Posted on 02/21/2012 1:38:32 PM PST by iowamark
When I had my dog cremated, I had three options. I could pay a minimum fee and get no ashes, I could pay a slightly higher fee, and she would be part of a mass cremation, or pay a higher fee for a private cremation. I may be naive, but I worked for the Vet that euthanized her, and I trusted this crematorium because it was the one he used. I saw these people, sadly, almost every day. it does lead me to wonder if she bothered to request ashes be returned at all.
—I’d have that vet’s head on a stick *and* my dog back.—
But she is an adult and she signed the contract. What I would have done is taken the dog home and euthanized it myself. But that’s just me.
Here is a similar situation last year but with a better ending.
A family who had an autistic son surrendered his German Shepherd companion dog to animal control to be euthanized as the dog had been hit by a car. Animal control thought the dog could be saved and called German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County who got a vet to save the dog.
The rescue decided to return the dog back to the family at no cost and assumed the vet bills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouqnO1WP4Q8
tacky to charge cremation fees but a cremation fee is probably pretty cheap next to the surgeries, antibiotics, etc that the dog needed...
besides, he could refund the cremation fee and then hand her a bill for several thousand dollars...that probably went thru her head as well..
I’ve got a dog’s and cat’s “ashes” in little urns. You got me to thinking. I doubt very seriously if a crematorium is going to light the fire and burn the gas for each animal. I’ll never do that again. I’ll break the law and bury them in my back yard like we did as kids.
The vet didn't say "guaranteed" to die, the vet said "likely" to die.
That doesn't sound to me like "stabbed in the back".
According to news reports, the dog was almost killed by one or more other dogs in that first home. Possibly the 2nd woman had more pity for Lola and less for the little girl.
What ashes? The article doesn’t mention she received any ashes. She only put down money for a cremation.
Many people request an inexpensive ‘group cremation’ where ashes are not returned, vs a $100-$200+ ‘private cremation’ where the remains are returned to the owner.
If there is no money for treatment, often there is no money for an expensive cremation.
According to the news article, the rescuers ("Second Chance") paid around $1800 to nurse the dog back to health. Surely some of that was paid to the vet, and likely most of it.
That is horrendous. You have my utmost sympathy.
I’ve read your link, …stunned.
“and bury them in my back yard like we did as kids.”
I need to slow my reading down, at first I thought you wrote “...our kids.”!
He probably got most if not all the $1,800 that the rescuers paid. According to the news article.
I don't get your statement. I've had to take 3 cats to the vet to have them euthanized. Each time the decision was extremely hard. They were sick....having survived Feline Diabetes and being Hyper Thyroid, they had added congestive heart failure or renal failure.
Each precious kitty let me know they were done with meds and being messed with. I held them in my arms and comforted them as they crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. I see nothing more humane than this. I don't know how I was "getting somebody else to do what" I wasn't willing to do?
“What she didn’t know, and what wasn’t explained to her, was she was surrendering all ownership rights to the veterinarian. “
Moral of the story: Read paperwork before signing. If you don’t understand what you read, don’t sign until you do.
I have always held my dogs when they were euthanized so I wouldn’t be in this situation, but this story seems a little sketchy to me. The vet took her money for a cremation, so that doesn’t sound to me like the owner gave permission for the vet to do whatever they deemed fit with the dog. I wonder if she paid to have the dog euthanized too?
I know when I worked for a vet, once the receptionist asked if she could keep a puppy and try to raise it that someone had brought in to put to sleep (she asked the owner, not the vet). The owner said ok. But otherwise, the vet respected the wishes of the owner. I think this person, unless she signed something saying she was relinquishing rights to the dog, could bring action against the vet. AND get her dog back, altho she might have to pay the person who had taken the dog back for medical care. I guess it would depend on what a judge decided. Unless there is more to the story than this owner is telling.
I should have been reading instead of posting. Mea culpa.
Thank you for “the rest of the story”. I couldn’t imagine a vet doing what she said that one did.
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