’t do the cat any favors, simply adding one more stop on their last car ride.
I struggle with the choice, when given the inevitability of the result, whether it is better to just do what the owner wants or stand up for what I know is right. But really, I have no choice. It just makes me resentful of people who so casually present their animals to me for slaughter as if I were the local headsman. Someone will do it. Just not me.
OMG, that poor cat! Good for you for standing up for what is right, Dr V. I love my furkids so much that I just have a hard time imagining someone with an animal that they are so ready to get rid of. So sad…
Bravo Doc!! You stood up for the rights of the cat that the owner seemed to not keep in mind. I don’t know how many times I’ve lectured my children (now adults) That an animal is a LIFETIME commitment. Not a convenience for you until you tire of them. I can’t imagine being that callous putting to death a companion of 15 years. Very sad!
Thank you, Dr. V. for standing up for right, no matter how painful, frustrating, and sometimes futile it is. We lived with a Sheltie (that we should never have gotten) for 14½ years. We had 4 other dogs, (retrievers, by the way) but our son had wanted “a dog of his own.” We got him one and it proved to be a mistake, but we were not prepared to give our son the message that pets are disposable so we lived with her and tried to be kind to a poor neurotic tennis-ball-chaser. In our defense, she had a much better life with us than from whence she came, but that was also another wrong reason to get her. I think you learn at least one big lesson from every pet you ever ever have and she taught us a few, but mostly she taught us compassion. She died in my son’s arms when her old age-induced medical problems could no longer be helped. I was never so proud of him as then. All this doesn’t make me a hero for keeping that dog, but I’m also not someone who would euthanize an animal just because it “isn’t a retriever.” I hope that however it came to it, that poor cat is at peace now. Bless you for not taking the easy way out of a horrible situation!
Cathey-What a poignant story. Thanks for sharing. It’s very hard to have the courage of our convictions when actually faced with the hard challenges.
Thank you…
People like this should not be allowed to have pets! There, I said it.
I’m am so sorry that you have to deal with this as part of your daily existence. It must be hard turning them away, knowing that they will find someone else who will “do the deed” – but you did the right thing. I don’t know how some people sleep at night.
I agree with what Tamare said. I applaud you for standing up for your beliefs. I do feel sorry for the cat. If she didn’t care enough to have a couple of test to see what was wrong then I wonder how she treated the cat for the time she had it. It just makes me sad. 🙁
“Maybe if it was my retriever,” she said. “But not for this one.”
^I almost punched my monitor. I hate that some people think that one of their pets has more value than another one. grrrrrrr
Wow, it sounds just like my in-laws who put down their old cat because she was peeing everywhere. The last time they’d taken her to the vet (when my SIL was in town and took her herself), she’d had a UTI. They told my SIL that they would wait for her to come to town and then they just got sick of the peeing so they put her down about a month before my SIL came to town. I felt so bad for my SIL, and would have taken the cat myself, but well, that cat was mean (first cat to ever hiss at me).
How could someone care about their dog more then their cat? What an awful woman. One of my cats (we don’t know who) pees all over our upstairs floors so with great unhappiness we keep them in the basement with their litter box and everything seems fine. We don’t just say “oh hey, they have a problem I can’t stand, lets go put them down” Where there is a will there is a way. And perhaps cheesy, but it’s really true. Why would you get an animal, if you don’t give a damn about it?
If the outcome is going to be the same anyway, there’s no reason for the deed to be on your hands. And there’s always a chance, just a chance, that you made her rethink what she was doing. There are lots of occasions in life where saying what needs to be said is important enough to do it even though it won’t change the outcome and this certainly seems like one.
Sorry…
I knew there were bad people in the world that didn’t deserve their pets; but, holy! I never knew there were people this callous toward the pets that have been with them for a long time. I know some members of my family do not believe in extensive spending on a pet. But, I’m so ever thankful that we spend well over $2,000 to save the life of my cat, Chessie. She’s been happy and healthy the last 3 / 4 years. It was SO worth it.
Dr V, was it possible for you to take the cat and place it with a rescue or foster home? A 15 year old cat is something to celebrate, not put down. I’m glad you stood up for what is right.
Sometimes we do just this if there is a staff member who is in a place to take on that responsibility, but our ability to do that for people is outweighed by the number of those who expect us to.
