Work stories

Yesterday:

Couple walks in with a wicker pot cover.

"We found these three kittens. Mama's run off and they was just born yesterday."

We explained how kittens that young without a mom are euthanized immediately because they'll starve to death. The woman says she got a bottle and milk but couldn't feed them because the bottle was too big. We suggested getting kitten bottles and trying again.

"I don't want to."

Well thank you, ma'am, I'll just take those kittens off to die. Much obliged.

Then they ask if I have something to put the kittens in. I say yes, prepare a transfer cage and place the kittens in it. As I'm walking away, they place the basket on the donation rack. Thanks for making me handle these kittens for no reason.

I left them screaming in the euthanasia room.

Today:

An old guy, maybe 70, 80, walks in and says he needs to drop off his dog. I explain the process and probable outcome and ask him to bring the dog in because it is too hot to be in a car, even with the windows rolled down.

Why are you surrendering the dog? "I have comp'ny and they don't like him, so I have to get rid of him." How long are they staying with you? "About a week." You could board him for a week. If you leave him here, he'll probably be put down. *shrug*

As I enter his information in, I notice he'd surrendered another dog about 3 weeks ago. "That was his mother." Would you like to know what happened to her? "Did y'all put her down?" Yes.

I renamed him Inigo.

Brilliant gems of the day

1.
Two children walk up to the front desk, one about 13 and the other about 8. Both are awkwardly holding scruffy dogs by their armpits. 
"Hi! We'd like to donate our dogs!"
"You mean surrender them?"
Yes!
We don't have any open kennels, so there's a high chance your dogs could be euthanized if you surrender them.
-blank stare-
Put down...?
-blank stare-
Put to sleep?
Oh! But they wake up, right?
No.
Ohhh. So you mean...?
Yes. Dead.
-sad face-

2.
A woman walks in. She is pushing a stroller with a baby in it, holding a toddler by the hand, carrying a half-full large bag of dog food and holding a chain leash to a boxer. She only has two hands, and the baby in the stroller is flailing about and the boxer looks frazzled, almost as frazzled as her owner.
"I need to drop my dog off."
"We don't have any open kennels, and there's a high chance she might be put down."
Oh, but she's a very nice dog.
It doesn't matter. If we don't have space, we don't have space. The only way would be if we took another dog and put her in their kennel, and we don't want to make that decision. I'm sure you wouldn't want to go back there and decide which dog goes to make space for her.
You mean, I can go and choose a puppy and put her there instead?
No.

Work story

A gem from yesterday, because I am too tired to type the others. This one takes it, though.

A lady comes in with two separate cat carriers and her 10-year-old daughter. There is a kitten in each carrier. She puts a pink carrier on the counter and says, "I need to surrender this kitten." How long have you had it? "Oh, I just got it yesterday." Where?"Franklin County." Is it friendly and healthy? "Well..."

The kitten is dying. It is a 2 month old black and white kitten. Its eyes are almost completely crusted shut, its eyes are closed, it is breathing fast out of its mouth. I am absolutely shocked when she opens the carrier. That kitten is dying. "Oh, no, I just came from Banfield and they said it's fine, it just doesn't feel well." No ma'am, that kitten is dying. Someone lied to you. That's not normal. Did they give you any medicine? "No." Then you need to go back and yell at someone for not telling you your kitten is dying.

Real story, partially inferred, mostly pieced together from conversations with the doctor from Banfield and staff from Franklin County Animal Control:

Woman adopts two kittens for $25. Kitten appears to have an eye infection or cold, but woman insists that she will take kitten to vet and take care of it. Woman takes kitten to vet next day, kitten is severely congested but woman declines medicine and states she will simply surrender kitten to shelter because she cannot afford treatment. ONE HOUR LATER, kitten is presented with what appears to be moderate to serious URI (upper respiratory infection; read: cold) exacerbated by heat exhaustion. Despite claiming to have gone directly from vet to shelter, it is suspected that kitten was left in car for at least half an hour while family presumably ate lunch.

5 more minutes in the car, and that kitten would have died.

Not to mention the cat that wasn't surrendered. What the hell is going to happen to that cat?

During our conversation, I was sure that the kitten was going to die before I could even get it back to euthanasia. In fact, its head lolled back and its mouth was hanging open for most of the conversation.

Luckily, though, our 20 minute process enabled the kitten to cool down, and he even perked up when I put his carrier on the table in euthanasia. When the techs went to put him down, he was lively enough that they took him to vet treatment instead, where they got some fluids in him. He's dehydrated with moderate URI, but alive.