A Disgusting Thing From Work--not for those with weak stomachs

The BBQ Pit
43

Poor cat. What’s completely beyond me is that she told you the cut was healing. WTFBBQ??!?!?!

ghandi you and your co-workers did right. Extend my respect to all of them, and like Atreyu said, especially the one who bitched out Mrs. Bitch. And pet the cat.

You know, it doesn’t matter that the cat’s a former stray, or that it’s “just a cat.” You just. don’t. DO that.

I would also really like to know how the cat got sliced up in the first place. My gut feeling says it was through another act of negligence, but I’ll hold off on judgment here. If you ever find out, tell us, okay?

44

The kitty is doing much better today. Much good news to share. He has a name, and it is Cecil. Everyone at the animal hospital agreed on it.

He’s doing well…all sutured up, no longer under heavy sedation. The doctor did a lot of bloodwork to see if anything else was wrong, but Cecil’s heart, liver, kidneys, thyroid, hormone levels are all normal. Also, he doesn’t have heartworms or intestinal worms or mites. He does have fleas, but that’s being treated. Cecil is now up to date on his distemper and rabies shots, as well as awake from heavy sedation. He is on some pain medication, but not the heavy duty make you sleepy medications. He’s also on antibiotics to prevent infection, but the wound is looking good…very clean, some minor oozing. He’s also in a collar to prevent him from trying to clean his face or pull out the stitches. I’m just glad to see him awake and that there is no infection.

The owner will not be allowed to adopt other animals from local SPCAs or Humane Society offices. We’ve also called other vet offices and animal hospitals in the area to let them know that prior pets have been taken away by the SPCA. No other local vets have records for this woman. The fact that her other animals were healthy was probably just because nothing bad had happened to them yet. The dog was in a fenced in yard, and the other cats were indoor. It doesn’t surprise me that they were in decent health when they weren’t exposed to an unsheltered life. Cecil came inside sometimes, but spent most of his time outdoors. He probably got his injury from another cat or a dog attack. Mrs. Stupid Bitch brought the cat inside and confined him in a separate room when she saw the cut, but failed to seek any sort of medical attention until days later. Why, I’m not sure. It wasn’t money, because she paid up front, with cash. It wasn’t fear of the vet, because she had been in the past. I’m not sure I’ll know.

I do know that at this animal hospital, all staff, regardless of if they actively handle animals or not, are taught to ask questions of our clients–is the animal vomiting, having diarrehea, walking differently, exhibiting behavior changes, not eating, not drinking, not urinating, bleeding, limping, etc–to determine emergency and priority cases. We save at least 4 emergency appointments every evening, and will schedule vaccines and check ups earlier in the day, just in case of an emergency. We know how many emergencies we can handle, and if we can’t handle an emergency, we recommend another animal hospital and call over to let them know that there is an emergency coming in and all of the details. If we have a chart, we fax it over, so the other hospital is prepared when the patient arrives. The practice isn’t about the money, so we won’t make a critical care patient wait just so we can get a payment. If we have the space for an emergency, we take it, whether or not the client can pay up front. We will work out a payment plan, even if it’s $5 or $10 or $20 a week or a month. If someone isn’t willing to pay the bill or care for the animal after critical care, the staff has the option to adopt and pay any remaining balance off at a discount (if it’s below $100). Any balance beyond will get written off for a staff member that wants to adopt an abandoned animal. If no one can take it, we’ll either keep it as the office pet or adopt it to a current client or the SPCA. And if someone isn’t sure about bringing in an animal for any of those reasons, we will explain all of the above. But if someone, who has been told that their cat’s open wound IS an emergency, will not come in because it’s “inconveinent,” there isn’t a lot we can do to persuade them to come in (other than what we already said about this case being an emergency). That’s what made me so mad…that an emergency obviously isn’t as important as this woman’s conveinence. If it was her or her kid who had their face torn open and hanging in their eyes, I’m certain she would be in the ER screaming up a storm about having to wait in such an urgent situation.

45

quote Grienspace:

Actually, we don’t. As long as the animals aren’t attacking other animals, you can bring them in whatever you want. Most cat owners bring the cats in towels or carriers or a box. Some will just hold their cats. Most dog owners use a leash. A very short leash.