If you ever decide in the future you want to own a practice, I hope I can work for you. I often felt pressured at my last job to do euthanasias in situations like this, and because I was the ‘Saturday vet,’ I didn’t feel like I had a leg to stand on in arguing with the owner about it because they didn’t even really know me.
I never understand how some people can not develop that family bond to their animals. I have to wonder though (playing devils advocate for a second) if the owner was just preparing herself for the inevitable and didn’t want the emotional drama of going down the road of “what ifs” and instead set in her mind it was time and took the easy way out to make it easier on herself. While not exactly noble and not exactly the kind of person I want to have for dinner, maybe that’s one possible explanation. Glad you were able to make the choice you made. Sad for the cat.
So funny all the vets have the same bad day ! Check this : http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2010/nov/denying_convenience_euthanasia
Poor animal, wonder if those people would treat their human family the same way….:-(
I think this is a dilemma specifically trying to figure out what is best for the animal. What is the owner going to do when turned down? That is an important question.
The ideal solution would be if there was a way to take the animal away from them. But something like that is easier said than done.
Way to go Dr. V – stand up for what you believe in! I feel so sorry for the cat. 🙁 major bummer! It really makes me sad and I wasn’t even there like you. I don’t understand either how someone can so dismissively present a pet for euthanasia. For me it is devastating and something I totally and completely dread.
I can’t imagine going through what you felt while dealing with this woman. I lost my female cat Maisy a year ago. She was a beautiful long hair calico that chose us as her pet-parents back in 2001. We made 3 moves in the time we had her (including one to Hawaii! What a trial that is!). In those 8yrs I nursed her through a near fatal case of hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver syndrome) and her final illness a squamous cell carcinoma under her tongue. It didn’t occur to me for one moment to tell my veterinary surgeon not to place her feeding tube (esophagotomy). They explained at the time that she would most likely last 2-4 weeks with tube feeding. By some amazing force of her will and my dedication we kept her healthy and comfortable for 4 1/2 months. Our choice to eventually euthanize was painful for me and my husband, and also for our vet and the tech. On a brief side note, tube feeding is MUCH easier to do than it sounds. I really wish we’d had one when she was sick with her lipidosis.
you go girl! it’s hard to make a stand and like you said “got it” in the end,,,,but we still haveto do what’s right! and occasionally, by doing what is right, you will make an impact on one person, their “unthought through” wrong thinking and their pets life. Glad there are folks like you around!
Good for you! Yesterday at the shelter we were asked how much of a surrender fee was expected to drop off a cat. When told, the woman was like, “Oh, I’ll just take it to my vet and have him euthanize it.” Keep in mind- this is a voluntary donation, not a required fee! And still we had to talk the woman out of having her cat put down simply because she no longer wanted it- a healthy, middle-aged cat with no problems.
I’m glad you are so careful about euthanasias!
I feel so bad for all the little paws out there that have no voice. I wish more people in this world thought about someone other than themselves.
Why is it better for the cat to die a lonely cold death at the hands of the local shelter than to be denied a more humane euthanasia.. because the vet doesn’t approve of the owner’s decision? Did the vet offer to take the cat? Did the vet offer any resources that might take the cat? Do the commentators here know cat rescues that will take old, ill cats? In the vet’s moral superiority, how has the cat been helped?
If vets like this one and Dr Patty, facing a similar dilemma that she wrote about on her blog, feel so strongly that any animal they chose not euthanize must live.. perhaps they have a responsibility to find local resources that provide the owner an alternative.
Though feeling morally superior is so much easier.
At the clinic where I work we call those convience euthanasia’s, and we will not do them. Sometimes we will ask the client to release the pet to us, other times we will try to offer other options, but just like you said some people will just go somewhere else, in that case everyone loses. It is never a good situation to deal with.
I think you did the right thing.
People like the cat owner in this story don’t seem to understand what a vet does or why one engages their service. They fundamentally misunderstand your role.
Your duty is to provide an educated opinion regarding the health and welfare of clients’ animals and to only perform treatment you find to be valid. That’s exactly what you did!
The vet’s office is not the local convenience store, where you ask for an item and have it handed to you in exchange for cash. You aren’t a retail outfit, you’re a medical professional!
How do people fail to understand the difference?