Saturday, December 02, 2006

The Job I Should Never Have

Today I took Lester (my cat) to the vet for his weekly fluid injections. This seems to have been keeping him in relatively good shape considering his purported grave condition. You may remember that Labor Day weekend I was told that he should be put to sleep because he was in kidney failure. He's still in kidney failure, that will not get any better. But, he's still eating and "supervising" because he is the king of everything and he has been maintaining his weight over the last few weeks. Thanksgiving turkey left overs certainly didn't go to waste. I don't think any creature in my house had more turkey than Lester. He's coo-coo for turkey!

Soon after I got into the vet's office, I was waiting for the tech to come pick up Lester and take him back for his fluids when I heard it. The sobbing. From a little boy. I looked over and saw him with his head peeked back around the corner into the exam room. He turned around and rubbed his eyes, then came dad, then came mom who had also obviously been crying. It soon became apparent that these people had just put an animal to sleep, which then resulted in the tears pouring down my face. This is the second week in a row that and animal was being or had been put down when I was there. I can usually keep it somewhat together until I get out to the car and then I cry all the way home. Now we know what job I should never have!

4 comments:

Uisce said...

I know what you mean, that would be really hard. But when we lost one of our dogs last year, the whole vet office was so supportive and comforting and helpful. They really made a difference in that awful ordeal, made it a little less horrible. So it is a pretty rewarding job in that way.

Anonymous said...

I think that would be one of the hardest things. I've never had to put an animal down. The two that I've had that passed did so naturally. It sounds like Lester is holding his own for now. I hope he continues to do so.

MarkD60 said...

No kidding. I used to date a veterinarian and she had t do that. She hated that part of the job.

justsparkly said...

I can relate. I had to put my cat to "sleep" last night due to kidney failure after a month of doing the fluids at home every other day - she was the third of my companions to not got naturally in a year. It's heart whrenching. My vet loves the animals and I think that is the only reson I can bring them to her when they are well. I wish you and lester the best. It was nice to read that he is doing so well.