Joined
·
95 Posts
I'm curious if this is normal, or is my vet just cruel?
I've had the same vet for 20+ years. He's taken care of all of my pets since day 1, and he knows me professionally.
I used to have 2 cats in addition to my 2 dogs. They were indoor cats for 16+ years, and when they got older I didn't take them for their rabies vaccine because
(a) they're indoor cats,
(b) they weren't in the best health so I didn't want to rock the boat, and
(c) rabies is exceedingly rare in my area, with the last case in 2018 (from a skunk).
Looking at the last 20 years, the only cases of rabies in my area were skunks. And since my cats were indoor, there was 0 risk of them encountering one of the rare rabid skunks :-/
Anyway. When it came their time to go (almost exactly 1 month apart), the vet insisted on fully vaccinating them before he could euthanize them.
Is that normal? What exactly was the vaccine supposed to accomplish at that point, other than racking up the bill and causing them more pain and suffering?
Now, one of my dogs (an indoor 13 year old beagle mix rescue) is near the end. He's a very special case, he's terrified of people and has stress seizures. The last time I took him to the vet (in 2019), the vet rushed him out of the office because he was about to have a heart attack!
So today I called the vet and asked if there's anything they can do at all to help me with his transition... prescribe some sort of sedative so that I can calm him enough to bring him over, maybe? They work on farm animals, too, so maybe even a house call?
I was told, no, we can't do anything until he's been vaccinated. Bring him in on Friday (note, it's currently Monday), we'll vaccinate him, and then we'll see what we can do. They simply will not do anything else until he's been vaccinated.
Again, is this normal?
I'm pretty livid, honestly, so I need to know whether this is common practice (and if so, why) before I blow up.
I've had the same vet for 20+ years. He's taken care of all of my pets since day 1, and he knows me professionally.
I used to have 2 cats in addition to my 2 dogs. They were indoor cats for 16+ years, and when they got older I didn't take them for their rabies vaccine because
(a) they're indoor cats,
(b) they weren't in the best health so I didn't want to rock the boat, and
(c) rabies is exceedingly rare in my area, with the last case in 2018 (from a skunk).
Looking at the last 20 years, the only cases of rabies in my area were skunks. And since my cats were indoor, there was 0 risk of them encountering one of the rare rabid skunks :-/
Anyway. When it came their time to go (almost exactly 1 month apart), the vet insisted on fully vaccinating them before he could euthanize them.
Is that normal? What exactly was the vaccine supposed to accomplish at that point, other than racking up the bill and causing them more pain and suffering?
Now, one of my dogs (an indoor 13 year old beagle mix rescue) is near the end. He's a very special case, he's terrified of people and has stress seizures. The last time I took him to the vet (in 2019), the vet rushed him out of the office because he was about to have a heart attack!
So today I called the vet and asked if there's anything they can do at all to help me with his transition... prescribe some sort of sedative so that I can calm him enough to bring him over, maybe? They work on farm animals, too, so maybe even a house call?
I was told, no, we can't do anything until he's been vaccinated. Bring him in on Friday (note, it's currently Monday), we'll vaccinate him, and then we'll see what we can do. They simply will not do anything else until he's been vaccinated.
Again, is this normal?
I'm pretty livid, honestly, so I need to know whether this is common practice (and if so, why) before I blow up.