Week 2: What would you do with an injured stray?
By Dr. Tony Johnson
November 23, 2009
Well, it’s been a week now and it is time to look in on our green-shod friend Raul and his hapless stray dog and see how he fared.
Sincere, thanks to all the Petconnection.com community for your thoughtful (and very creative, if somewhat off-kilter) answers!
Obviously, there are a lot of ways to go with this scenario, and the answers that I provided sort of limited what folks could do. Some of you got very creative with the scenarios, and I am hoping that a Utili-Kilt will show up under my Festivus tree this year.
One thing that I noticed was that many folks wanted to pull the dog out of the ER and have their regular vet continue the care – I think this speaks a lot to how much people trust their normal veterinarian and don’t like to have emotionally charged and potentially expensive scenarios go down at the ER. I can totally understand this – one of the biggest hurdles we face in ER medicine is establishing trust with clients and getting the point across that we are not incompetent crooks (and, to complicate matters further – there are incompetent crooks out there running veterinary ER’s). Luckily, most ER’s are peopled by caring and skilled veterinarians and technicians.
Here’s the distribution of answers from last week – some folks didn’t specifically say what they would chose, so I had to do a little interpretation.
A) Walk away: 1
B) Pay for exam and pain meds alone: 7
C) Pay for immediate care and wait to see if owners show: 11
D) The whole enchilada- fix and adopt: 3
E) Sumpin’ else: 6
I think everybody’s responses can be summed up by a simply elegant statement made by LauraL: “C for sure. I think.” That was a masterpiece of thoughtful uncertainty, and I think it typifies the confusion and second-guessing that goes on in these situations. Every one is different, and every one has a certain set of variables; finances, availability of rescue organizations – even the hour of day or day of the week play a role in the decisions.
A few of you asked about amputation – this is definitely an option in some cases, but oftentimes it can cost almost as much as surgery to fix a leg! I have found that many owners will look at you aghast when you discuss it as an option, but I think it is a viable alternative to being dead. The reason that folks seem to really hate this is that they see themselves in this scenario, and tend to do a little reverse anthropomorphism; they know the limitations that this can impose on a person and think the same fate will befall their pets. Luckily, pets don’t have to drive or be worried what others think. I have a three-legged dog myself and he could kick the tar out of me in a race!
Amazingly, only one of you opted for A – walk away. In reality, this is the option that most good Samaritans pick in my experience. I think the reason for this is twofold: 1) Most readers of this website have, I have found, an amazing depth of compassion for pets and would do far more for an injured stray than Joe Six-Pack. 2) The fact that this was a thought exercise and not an actual certainty allows a little leeway in how we predict we would behave.
Many of you mentioned similar circumstances that you had been through in the past – and in a few cases this changed how you would respond to Raul’s plight. Meaning – “I did this once and got burned; not gonna do it again. Na Ga Da.” Similarly, I have been embroiled in many situations like the one Nancy mentioned – you start out with good intentions and end up feeling dirty and exploited. It is the classic ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ scenario. Some days, it makes you want to stop trying, and others (when it goes well) it recharges you and you are willing to go it again.
The most common answer was C – pay for the immediate care, and see if the owners show up. From here, I will try and cook up some scenario that smacks of something realistic and post it in the coming days. We will again be faced with challenges and have to make some tough decisions.
I kinda like the cliffhanger scenario – I hope you do to! OK – get your thinking pants on, everybody: See you soon, stray lovers!
Note from Gina on the picture: I ordered the one above. I think he comes with the Uni-Kilt, but I’m not sure …
Amazingly, only one of you opted for A – walk away. In reality, this is the option that most good Samaritans pick in my experience. I think the reason for this is twofold: 1) Most readers of this website have, I have found, an amazing depth of compassion for pets and would do far more for an injured stray than Joe Six-Pack. 2) The fact that this was a thought exercise and not an actual certainty allows a little leeway in how we predict we would behave.
You forgot 3)You described a scenario in which Raul apparently has the money to do something more than just deliver the animal to a safe place and walk away. In Real Life, a lot of you Good Samaritans are likely people who want to help, but really can’t afford to do more than get the animal to a place of safety, where it will either be treated or humanely euthanized, but not just left to die in pain by the roadside. Or by getting run over again, and possibly again, if visibility is low for any reason.
Comment by Lis — November 23, 2009 @ 7:41 am
“one of the biggest hurdles we face in ER medicine is establishing trust with clients and getting the point across that we are not incompetent crooks (and, to complicate matters further – there are incompetent crooks out there running veterinary ER’s).”
