New in town, and found myself in the position of having to put my longtime cat and sleeping companion of 18 years down. So I brought her to this clinic, and sorely regret having done so. They sanctimo... Read More
New in town, and found myself in the position of having to put my longtime cat and sleeping companion of 18 years down. So I brought her to this clinic, and sorely regret having done so. They sanctimoniously made me feel like I was suspected of putting her down for "convenience", and then *they* caused her (and us) unnecessary suffering.I have two major problems with their treatment of me and my cat.First, while I understand their reticence about euthanizing animals "for convenience"as they put it, the doctor scrutinized me and questioned me like I was a suspect, making me feel like I was trying to come up with spurious reasons to convince them to put down my cat. Sort of like a social worker who is barely concealing her belief that you are abusing your child and her consequent hostility. I hated being made to feel like that. Perhaps the Dr. is frustrated, but you just can't treat people like suspects and grill them when they're in grief.Second, and worse, I am not sure how someone decided that taking our cat in the other room, sticking an IV in her so that you can give her a sedative (and I did see that you guys tried and failed in one paw before doing the other... no wonder you had to sedate her), and then bringing her back to us drugged and non-present for the actual euthanasia... how this course of action is somehow more humane than simply euthanizing her with a single barbiturate shot with us in the room with her comforting her. Either way, she takes the pain of a shot. Either way, she is sedated to an extreme. But their way deprived us *unexpectedly* of our last moments with our little cat, while putting her through the extra anguish of establishing an IV in her arm with strangers, away from us.Instead, we were brought back our cat drugged with mouth hanging open. I wanted to say my final goodbye and comfort *her* in that last moment of her lucidity, not have her have that last moment with doctors fumbling with her vein and a needle. Not have our genuine last moment be with a heavily drugged, ragdoll cat.Funny thing was, they said they were just taking her out to put in the IV and then asked if I wanted to be present when they sedated her. I said yes. But they brought her back in sedated. Really? My guess is the IV was going badly, my cat was being hurt and resisting, and they sedated her to avoid the ugliness of bringing her back in traumatized and in pain from their questionable and over-engineered pain management method.Perhaps I am being cynical when I wonder why all this extra procedure was necessary, and I wonder whether it was a way to inflate the bill to $250+.The last moments of her littermate who was dying of cancer a year earlier was much kinder for both the cat and for us. The doctor waited til we were ready, then gave him one shot while we held him, and didn't hit us with an unexpectedly high cost for it all. I just felt sick afterward.I think, giving them the benefit of the doubt, these people are at minimum penny-wise and pound-foolish in their approach to managing suffering... all this production to reduce suffering, using means that create extra suffering on the way, for both the animal and the bereaved.I will not come here again, and I highly recommend going someplace else when you find yourself in the position of having to put your beloved pet to sleep. Read Less