Shame

[Dragonfly]

Anyone who has ever had a medical problem with their pet and has looked for financial help will know what I am about to say...

Twice now I have had medical emergencies with pets that I have saved from others. Both times I tried enlisting the help of any vet or the humane society to help me as I couldn't at the time afford the huge bills. The first time I rescued a pregnant cat who needed a c section and was told to bring her into be euthanized because they didn't do payment plans or anything to help me out. So I took her across the river where did they not only take her in without an appointment or extra fees, they gave her the section as well as a spaying, AND gave me about 400 dollars off which cost me just over 300 instead of the well over 1000 here.

I had another cat brought to me who I was told was fixed. She began bleeding at night and everyone I called once again told me to Euthanize her. She ended up passing a placenta at my home the next day which stopped the bleeding, so obviously she wasn't fixed.

Across the river I was told that it is ILLEGAL to euthanize an animal for that reason that they have to help it. I dont know if that really is the way it works over here or not, but I think it is disgusting that they would just kill a PREGNANT or an animal in ACTIVE LABOUR and ask YOU to PAY for the euthanization rather than save the animal. Why the hell are they in the practice if they dont have the desire to help the animal in need. Not many people have like 800 dollars which it would have cost me to get that c section ALONE over here. Can they not at least have a payment plan?? That's alot of money for even a well to do person, let alone the average person.

For any vet who may be reading this, SHAME on you and the practice you have comitted yourself to. I can't help but wonder how you sleep at night or if you see the faces of all the animals you killed needlessly in your dreams, because I assure you that all the owners who like me came to you for help and were turned away and lost a loved one, our pets, because of it, do see them in ours.

[sereenie]

I will always go across the river, they are so Nice and everything, Maybe the people here might be nice, But they certainly dont have the heart of those across the river.
It is a SHAME that they will not help out. Its very sad in reality that they would turn down a animal In pain. And the prices are almost ridicoulous.
I called to see how much to fix a cat was. Female they told me was about 3 something.
*Are you guys kidding me? was my response. Like please does it take that much money seriously for the stuff and time to fix a cat, I really doubt probly cost like 150 for all there anastetics and that.

[animal lover]

well even if your pet is dying from being hit by a car or whatever, if you've had their shots given across the river, they will turn you down on this side.
How pathetic and unethical is that????

I will ALWAYS take my pets across the river.
Even if you've never had them to a vet over there, and you call them, no matter what time, they will tell you to come right over.

Honestly, if i was a vet and someone called me for emergency services there is no way in hell that I could say no, just because they had shots or whatever somewhere else.
Turning down an animal in pain would haunt me for the rest of my life. I simply couldn't do it.

Most other animal lovers couldn't either.
When i checked with the Vet Board they siad that local vets were "under no obligation" to help an animal that wasn;t their client.

Perhaps they aren't "obligated" but where does compassion and the desire to help animals go when they turn a dying animal away??

[A*lil*Loopy]

I've never had a problem with my vet locally. We've been with the same office for years and did have a major emergency, they met me there and performed emergency surgery without asking me for money. Keep in mind that they've known me for years and my animals are regular patients. I had no choice but to make payments and they permitted me to do so without freaking out on me. I've gone in to euthanize pets and they've tried to discuss other options with me just to make sure I've made the right decision.

I've talked to vets on call (one actually) who was a complete jerk and my rabbit died in my arms because the guy didn't take me seriously. He didn't believe that the rabbit was a regular patient at a local office. He's the only loser I've had to deal with.

I think that there are different circumstances and we would like to believe that they are heartfelt people who dedicate their lives to saving animals, and have no family/business to support or bills to pay. In reality just having vet offices cost big bucks, the medication in Canada is far more expensive, and so on. It doesn't seem fair, but sometimes there have to be other views. It could depend on the relationship someone has with their regular vet also.

Sometimes I wonder if when people call for emergencies, they are getting the jerk. (although I know that the vets rotate for emerg) I'm not slamming anyone, just saying that I've been lucky enough to not have any of these problems that so many people seem to run into.

[leafs93]

It's really really sad. What gets me is that a vet takes an oath the same as a doctor

"To use scientific knowledge and skills for protection of animal health, relief of animal suffering, conservation of animal resources, promotion of animal health and advancement of medical knowledge. To practise vet medicine in the intrest of animal welfare"

Meanwhile some vets on our side will not treat a suffering animal that has been treated in the USA.

