Is this normal??

Re: Is this normal??

Suze — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:51:24 GMT

the legalities around all of this can be tight enough. we were informed that we HAD to contact the pound when a stray came in as they were legally the first port of call. If we were to keep an animal it had to be because the person who found it was willing to foster it! The pound near me will only keep some dogs for 5 days and i really dread to think what happens a dog if it goes there on a thurs or a f ri as they are closed over weekends.....it is abit of a catch as we realsie if we dont contact them we are risking the chance that the owner has contacted the pound and left details but if we do they want the dog sent to them and we dont know how long it will be held................

Re: Is this normal??

Fuzzyduck — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:55:15 GMT

We have a hell of alot of strays come in and clients who cant afford treatment or just dont want the animals anymore for whatever reason.

Mostly the nurses will try and talk the vets out of euthanasia, we work with a couple of rescue centres, one euthanaises animals within a time frame if they dont find a home, which while i dont really like this, at least the animals arnt sitting in centres for months/years on end with no hope of a home, but they are given a chance to find a home.

Most of our vets are pretty good and we are all soft so we persuade them to rehome where possible. I dont know how it stands with legalities of nurses refusing to assist with euthanasia but i have in the past refused to assist when i didnt agree with the euth in question, my boss wasnt very happy but i wont be forced in to doing something i dont agree with end of

Re: Is this normal??

Suze — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:05:29 GMT

Hey bavaria, i'm here in ireland too and we are seeing so many strays at the moment. We try not to take them in if we can get them into a shelter but unfortunatley all us nurses are big softies!

I can see both sides but i think alot of it comes down to the individual vet and practice and whet their policies are for dealing with strays. The downside is minding them at weekends and the risk of them picking up something in the clinic.

Re: Is this normal??

Victoria Nielsen RVN — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:55:21 GMT

Legally, I don't think Veterinary Nurses don't really have a leg to stand on. We aren't a protected title and although we have a Code of Conduct, it's still the Veterinary Surgeon's ultimate responsibility for everything we do unfortunately. So if the Vet says yes, I'm putting the animal to sleep then we can't really do anything. The Veterinary Surgeon took an oath and has to abide by the owner's wishes, whether they like it or not. They can try and get the animal signed over, but then if you can't rehome it, what do you do? Or if the owner doesn't want to sign it over? Sometimes, it is kinder to PTS.

Re: Is this normal??

Cloudy Weather — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:02:49 GMT

but legally does a qualified nurse have an obligation to carry out an owners request? I understand the counter argument for euthansia and it would be awful to see an animal suffer but it is all what ifs, it could be that animal finds a home straight away and has a greater quality of life than before. If we can not fully justify euthanaising a healthy animal should we be doing. And if we were going to kill an animal for fear of it having a hard time being rehomed should we not be reviewing our policy on breeders, for the more dogs bred the more likely dogs/cats in shelters will not be rehomed and may increase the amount of unwanted dogs dumped outside our doors.

I am not saying either argument has more right I just think it is an interesting and thought provoking topic which I and I imagine others are interested in hearing peoples views on. After all it is a life we are dealing with, and one which we are partly responsible for, and as such we have a duty to know that the decisions we make are based on the best thing for that individual animal

Re: Is this normal??

Gemma Burden RVN — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:43:01 GMT

We are lucky where I work that we are not in an area where people are getting to the stage where they are bringing in healthy animals for euthinasia or abandoning them, but I do agree with what others have said, I think in some cases its kinder to put the animal to sleep rather than condem it to possibly years in a rehoming kennel. Its never easy to do, but I think the welfare of the animal has to come first, and if it is going to be miserable and potentially never rehomed then it is for the best.

Re: Is this normal??

Victoria Nielsen RVN — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:31:34 GMT

Ultimately, it's the responsbility and decision of the Veterinary Surgeon.

But where I am, they can sign the animal over to the practice and we can then rehome the animal ourselves.

Re: Is this normal??

Cloudy Weather — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:02:18 GMT

From a legal perspective what right does a veterinary nurse have in refusing to euthanise an animal. Say a client came in with a young animal completely healthy and no behavioral issues at all but they wanted it put to sleep as simply did not want it anymore, you offer all the alternatives but the owner still wants it put to sleep?

Re: Is this normal??

bavaria — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:47:47 GMT

Thanks for replies..

Just want to ad something, i work in 4 vet mixed practice, 3 partners and the assistant, the one i mentioned above. The other three vets have no problem rehoming, i mean one at the time and its always been the case even before i started there. They are not send from one rescue to another. Since i started i have homed a lot of dogs working with a very responsible rescue that only uses foster homes and do very strict homechecks, animals never go from one rescue to another. Of course the homes not always work out but they always are given another chance. So i was just really annoyed as i think this was unnecessary considering the situation.:-(

Thanks Mark, i have never thought of that i mean what you said about the good poker face. I'm sure you are right about that but i doubt this is the case, i've known her for too long to believe that. But i might be wrong...:-)

Re: Is this normal??

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:13:40 GMT

"It depends". It's a touchy subject, very correctly. It might be the silly "gets a taste for blood" myth that too many people believe, it might be that your vet didn't want to condemn the dog to a life of being constantly rehomed. (A dog that's been rehomed before may be rehomed again. It shouldn't happen but it does.) Alternatively your vet is trying to prevent everyone bringing their pets to your clinic because 'you'll rehome them no matter what' and then it's an easy option to just drop the pets at your place instead of taking care of their pets responsibly.

Another point is that vets often feel they have to choose between an animal's needs and the owner's needs. (Sorry, if I had a penny for every alleged stray I've seen, I'd be quite wealthy!) Many of these strays are nothing of the sort - some people just try to pull the 'rescue' card to get a bit knocked off the bill. Sometimes vets feel they need to be hard, to avoid being hurt by betrayal.

And it's also completely possible that your vet has a very good poker face, and it's actually tearing her up inside - just ask VetLife.

I don't know, of course - but we're very good at bottling things up.

I never liked putting healthy animals to sleep. I've rehomed my fair share, but it didn't always work out and I've had to put them to sleep too. Bad times. Hope you feel better...

Re: Is this normal??

Sal the 1st — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:12:40 GMT

I can empathise with the way you feel - and I used to feel this way too. However many years working with animal charities I do see things a little differently now. Rehoming centres are bursting at the seams and much as I would love to save every single animal realistically it aint going to happen. Its easy to say ok this animal could be rehomed but is it that easy to make that happen? and what happens to that animal in between looking for a home and finding a home. Some dogs cope with rescue kennels well IF they can get into one and some dont. Is there any possibility that the vet euthanased this dog not because they didnt care enough to give it a second chance but because they did care about what could be its future welfare?

Re: Is this normal??

Louise B — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:55:18 GMT

I'd say it is probably quite a bit worse in Ireland based on the fact that quite a lot of UK dog shelters are admitting dogs from Irish shelters that are due to be destroyed. However, I have no personal experience of irish animal welfare.