Big WHOA! there! When I cast my vote for “Stabilize and move”, it had absolutely NOTHING to do implying that veterinary ERs are staffed with “incompetent crooks” and EVERYTHING to do with the simple fact that ER care is WAY more expensive than care at a regular hospital. In my experience, it is the NORM when veterinary ER care is required that the animal get moved back to a regular vet for ongoing and follow-up care as soon as it is safely possible to do so.
Do ER vets really believe this strategy is meant as casting aspersions on their character?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — November 23, 2009 @ 8:14 am
Dr. Tony, I don’t think lack of trust of ER doc figures into this by much. I suspect it is what is automatically presumed to be a much higher cost. One of the reasons I would want to take a pet in this scenario to my vet is that my vet is one of the most reasonably priced clinics in the area (once you drive outside of town, prices can drop pretty dramatically). And that’s not a recession thing, but an always thing, at least in my opinion.
Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — November 23, 2009 @ 8:18 am
Yes, my thinking on “move to my regular vet” was that whatever I felt able to spend would go further there. Also, if I decided I was able to make that level of commitment, a “trust issue” in the other direction would come into play: my regular vet would be more likely to agree to a payment plan than an ER vet.
Of course, in Real Life right now, my situation is slightly different. I’ve only been with my current vet for a few months, having changed vets after discovering that the new head of the old practice had agreed to become the pet store vet for a new pet store. And this new vet practice I’ve moved to IS the nearest emergency vet. So the whole “take him home and bring him to my regular vet in the morning” might encounter some dicey etiquette there, AND I don’t yet have the long track record with them that would make them likely to agree to a payment plan on any basis other than “any business that charges big-ticket prices might be prepared to do that.”
But, hey, we’re talking about Raul and an ER vet that isn’t his regular vet, right?
Comment by Lis — November 23, 2009 @ 11:44 am
I guess I should have clarified a bit - this whole ‘get the leg fixed at the ER’ bit seems to have muddled the thought experiment. Thanks, all for your input by the way!
Most ER’s don’t do orthopedics, unless they are attached to a specialty hospital with a surgeon. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions to that.
I think the bottom line is that most people are aware that ER’s tend to be more expensive - mostly because they have higher overhead (running 24 hours) and don’t have things like vaccines (hot button issue, I know) to help defray costs. Mind you - no statement of right or wrong here, just some insight into the financial pressures that differ between a general practice and an ER.
On the trust issue, we will assume for the sake of this exercise that the doctor is on the up-and-up, not a grifter or on that take and has minimal if any ties to organized crime :).
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — November 23, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
I don’t understand why you feel the need to defend the idea that there are higher costs at an ER. Most of us consumers are well aware that ER care is a specialized arm of medicine, often performed by people with additional specialized training. They also generally work non-standard hours. Of course that’s going to cost more.
I just take for granted that ER care is more expensive. In the same way that I take for granted that ER care is for short-term emergency care of my animal, and that longer term care is then more appropriately pursued at my regular veterinary practice.
Nothing about “trust” or lack thereof. Just “that’s the way things are”.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — November 24, 2009 @ 7:19 am
First, thanks for the shout-out. :)
Second, just wanted to point out that vets aren’t immune from this sort of quandary, either. Case in point: My phone rang this afternoon. It was my partner. A client with no money had surrendered a marmalade kitten with one eye hanging out but no other big problems. “Should I fix him?”
That’s code for “Can you find him a home?” Fixing the kitten isn’t the problem. It’s where he goes after that.
We’ve taken one stray after another over the years, and I love having them. But one of our permanent cats has developed IMHA, and every stressor (like, say, a new animal) makes his immune system start devouring his red blood cells. It’s ugly. So no more boarders for now. And there’s only so many times you can call in favors from friends at no-kills that are already overcrowded.
Anyway, long story short, the clinic pulled together. My partner’s doing the surgery. A tech’s taking him home till he heals. And another vet at the practice called an ex who’s in rescue. “Sure,” she said. “A one-eyed cat? He’ll go fast.”
That’s something to be thankful for, for sure. Especially for a small orange guy who’s about to have a permanent wink and (we hope) a good home.
My long-winded point is that just like clients, a lot of vets agonize over decisions like this, too. And it’s not always the bills that cause the agony. Someone has to pay, and even with a discount it adds up fast. But in the big picture, “What’s next?” is usually a tougher question than “How much?”
Comment by LauraL — November 25, 2009 @ 10:17 pm