46

Well you pretty well cleared up any reservations I had ghandi5569. Glad to hear things are going well with the little doper. :slight_smile:

47

gandhi, I love ya and all-- but only enough to let it slide by the first four times: It’s “convenient.” I think conveinence has something to do with the circulatory system. :wink:

Thanks for the update on wee Cecil. Any idea how long before his fate is determined, vis-a-vis the possibility of being returned to Ms. Stupid Bitch? Sorry, too lazy to look into the PA laws about this. I assume that he won’t be staying at your office after his wounds heal – what then? The ASPCA?

48

Mrs. Lazyass McStupid-Bitch needs a good ass-kicking, then a shot to the face with a hard object. Preferably a brick. That I threw. Jesus, I fucking hate the human species something.

(swallows my bitterness about the general world going to hell in a handbasket)

How can anyone let a living thing suffer that way? To let a helpless animal malinger in that state is malevolent at worst and inhumane at best. Good god.

Fucking. Preach. It.

(fades back into obscurity and lurks about)

49

Psssst… QueerGeekGirl…

malinger

Sorry. I just clicked over into pedant mode. Obnoxious, isn’t it?

Uh, elsewhere in the news: “Right on!”

50

WHAT??

she should have her children taken away??

Jesus Christ, I get the connection between sick perverts who torture animals, and their lack of empathy for other living creatures, yadda yadda yadda. Was the woman carving up the cat’s face for fun and profit? She was remiss in not taking the cat to the vet immediately, but a truly heartless person would not have taken the cat to the vet at all. Neither would a truly heartless person take in four other animals.

I have a kid, and I have two cats. I love my cats dearly, but the fact of the matter is, that I take my kid’s medical care far more seriously than my cat’s medical care. That and my kid has medical insurance.

I’m glad Cecil is doing better. poor little guy.

51

Cecil, once he is recovered and the stitches come out, will be our office kitty. The doctor who did cleaned the wound up and sutured it up (and the one who yelled at Mrs. Stupid Bitch) said that he will not let her have him back. If she even bothers to show up to pick him up. Right now, she’s pretty pissed about having her animals taken by the SPCA, and is probably going to try to fight them for her animals. I doubt that she’ll get them back. At this point, it’s her word against a veternarian, the staff of the first established animal hospital in town (which is AAHA–American Animal Hospital Association–certified), her archived chart and x-rays showing an infection of a previous animal due to neglect, her current chart detailing the state of Cecil’s face and extent of surgury needed to repair the damage, and a treatment log detailing his recovery. If she trys to fight us about taking her money for treatment, we’ll give her money back. She just is NOT getting the cat back.

I also wanted to address this from CrazyCatLady:

Most of the emergencies that come into our office are things that were out of the owners control–like the animal was hit by a car or broken bones or seizures or fainting or gunshot wounds (lately, in the area, there have been a rash of cat shootings–these aren’t BBs either but bigger bullets and shells so I’m not sure if its due to hunting season or jerks with nothing better to do with a gun). Very rarely do we get an emergency that is due to pure neglect. If someone calls and tells us that they’re animal is acting strangely–hiding or snarling at the owner when the animal has been friendly, we have them bring it in. If they can’t, we’ll send out help. There have been times that the doctor on call will go to a client’s house to help them move furniture that an animal has been hiding under or to help them catch an aggressive animal. There is a difference between not being able to catch or handle a sick animal to bring it in for an appointment and not being willing to come in for an appointment. (Of course, we are required to note everything in the patient’s chart, so if an owner can’t get their animal to come in to the vet, we have that recorded. If they say that they don’t want to come in, we note that also.)

52

The majority of our emergency cases were, as you say, gunshots, HBC’s, snakebites, allergic reactions, and dystocias. However, and I truly think has more to do with our specific clientelle than anything else, we also saw quite a few animals whose collars had grown into their necks, creating horrible wounds, who had open wounds that were infected and full of maggots, who had had vomiting and diarrhea for a week and were at death’s door, or who had been hit by a car several days before and limped ever since because they had a broken leg. And I will never forget the poor little pit bull pup whose penis had somehow gotten stuck out of the sheath for a couple of days. His pen had cedar chips all over the floor, and he had them stuck all over everything. We not only had to somehow reduce all this swelling and get his poor little penis back where it belonged, we had to pick wood chips and splinters out of everything first.