I was wondering is our border town the only bordertown that deals with this kind of BS??? Just curious if our town is the only town that seems so biased against animal welfare??

I just wanted to add, the people who opt for regular vet care on the other side of the border....at least they are taking care of their animals. They make the choice of making sure their animals are being vaccinated, spay/neutered and in all round good health. In a time of emergency why should they be denied care???? At least they give a darn about their pets.

[kitca]

well, i have and have several friends have horrible emergency no service with our vets. in fact, before the secretary taking the call would proceed we had to give her our credit card number. we were told that if the vet thinks the call was not important we weoul be charged, $25. inconvenience fee. first thing the vet asked was if the dog had been across the river, then he refused service. major jerk.

what we did is put calls into both emergency numbers - and look for the first one to call. the dog in this case was hit by a car and had a shattered pelvis and a flap of skin ripped off exposing 6-8 inches of muscle underneath. (he made a full recovery) we just wanted fast service.

leafs, other towns i have lived in have had spay/neuter clinics, and all sorts of things that our local vets will not allow here in our city.

i can understand that things may cost more in one country than another, that is true of most businesses. you dont see sears refusing to sell to someone because they went shopping at penny's. it is just ridicioulous! the business needs to offer excellent service - if you cant compete with price then use whatever else you can to compete - but our vets choose, well, what they choose is wrong. if the vets on the american side had the attitude that the canadian vets have i would pay more and use the cdn vets because i would respect them. it is just a nice bonus that i respect the usa vets AND they are cheaper too.

[animal lover]

Here is the question I asked of Martin Fischer,Investigator/Practice Resource Officer at the Ontario Veterinary College and his answer to me below


ME: "The Sault has many animal lovers and it is difficult to understand the refusal of local vets to participate in a low cost clinic, when they are the people to whom we rely on for the well being of our cherished pets.

As one person at your college told me, a veterinary practice is a business and local vets can choose whomever they wish to serve. This was in regard to thefact that if local residents get their animals vaccinations or neutering done in Sault Michigan, the vets here will not treat a pet in an emergency.

People go where they can afford to go, and it seems to many, that it is petty if not downright cruel to refuse a dying animal veterinary care, regardless ofwhere they got their vaccinations.

Although I understand that the Veterinary clinics have to make a profit, those of us who truly care about animals cannot understand the adamant refusal oflocal vets to help those animals that need them the most.
Could you please explain this refusal? Many people including myself would love to know the answer. it seems wrong somehow for veterinarians to turn their backs on animals in need."


This is Mr Fisher's answer:
"Veterinarians are required to provide after-hours care to their client’s animals. They are not required to provide emergency services for animals of other individuals. Other professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, architects or engineers have no legal responsibility to provide services to individuals who are not their clients or patients. There is nothing in the legislation which requires that veterinarians be held to a higher standard than other professionals."

[animal lover]

So as you can see, there is nothing "in the legislation" that requires them to help.

But wouldn't/shouldn't a vet want to help all animals regardless of where they went before???

Frankly I just don't understand it at all.

[leafs93]

That is really deeply disturbing to me, Mr. Fisher's answer.

So I guess if you get wheeled into an emergency room, when they ask who your doctor is and you inform them you have no family doctor...then they put you back on the curb because professionals don't have to provide a service because you aren't a client.

What happens if you are visiting our city from out of state, and say you pet gets hurt bad, you call our vets and when asked if your pet has had care in the USA, of course you say yes......and get an answer of "well then we can't help you".

I honestly couldn't live with myself if I passed over an injured animal because of a money grab (which IMO it seems to be)

[Dragonfly]

Well I am glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way. That is another reason why I am afraid to go across the river even though it has obvious benefits, I do not own a car so what happens if I cant find someone who does if I have an emergency?? My animal dies all because the vets are ignorant as far as I'm concerned. I udnerstand that its there way of trying to keep canadians using canadian services rather than giving it to the american economy,but if the canadian services were worth using or felt that we were worth there time we would. I just cant help but wonder if theres more that we can do...

