Vet nursing really sucks some days. - Page 2

It is too bad that this is happened, as there is Greyhound Rescue, but if the vet refused & couldn't convince  the owner to contact resuce, they would just go somewhere else or the dog would be killed in a non-humane matter.

I know that my vet will try and rehome/help the owner that has a dog they want to put down, if the animal is adoptable. He did that with a GSD puppy recently. The puppy's heart murmur wasn't something that was life threatening and could grow out of it completely. The breeder relinquished the puppy and the vet techs found a home for the pup.

Some dogs/cats aren't adoptable. I would much rather see an animal euthanized than live a life that is emotionally painful for them because people think that they can save the world, as they feel every dog can be saved, when it can't.

IT IS BETTER THE VET DOING THE DIRTY DEED THAN A BRICK ROUND HIS NECK AND DUMPED IN THE RIVER AT LEST HE HAD SOMEONE WHO CARES AND YES IT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED THE DOG SHOULD HAVE WENT TO RESCUE BUT THE TRUE FACT IS THIS IS HOW THE WORLD IS WITH  ALL THE DREADFULL SO CALLED HUMANS WHO DONT GIVE A STUFF POOR WEE SOUL BUT HE IS IN A MUCH BETTER PLACE NOW DOGSHOME9 THANK YOU FOR CAREING GOD BLESS

Wow cold comments. Dogshome9 comes on here to seek some support and is stoned. Sorry Dogshome9 you had a crappy day. Im sure your vet has done 10x more good things than this. I cant think of too many vets that are in it for the money (less the ortho vets and what they charge)

Doberdoodle: Someone did that a while back I heard (keep an animal and rehome it). The dog resurfaced and I think the vet is being sued. Im not for putting down healthy dogs but if I request one be put down and the vet goes behind my back  and rehomes the dog, I would sue too.

Bhaugh,
I agree with you about many of the comments on here.
I had a friend years ago who's 6 year old (raised from a puppy) Great Pyrenese attacked him in the face (requiring stitches, ear torn almost all the way off) when he tried to take him out of the bag of dog food he chewed open.
My friend brought him to the shelter to be euthanized. Why the shelter instead of the vet, I didn't ask. I was too shocked as I was his dog's groomer.
Long story short, another friend of ours went to the shelter looking to get a dog and the GP was up for adoption stating he would make a great family pet! Apparently the shelter manager evaluated him herself/himself and deemed him safe!!! Luckily my friend made a HUGE fuss and was able to take the dog back and bring it to the vet for euthanasia.
Stacy

I think vets that do elective euthansia for non-medical reasons(that would include crazy, psycho dogs too) suck!

I am sorry for then dog and I am sorry you work for such a person!

Vickie
www.PowerHausKennels.com
 

During the past 20 years I have worked with so many vets and nurses that simply adopted these animals themselves, one such vet had 4 dogs and 9 cats all at the same time.
I have had 3 rescues, my best friend has had 5. Why you might ask???? It is because we do CARE.

As Doberdoodle suggested I myself once did keep a 5 month old puppy that had been hit by a car and had a # leg and other injuries his owners dispite many phone calls to come in an see him refused and  wanted him PTS, however they had to come in and sign the form and when they left I asked the vet to fix his #  and I would take him home. Yes I was told it was most unethical but as I lived out of town his old owner would never see him.

To those who have advocated the action of accepting an animal for elective euthanasia and then rehoming it instead, you need to be aware that this is NOT legal, and veterinarians who do this can lose their licenses--and it has happened enough that the veterinary malpractice newsletters warn their clients against it on a regular basis. 

I'm certainly not in favor of euthanizing adoptable animals--far from it.  But I also recognize the hard, cold truths that whether you like it or not, animals are considered to be property, and within very specific legal limitations the property owners are free to do as they wish with what they own.  In the case of racing greyhounds, I am quite familiar with the rescue groups that have been established and are extremely successful--but if the owners of a greyhound choose not to place that animal in the rescue system, there is nothing anyone can do to force them to do so.  Why would an owner opt to have a healthy, normal animal killed instead of letting a reputable group find a home for it?  I can't answer that with anything definitive, but perhaps it has something to do with insurance claims or losses for tax purposes.  

Not too long ago, there was a highly publicized case in New Jersey involving what appeared to be a healthy adult Doberman that had been presented to a shelter by it's owner for euthanasia due to temperament issues.  The shelter manager decided there was nothing wrong with the dog's temperament, and instead of being euthanized, the dog was adopted out to a 66 year old woman.  Ten days later, the dog killed the woman.  The prosecutor's report can be found here:
http://www.medford-nj.com/News/jan_9_04_-_prosecutor's_office_finishes_investigation.htm 
And here's the NY Times story on the incident:
www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/nyregion/fatal-dog-attack-leads-to-inquiry-on-shelter.html
Had the dog been presented for euthanasia at a veterinarian's office and been rehomed instead, the veterinarian would not only have lost their license, but probably all their worldly goods as well. 

