KFC - The vets' side of the story

We feel that we would like to post a response to the many comments we
have received by email (containing varying degrees of abuse) and that
have been made here following our action in putting KFC to sleep.
Firstly we would like to say how sorry we are for the sadness that has
been caused to so many, and especially her owner, by her passing.

KFC was brought to us by a regular client who rescues, rehabilitates &
rehomes unwanted & stray cats. She felt that KFC was in need of
veterinary attention & brought her straight to us, knowing that we
would happily take the time to care for a lost cat.
The assumption has been made by many that we blindly & automatically
put KFC to sleep simply because she was elderly & seemingly a stray; a
callous, thoughtless and automatic practice decision - that simply is
not the case. Two veterinary surgeons at this practice carefully
examined KFC and after due consideration of her condition made the
decision to put her to sleep (she was in marked respiratory distress,
very dehydrated & was discharging pus from her nose & eyes). She was
dying & any treatment would have simply prolonged her suffering for a
short while. It was not going to be possible to return her to a
reasonable quality of life. On this basis KFC was put to sleep &
should we be presented with this situation again then I hope that we
would make the same decision for the sake of the wellbeing of the
patient.

KFC was very elderly & frail & under such circumstances speedy
deterioration is always possible. It may well be that when KFC was
last seen by her owner and by those who are so keenly criticising us
that she was happy & enjoying a reasonable quality of life but that
simply was not the case at the time she was presented to us.
In regard to making no effort to find her owner, we would respond that
this is not strictly true. It is our policy to check for microchips or
identity tags on all 'strays' that are brought to our surgery
regardless of their state of health or their apparent age. KFC was
scanned & no identichip was found. She was wearing a collar but this
had no identification, phone number or veterinary practice information
on it. Neither our own lost cat book nor the RSPCA's lost cat records
gave any clue to the identification of her owner. Of course we are
aware of the 8 day rule & in every case, where possible, we give first
aid & give the patient's owner time to come forward - but patient
considerations must be put first and, as previously stated, KFC was
dying and to prolong her life under such circumstances was simply not
in her interest.

We do not expect that many of you will agree with our position & that
we will remain in your eyes the callous, uncaring practice that put
KFC to sleep, but nevertheless, whilst we are sorry for & do
understand the upset that our decision has caused her owner, we cannot
apologise for acting as we did.

I don't know whether you will read the replies on the newsgroup, so I
am going to do this both in email and on the newsgroup.

I wasn't there at the time.

If poor KFC had deteriorated to the point where "she was dying" is
accurate it is surprising but it does make your decision
understandable. She had been in bad shape before and made wonderful
recoveries but how were you to know that? It is possible that she
didn't have another recovery in her and your act may have been a
kindness. It is possible that her recuparative powers were more than
your experience could have taught you to expect and you made a
mistake. But you didn't know her.

But I wasn't there at the time.

--
Will in New Haven

Thank you for an honest and reasonable explanation. Everyone on this
newsgroup was a fan o KFC which is why there was so much emotion. We
all cried when we got the news.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

wrote in news:e9287804-9615-4208-8e01-
:

We feel that we would like to post a response to the many comments we
have received by email (containing varying degrees of abuse) and that
..
..
..
We do not expect that many of you will agree with our position & that
we will remain in your eyes the callous, uncaring practice that put
KFC to sleep, but nevertheless, whilst we are sorry for & do
understand the upset that our decision has caused her owner, we cannot
apologise for acting as we did.


Keep in mind many people who post to this group did not email you. Many
felt they should wait until KFC's owner talked to you first. Some of us
might even find it hard to imagine a vet acting in the way some were quick
to imagine. Thank you for making this post.

Andy

On Apr 30, 3:48*pm, outsider wrote:
wrote in news:e9287804-9615-4208-8e01-
:

We feel that we would like to post a response to the many comments we
have received by email (containing varying degrees of abuse) and that

.
.
.

We do not expect that many of you will agree with our position & that
we will remain in your eyes the callous, uncaring practice that put
KFC to sleep, but nevertheless, whilst we are sorry for & do
understand the upset that our decision has caused her owner, we cannot
apologise for acting as we did.

Keep in mind many people who post to this group did not email you. *Many
felt they should wait until KFC's owner talked to you first. *Some of us
might even find it hard to imagine a vet acting in the way some were quick
to imagine. *Thank you for making this post.

Andy

What he said I understand the anger and the heartbreak of this
group, but surely most of us
realize that most vets do try to act in the best interest of our loved
ones. Sounds like
this vet is a very caring person who really did what he thought was
the right and only
thing he could do in the circumstances.

Sara

I think that as Christina said, it's better to know what happened than
not. I hope that she'll find some measure of closure in knowing that
Kitty was evaluated.

Poor thing. But she was apparently picked up because she wasn't well,
and this may have been better than ending up dying outside.

Thank you for posting this.
wrote in message
...
We feel that we would like to post a response to the many comments we
have received by email (containing varying degrees of abuse) and that
have been made here following our action in putting KFC to sleep.
Firstly we would like to say how sorry we are for the sadness that has
been caused to so many, and especially her owner, by her passing.

KFC was brought to us by a regular client who rescues, rehabilitates &
rehomes unwanted & stray cats. She felt that KFC was in need of
veterinary attention & brought her straight to us, knowing that we
would happily take the time to care for a lost cat.
The assumption has been made by many that we blindly & automatically
put KFC to sleep simply because she was elderly & seemingly a stray; a
callous, thoughtless and automatic practice decision - that simply is
not the case. Two veterinary surgeons at this practice carefully
examined KFC and after due consideration of her condition made the
decision to put her to sleep (she was in marked respiratory distress,
very dehydrated & was discharging pus from her nose & eyes). She was
dying & any treatment would have simply prolonged her suffering for a
short while. It was not going to be possible to return her to a
reasonable quality of life. On this basis KFC was put to sleep &
should we be presented with this situation again then I hope that we
would make the same decision for the sake of the wellbeing of the
patient.