[LadyNina]

Do you read Karen Johns' articles on soonews? Her article today might be of some help. It's a plea to help the animals in this city. The brick walls she's slammed her head against are a disgrace. With ZERO help from the Vets and the Humane Society and the City, we cannot seem to bring in a low cost spay/neuter clinic. Also, we cannot bring in a low cost/free rabies clinic. We cannot get the Vets to discount the prices of spays/neuters so more people could afford to have this done.
Karen is asking people to contact her about this issue. If you are willing to help, please read her column.

http://www.soonews.ca/viewblog.php?id=19397

It's a little off topic, but it could benefit your situation greatly. The Vet situation in our two cities is brutal. Across the river seems so much better, both with their vets, AND the way they run their city shelter/humane society? (I'm not sure what it's called) If our side was run the way their side was, it would keep money on our side of the border, less pets would be euthanized and more people would be financially able to care for a pet in their house.

[debrac]

We have many Cdn coming over to adopt animals. And when karen and Cheryl where ther we had two call from local groups want to provide a service. even getting your local school groups or clubs involved to support a spay/neuter. have the group leaders call your vet and say Hey im with girl Scouts andwe would like to sponcer a needy pet woul you be willing to give us a discount on this service. dosent hurt to ask.

[Dragonfly]

Thats a neat idea but I think the vets are even able to turn down the call of girl scout cookies :P but definately worth a try

[GRUMPY]

The main trouble I think is that on this side they see it as a business.But to play the Devil's advocate here for a while if you know the situation before hand on how you will be treated on this side in an emergency situation if they find out you take your dogs across the river for their shot why do so many come on here ranting and raving about it? They knew what the situation was and took the chance that nothing would happen. Also there are people with numerous pets that can not afford their medical treatment,doesn't it make more sense to only have as many pets as you can afford to keep (by keep I mean everything that involves ,food,medicine and time to spend with each of them). I'm not saying that I agree with it just saying that this is the way it IS. Now we all can moan and scream that it isn't right but as has been shown that does nothing at all to help . Or we can offer Karen Johns our support and maybe something will happen,however just sitting back in here and bemoaning the situation does nothing at all.

[Dragonfly]

You know, I agree that we should be able to afford them however, I feel that we or at least I am, complaining because it shouldn't be that hard or expensive to own and care for an animal especially when all the shelters and what have you are crying for more adoptive parents. The fact of the matter is that average people cant afford the medical bills and so more animals than need be are euthanised or left to suffer.Also, it isnt so much the fact that I would have to take my animals across in the case of an emergency, I would rather as I feel they are better qualified etc. but the fact that I have to do that at all is what bothers me. If they would just make it a little bit easier for pet owners on this side we wouldn't seek the medical help across the river. I realise that they are a business but are the american run vets not a business also? Do they not thrive without breaking our banks and sometimes in turn our hearts on most every occasion? Being a business doesn't mean that you have to be virtually heartless to be successful.

[kitca]

oh come on grump, its human nature! we know the boss is a jerk, but we still complain around the wter cooler everyday; we know the government is corrupt but we still complain every chance we get; we know the husband cheats or beats but still put up with it and complain. you know, we all do it with everything, why should this be different. also, it is just so very morally wrong, and i think we genuinly (sp?) would love to affect some change. you cannot change what you dont accept, you cannot change what you dont understand and talk about and discuss. then you have to go forward, like karen johns is doing now by trying to get folks together and discuss a solution. im definatly going to join her and see what we can all come up with. nothing is oging to happen over nite, but at least i think its a step forward.

[GRUMPY]

Thats my whole point people come on here (myself included) and moan and groan about this or that not being right and thats as far as it goes. Now instead of doing that why don't we offer karen johns our support and even if we don't change all the wrongs in the world at least we can say we tried.

[kitca]

well said! it will feel better to try and be part of a solution, at least to try.

[Dragonfly]

Thats my whole point, BUT if we dont discuss then less people know about the situation. The more we discuss it on places like these the more people will at least read it and be aware of the situation and hopefully as you said try to be the change we talk about. But without knowledge there is no power.

[animal lover]

If anyone wants to get on board please e-mail me : karen@soonews.ca

I truly believe taht if we get the numbrs we can make some positive changes in this city with regard to animals.
As it stands right now, the ones who could effect change, can't seem to bother. they are content to let things be as they are.
i think it's time we pull together and take some action.

there are too many unwanted animals inthis city and far to many that have to be euthanized.

With the downturn in the economy, there are too many people who will have to put the needs of their pets last.
Please help by being pro-active!
thank you
karen