A Sad Pet Story

This is a story of a girl and a dog that unfortunately is true. It makes me value the care my dog received last week from a loving vet.

Yesterday morning as I was making a cup of tea, a woman in my office, whom I think of as just a girl, related a story of what happened to her feisty golden retriever last Friday. She lives in a fairly rural area of Calvert County, an area where dogs have lots of space. Her dog, however, as he attempted to escape under a fence caught his back leg and did tremendous damage to it in freeing himself.

At the animal hospital, she was given 2 choices by Dr. CG: orthopedic surgery with the entire amount due on the spot or putting the dog to sleep. She begged them to give her a payment plan because she simply did not have that kind of money in ready cash, adding that she had always paid her balance on time in the past. When that wasn’t acceptable, she asked for help in contacting the golden retriever animal rescue organization. They claimed not to have any information. In a final plea, she asked to be with her dog when they put him to sleep and was told that it would be too costly. Go figure!

In desperation, she released her dog to these heartless so-called animal caregivers and went home to tell her children their pet was dead.

Having come through such a scare with my dog last week, I was livid when I heard her story. I was also suspicious of what was really going on. Did they not want her to be with the dog because they were going to use him in some sort of experiment or as a lesson in surgery? Or worse still, was he destined to supply dog meat to the highest bidder? God forbid either of these was true.

I am simply appalled at this type of behavior from a very-much-for-profit organization whose goal is to help animals get well. This one never had a chance.

I called them up to ask some pointed questions, but they refused to talk to me since I wasn’t the one who had the experience. I made it quite clear that I would go way out of my way before setting foot in this animal hospital if this is the way they treat sick animals and their owners.