And don’t even get me started on the half-starved dog we once euthanized who had a hole all the way through his jaw, necrotic and squirming with maggots.

53

Oh, I just wanted to add that most of these poor animals were no problem at all for anyone to handle, and many of them were licking and nuzzling their owners (or the tech holding them) during the exam. I have nothing but sympathy for people who are unable to catch or transport their animals, and we always did our best to help those folks out. People like this woman and most of our neglectful clients, however, I have nothing but disgust and contempt for.

54

Ya’ll think think this is bad? (and I’m not saying it isn’t) Then hear this: when I worked as a crime reporter I covered a criminal trial where a couple let a wound on the head of their infant daughter fester. Police investigated the family and took the kid to the hospital after somebody turned them in anonymously. The attending physician testified in open court that when he took the band-aid off the cut, the smell was so revolting one of his nurses had to leave the room.

Both parents are now in prison for trying to take the kids back from Social Services at gunpoint. It’s quite a tale, in its entirety.

55

The point of the above is, as bad as this woman acted, there ARE worse people in the world. I have seen them.

56

Of course there are worse people in the world, but that doesn’t make this woman any less horrible.

57

Uh, no. Serial killers often have a history of abusing animals. This does not by any stretch of the imagination mean the same thing as ‘people who don’t get all worked up over an injured animal are usually serial killers.’

58

I think what Siemsi was trying to say was that abusive people and serial killers are, for the most part, devoid of empathy and compassion. That is not the same as saying that people who don’t get worked up about an injured animal are usually serial killers.

59

Eww. Just, eww.

I remember one day in late 2000 when my roommate called me into the other room because my little fluffbucket Zazou had something wrong with his head. Actually, he had a cut about two centimetres long that was oozing ugly pus. I flipped out and called the vet, then immediately got a taxi and rushed him out. (None of which I could really afford.) Happily, he was fine, tho’ he had to wear a lampshade for a little while and get pills. (I handled him so much as a kitten that he sat still for the pills - take note!)

All the way through I felt so incredibly guilty that I hadn’t noticed the wound sooner. I can’t imagine the dearth of affection it would take to put off a horrible wound like the one described until it was convenient. I probably would have taken him to the vet if I had had a damn exam in five minutes. Jesus.

60

I’m just wondering if there are any updates. Has this woman been back, ghandi? Has she called to find out how her cat is or anything? You mentioned she was upset that her other pets were taken away, has she said anything to your office about it?

I guess I’m just curious about how both parties are dealing with this situation. I wonder if she realizes how she neglected the cat and if there is any remorse. My cat died in June and I still feel horrible that maybe there was more I could have done to save her, so the fact that someone could see something so obviously wrong and do nothing baffles me. :frowning:

61

Mrs. Stupid Bitch did come in on Saturday to try to get Cecil back. And we told her to take that up with the SPCA. The cat is not to be released to her (not like he could be, because he’s on medication and has a drain in the wounds and is under treatment). The doctor who initally saw Cecil and yelled at her came out of the exam room to tell her that she wasn’t getting that cat back. He said that it was because of her neglect that he is hospitalized in the first place. As for her other animals, she’ll have to wait for her court date to plead her case for wanting her animals back. I doubt that she’s going to get any of them.

Cecil is doing well. No infections have set in (he’s on antibiotics as a preventive measure). He doesn’t have a lot of movement in his face. He can blink, and sort of crinkle his nose, but he can’t move his ears back or anything like that. Most of those facial muscles are severely damaged. He’s still got sutures in, and his face looks like a demented road map. He is eating though, just canned food. And he’s getting lots of love from the staff. He tries to nuzzle and give kitty kisses, but we have to pet him from the back down (we don’t want to touch the open wound and contaiminate it or anything).

62

When I read stuff like this (mostly by accident, because I can’t stand to know about animal abuse), I remind myself of what a Cree Indian told me once; he said that they believe that what you do to animals in this life will be done to you in the next.

Lizard, I know this has been covered on the Dope before, but I don’t differentiate between people neglecting helpless animals or helpless humans in their care. If you have a responsibility to look after another organism that can’t look after yourself, then you damn well fulfill that responsibility, whether it’s a cat, dog, frog, baby, or elderly relative. End of story, in my opinion.