I've had two horrible experiences of putting a ferret down at a local
emergency vet office. The last time I complained about their procedure
and they threatened to not help Luna go.

This past spring Rocky was dying of congestive heart failure and
insulinoma. He had lived a good life but was going downhill rapidly. He
finally stopped eating and I should have taken him to our regular vet
then and there, but I waited. Sunday morning he started with screaming
seizures so I bundled him up to make 45 minute drive to the emergency
vet. I drove with him on my lap, screaming every five minutes. I pulled
in, ran inside and told them what I needed. They insisted on finding a
vein to put a catheter in first and took him away from me. When they
finally got me into a room and brought Rocky back he had already passed
while they fumbled around to insert a damned catheter! I didn't get to
really say goodbye and kick myself because he was alone with strangers.

Unfortunately in September I had to use this 'emergency vet' again.
Luna had had some sort of seizure and was head tilting and unable to
walk. My vet couldn't find anything in particular wrong so we gave her
pred and hoped that she'd come out of it. She appeared to get better,
then on Sunday, always a Sunday, she could no longer move or eat at
all. I wasn't going to let her suffer so rushed off to the emergency
vet again. When I arrived I told them I wanted an injection in her
stomach, no catheter because I thought it was cruel. They put me in a
room with Luna and had the tech come in to tell me that the doctor said
it was cruel to NOT put a catheter in and if I wouldn't do it this way,
they wouldn't put her down. There is only one other emergency vet in
Rhode Island that I'm aware of and they don't touch ferrets at all,
even in an emergency. I let them put the catheter in and Luna did slip
off peacefully in my arms but I was not happy about it at all.

I've put another ferret down with gas first and I won't do that again
because they DO struggle. I've had ferrets put down with the stomach
injection and I will ALWAYS have it done this way from now on. It's not
painful, it's peaceful and quiet and calm. I want the last thing my
ferrets smell to be me and the touch of my hands and my voice. Not some
noxious gas or some idiot poking them over and over again to insert a
catheter.

I told my vet about the two experiences at this emergency vet. She
despises them almost as much as I do. She gave me her home number and
her cell so that I would never have to do that again. Now THAT's a vet
who is compassionate and caring.

If anyone lives in RI or nearby MA or CT and wants to know who the
clinic is and who my vet is, contact me off list.

Leslie

[Posted in FML 6532]