Dear Editor,
Seeing an animal in need and not being able to help it is one of the hardest things for me as a veterinarian. From talking with colleagues I think this is a common struggle. In veterinary school we were taught so much about disease; prevention, diagnostics and treatment. What we weren’t prepared for were the cases that you couldn’t use this in.
Barrhead’s need for an animal shelter was recently discussed in a previous article [Leader’s Nov. 21 editorial] I will start by saying I very much agree with the author that the feral pet population, in particular cats, is a big problem in our town. That author suggested this should be started by your local veterinarian clinics. As one of the local veterinarians, who has a habit of rescuing animals, I feel it is only right if I continue this discussion.
This time of year at the vet clinic we are commonly presented with stray animals. All of our staff are animal lovers and it is so hard for them to turn them away. When we know of homes for them we often help house them until they can be taken to those homes. Our staff tend to own a lot of these pets but they too can only have so many. I can also think of multiple instances when we have been presented with strays in need of medical care that we have taken in and helped when we have felt it is an animal that we will find a good home for. I would be lying however if I did not agree that there are the heartbreakers that we have to euthanize (if they are too sick to consider homing) or that there are healthy cats we turn away. Those do both happen at every clinic I know.
From the eyes of the person bringing that cat into the clinic, I understand it seems we are the logical place to bring it. I also see that it seems awful when we have to turn them away. However, I would like to cast a different view. My goal is not to discourage the readers from letting us know when they have found strays as we have a lot of success in helping finding homes but to encourage the readers to see why a veterinary hospital is not the ideal rescue facility for a rescue.
When an owner brings a pet to our clinic that is sick or when it comes in and is hospitalized for standard procedures such as a spay, a neuter or dental procedures. Our mission is to provide that animal with the best care possible. Our stress with admitting stray animals into the hospital area is that they become a risk of disease transmission to the other pets. We do have a ward that is called isolation but this ward puts the strays at risk for transmissible disease. Secondly, our hospital area is often also full and our staff work very hard to take care of the admitted animals. Simply due to space and time we cannot always put strays there. And thirdly, a vet clinic is just not a lovely place for an animal to be. They have to be in kennels most of the day and animals are very sensitive to the environment and have an extremely acute sense of smell. I wish it was different, but coming to the vet for a pet is a similar feeling of me going to the dentist. So for a stray animal this is not the nurturing environment I would like for them. A foster home is a much better option.
My final point is that I feel very strongly that even more than an animal shelter, Barrhead needs to get control of the feral pet population. Sterilizing your pet acts as a way to rescue animals as there are far too many homeless animals. I encourage the readers to continue with the great help in rescuing animals in need but please consider that if you take a pet on, ensure that you don’t have more than you can provide for and that you sterilise it so as to ;not propagate the problem.
This problem does not have a simple solution. However, I think if there is public interest, there are ways to help. We must consider the resources available to support a shelter and this would take a lot of time and work and money from interested public. Unfortunately, veterinarians are not given a supply of all these resources despite our desire for it. To the author of the previous article, I thank you for your compassion and for speaking out on a subject that needs to be addressed in this town. I hope together we can come up with a way to help the critters in need.
Dr. Cerah Bowyer
Barr-North Veterinary Services