Bottom line is that it's easy to be 'high and mighty' if you close your eyes to the consequences of your idealism; it's real easy to do that if you're never the one who's finding the bodies of those animals you turned away after they've been beaten to death, or shot multiple times, or drowned.  While I have always tried to persuade owners to rehome normal, healthy dogs instead of euthanizing them, in the end if the owner refuses to do so, they will get the outcome they seek no matter what, no matter where, and no matter how.  In that case,  then I'd rather be a part of seeing to it that the animal is at least treated with dignity and it's death is humane, with a calming touch and what might be the only kind words it's ever heard in it's ears.

I work for a Vet also and that is the job that no one likes or wants to do BUT it is a job that sometimes has to be done.

You can't save them all!!!

We have had people come in with litters of kittens to have them all PTS, We tell them pay for the Euthanasia's. and we will try and find homes for them, if we can't we will put them to sleep, the money the owners pay help with the shots and worming and Leuk tests, and that works for everyone.

But on the other hand we've had people bring in litters of puppies they have raised for months and want them PTS, and when asked if we can help,we were told NO!! put them to sleep, some people think that if they find them homes maybe they will not be taken care of and if PTS they know that they are not being hurt.  I think it is more of the not knowing what is going on with there animals is the reason some people PTS there healthy pets.

I'm not saying it is right, but it is a job that has to be done.

Then you get the A**holes that ask us to take their pets because it chewed something or they don't want it anymore and when we say no we have no room or to take it to the pound, or rescue put add in the paper, anything that they may have to put forth an effort, THEY say oh never mind I will just take it out and shoot it or dump it in the woods somewhere.

We had a couple do that to one of the girls and because she loved the breed of dog it was she caved in(their kids were mean to the dog so they had to get rid of it) we hear that a lot, I say put the kid in the cage and let the dog have some peace.
and not 2 weeks later they were back in the clinic with 2 Mastiffs they have"rescued". but that they wanted to make sure that she was pregnant.  The man kept saying he was going to shoot the dog  if we didn't take it, so we went through the line try rescue,pound,paper but he said that he wasn't going to take the dog back home and started in saying he was going to shoot it and the lady was crying, he was making a joke and I told him that "He was not funny or making this any easier for his wife/girlfriend/live lady, and that he needed to stop." I just wanted to slap the sh*t out of him.   I kept telling Chris(the girl that took that dog) that if he truly was going to shoot the dog he would of never bought it to us, he would of just done it, but she still gave in.

All we can do is just hold them and say it's okay and your going to be fine, most of the time it is better then the place they were at.  But what gets me the most is the people who have had their pets a long time and are not with them when we PTS the pets, how can you love something for years and not tell them goodbye, and that they will be okay.  I don't get that.
 
That happen to me today Dandy a 10 year old Sheltie,  his owner bought him in signed the papers and he left,  SO it is my job to make sure that Dandy(the dog) was held and told that everything is going to be okay, when he took his last breath.

So my heart goes out to dogshome9 and any other person that has the job that we have.
Sorry had to vent also
Robin

"But what gets me the most is the people who have had their pets a long time and are not with them when we PTS the pets, how can you love something for years and not tell them goodbye, and that they will be okay. I don't get that.

That happen to me today Dandy a 10 year old Sheltie, his owner bought him in signed the papers and he left, SO it is my job to make sure that Dandy(the dog) was held and told that everything is going to be okay, when he took his last breath."

Robin, while I would never dream of not being with my animals when that time comes, I can also understand why it's not possible for some people to do so... Everyone responds to the loss of their pet in their own way, and some people know that they simply can't be there without becoming hysterical and completely losing control emotionally.  If the owner is in that state, they do their beloved pet no favor by being there with them--they only serve to cause the animal to become agitated and upset and worried, because the pet is reading the owner's emotional state and responding to it.  Having assisted with euthanasias under those kind of circumstances, I can tell you that the wailing, shrieking, collapsing owners often cause so much added stress for the pet that it fights the effects of the injection...which does not make for the gentlest of passages for the poor animal. 

Dandy's owner most likely falls into that category of a loving owner who knew he'd fall apart instead of being able to hold it together for his dog.  So instead of putting the Sheltie through that, he entrusted you and your boss, the vet, to escort Dandy in a peaceful, calm, gentle manner; and while that was happening, the owner was probably out in the car, crying.

While you wiped away your tears, too, I'm sure, but only after Dandy had slipped away and wouldn't be upset by your sadness.

I am still very new to the Vet Assisting,not even been in it for a year.

We had a woman bring her dog in because she was getting "too old and was going to die" and didn't want the dog to be left alone when she died, so she made us put the dog down while it was in perfect health. We asked if we could rehome it but she wouldn't have it any other way.