KFC was very elderly & frail & under such circumstances speedy
deterioration is always possible. It may well be that when KFC was
last seen by her owner and by those who are so keenly criticising us
that she was happy & enjoying a reasonable quality of life but that
simply was not the case at the time she was presented to us.
In regard to making no effort to find her owner, we would respond that
this is not strictly true. It is our policy to check for microchips or
identity tags on all 'strays' that are brought to our surgery
regardless of their state of health or their apparent age. KFC was
scanned & no identichip was found. She was wearing a collar but this
had no identification, phone number or veterinary practice information
on it. Neither our own lost cat book nor the RSPCA's lost cat records
gave any clue to the identification of her owner. Of course we are
aware of the 8 day rule & in every case, where possible, we give first
aid & give the patient's owner time to come forward - but patient
considerations must be put first and, as previously stated, KFC was
dying and to prolong her life under such circumstances was simply not
in her interest.

We do not expect that many of you will agree with our position & that
we will remain in your eyes the callous, uncaring practice that put
KFC to sleep, but nevertheless, whilst we are sorry for & do
understand the upset that our decision has caused her owner, we cannot
apologise for acting as we did.

Takayuki wrote:

I think that as Christina said, it's better to know what happened than
not. I hope that she'll find some measure of closure in knowing that
Kitty was evaluated.

Poor thing. But she was apparently picked up because she wasn't well,
and this may have been better than ending up dying outside.

I think the really important point the vets made in their post was that
a cat of her age could have a very sudden and rapid decline in health.
So she might seem fine in the morning, when being fed, but within a few
hours' time she could have been close to death. That would mean that both
June and the vets were right in their perception of Kitty's condition,
but they were seeing her several hours apart, so perhaps they saw very
different things.

KFC wasn't my cat, of course, and Tweed, I'm certainly not telling you
how you should feel. But I feel better knowing that she wasn't killed
recklessly, and that she might have died at around the same time anyway -
that maybe this really was her time. At least this way, it was fast and
humane.

Tweed, I feel bad that you weren't there to say goodbye. I know how
important that is. I just can't imagine having sudden emergency surgery
and being hospitized several days, only to come home and discover that
your cat has been euthanized. It's traumatic. My heart goes out to you.

Purrs,

--
Joyce ^..^

To email me, remove the XXX from my user name.

(---MIKE---) wrote in news:29389-49F9F323-1153
@storefull-3171.bay.webtv.net:

Thank you for an honest and reasonable explanation. Everyone on this
newsgroup was a fan o KFC which is why there was so much emotion. We
all cried when we got the news.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')




And I have to tell you Mike; I don't cry for every lost cat here but we all
know KFC was special and we all know she and Tweed did not deserve this
hand that was dealt them.

Andy

this i think, a very reasonable scenario of the events, and i think a lot of
the hostility could have been avoided had tweed been informed this was a
regular client, then she could have talked to her and gotten a real picture,
but it sure is nice to hear the other side,... makes me feel better about
the practice... but OMG my heart still breaks for tweed,

Lee, who can't email this so hopes you read it
wrote in message
...
We feel that we would like to post a response to the many comments we
have received by email (containing varying degrees of abuse) and that
have been made here following our action in putting KFC to sleep.
Firstly we would like to say how sorry we are for the sadness that has
been caused to so many, and especially her owner, by her passing.

KFC was brought to us by a regular client who rescues, rehabilitates &
rehomes unwanted & stray cats. She felt that KFC was in need of
veterinary attention & brought her straight to us, knowing that we
would happily take the time to care for a lost cat.
The assumption has been made by many that we blindly & automatically
put KFC to sleep simply because she was elderly & seemingly a stray; a
callous, thoughtless and automatic practice decision - that simply is
not the case. Two veterinary surgeons at this practice carefully
examined KFC and after due consideration of her condition made the
decision to put her to sleep (she was in marked respiratory distress,
very dehydrated & was discharging pus from her nose & eyes). She was
dying & any treatment would have simply prolonged her suffering for a
short while. It was not going to be possible to return her to a
reasonable quality of life. On this basis KFC was put to sleep &
should we be presented with this situation again then I hope that we
would make the same decision for the sake of the wellbeing of the
patient.

KFC was very elderly & frail & under such circumstances speedy
deterioration is always possible. It may well be that when KFC was
last seen by her owner and by those who are so keenly criticising us
that she was happy & enjoying a reasonable quality of life but that
simply was not the case at the time she was presented to us.
In regard to making no effort to find her owner, we would respond that
this is not strictly true. It is our policy to check for microchips or
identity tags on all 'strays' that are brought to our surgery
regardless of their state of health or their apparent age. KFC was
scanned & no identichip was found. She was wearing a collar but this
had no identification, phone number or veterinary practice information
on it. Neither our own lost cat book nor the RSPCA's lost cat records
gave any clue to the identification of her owner. Of course we are
aware of the 8 day rule & in every case, where possible, we give first
aid & give the patient's owner time to come forward - but patient
considerations must be put first and, as previously stated, KFC was
dying and to prolong her life under such circumstances was simply not
in her interest.

We do not expect that many of you will agree with our position & that
we will remain in your eyes the callous, uncaring practice that put
KFC to sleep, but nevertheless, whilst we are sorry for & do
understand the upset that our decision has caused her owner, we cannot
apologise for acting as we did.