Am I wrong to feel so bitter and angry?

Hi so sorry about your dreadful experience and the loss of your goose:(...We have kept chickens , ducks and geese...and despatched them if needed.Geese are a whole different ball game.After a particularly bad fox attack 2 weeks ago we were left with 6 badly injured birds.There was nothing much that could be done for them except PTS.After speaking to the vet it was gonna cost over £150 to pts them all, which we simply could,nt afford.My friend who helps to despatch could,nt come for hours so I was desperate to end their suffering.We found on the inter net a way to euthanaise that seemed a kinder alternative.I don,t want to put the full details on , but there is an aerosol which can be soaked on a cloth which sends them to sleep they went to sleep quite peacefully.
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Maybe she doesn't know how to neck it properly, I don't. I wouldn't attempt to do something I didn't know how to - when the vets were there and open!
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I agree! Noone should attempt to neck a bird unless they know exactly what they are doing, especially if you think there's a chance their condition may be treatable. The procedure also isn't as easy and simple as it sounds! The OP was doing the responsible and ethical thing. To be honest, by the sounds of it the goose was too ill to be fussed about where she was. She was probably no more uncomfortable where she was, especially as she knew the OP well.
We all do our best for our animals - the OP was upset and anxious and it was a matter or urgency. If it was one of the forum member's own bird then I'm sure they would prefer to seek treatment instead of immediately killing the bird.
 
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OP I'm sorry that the receptionist was worse than useless and that it prolonged the suffering to your goose. Had it been me I would have demanded a vet to come to my animals assistance. I'm not a loud pushy person by any means but when it comes to the welfare of my animals then yes I will fight for them and if it meant causing a scene at a vet practice the so be it. What's done is done and I completely understand why you would feel bitter and angry. Given the situation what I would do may not be what you would do, and certainly it doesn't appear to be the general consensus amongst other H&H posters, but I would not write to the senior vet. I would make an appointment to speak to him in person.

And I'm very sorry about your goose :(
 
Thank you all for your supportive posts, I know now that making a complaint is the right thing to do and see where it goes from there. I actually have quite a few quotes that I will use, from their own website, they certainly have broken several of the promises that they make on there. I am so glad that so many have confirmed that the 'straight from the text book' instruction on how to kill a goose using a broom handle is not something to just be done by an inexperienced person, (I think that is made clear in the text books too). Wildflower, I would be really grateful if you could pm me a link for that method, we had one ripped apart by a dog last year, terrible wounds, and had to be taken to the vet. If there is something I could do to end the suffering immediately that doesn't involve me attempting to break a neck then I would certainly do that, although I wouldn't have with this one in case she wasn't as bad as I thought. Whilst I would have preferred not to have to move her in the car, because she was ill, all my geese are used to being in the car and are not distressed by it, I left her in the car when I went into the vets. She actually died in my arms at home.
 
You are not alone, I too had a similar experience with my beloved old dog and my vet of 17 years.
Roy was always a healthy dog until the grand age of 17, when his eyes rolled back in his head and his back legs went from under him. He bent his head back towards his tail in a spastic type motion, curling his lips back. The force of the head flicking caused him to tumble over, which seemed to jolt him back to normal. A minute or so later the cycle would repeat itself, it was really distressing to see and hear him.

I rushed to local vets, he had lots of appointments on and receptionist made us wait until the last appointment to be seen. Poor Roy flailed on the floor like this for about 30 minutes infront of other folks waiting to be seen. The next person to be seen kindly let me have their appointment, where I carried ROY in to be PTS. It was over in about 30 seconds.

I was too upset to make a scene at the time but really wish I had now.
A letter written when you feel better may be the best way to go.
 
So sorry to hear this. A dreadful thing to have happen and I wouldn't be going back to those vets ever again either. Agree that speaking to the papers might seem like something they deserve but I wouldn't do it either. Write or speak to the senior partner and make them squirm.

RIP poor goose.
 
Assuming it was in hours and that is actually what they said re meeting/lunch I would most definitely be registering a strong complaint both with the practices and the BVA.
 
very similar thing happened to us a few years back but with dog, we were away dog sitter took him to our vets as he was fitting after eationg a dead rabbit, she got the response vets on lunch nothing we can do now. Needless to says he rushed him to her regular vet and they treated him straight away luckily he was a big dog so did survive the extra journey.
We changed vets immediately and put in a complaint and i think we complained to RVC aswel as vets have an obligation to treat an animal anywhere anytime and for no cost its what they swear to do. Not sure what happened i was about 15 at time so parents dealt with it. Now we warn everyone we know in area not to use them!!
 
RIP poor goose.

Definitely write a letter rather than face to face so you don’t miss anything important you want to get over. I would deliver it to a partner personally to make sure the receptionist doesn’t intercept it.
 
Tiffany said:
You've every right to be angry and upset - thought animals were a vet's top priority.

Really sorry her life ended this way ((((hugs))))
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no, in my experience that would be money since if you havn't got £thousands for life saving surgery the animal that they pay lip service to being their top priority isnt going to get it.

agree totally with Marydoll. This wasnt the receptionist's call to make. She should have informed the vet on cover at the surgery (they must have had one surely?) or rang into the meeting to explain there was an emergency in reception.

very poor service.
{{hugs}}
 
marydoll said:
I agree, but you cant blame the vets in this instance if they didnt know :confused:
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The point of my post is to emphasise the employer has to train staff and select suitable staff, that is an employers responsibility, unless they told the receptionist that under no circumstances were they to be disturbed, including any emergency, the receptionist has made this decision, a bad decision.
For example suppose the receptionist was told that the spouse of a partner was in a critical condition in hospital, would she wait till meeting was over to tell the person?
 
Achinghips said:
No you are not wrong at all to feel bitter and angry, anyone would. We put our trust in our vets to do the right thing in an emergency especially - as this clearly was.

A stern letter you should send, I think ... but wait a few days until you're less angry as it will have more impact and come across as more reasonable devoid of intense emotion.

Are your vets so arrogant and tyrranical that they frighten their receptionist? It sounds so but if not, the silly cow will require additional training in how to deal with emergency procedures.
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ditto to this at our practise we seem to have more receptionist then vets that no and do nothing apart from gossip and drink cups of tea this has also been done in emergancy when you phone up for a horse colicing to busy chatting to answer the phone you send some one down and find thereall just sat around :mad: Personally i would of demanded she goes or storm in myself as it is illegal to refuse to treat an animal... i have taken ducks and chickens in before today and had strange looks from the receptionist but when they are your pets it only like taking someone pet dog in!!!
when the receptionist says they are unavaliable i put the phone down and phoneone ofthe vets direct now and touch wood they have always answered and been down asap!!!

sorry about the goose thou least it is not suffering now
 
Really !!!! Im sure ive picked up your point ;)
Mine is if the receptionist didnt tell vets she was there, how can they be blamed for not treating the bird, :confused: at some point in any job you have to trust people will use their own initiative, clearly the receptionist didnt.
My point is that after this awful incident, measures should be put in place to ensure it doesnt happen again.
 
No, you are not wrong at all! I think most of us on here are angry too after reading this. Here in Belgium we don't seem to have these type of group practices, with receptionists etc, Vets here tend to operate alone or in two-person surgeries. There are clinics for the big stuff, like operations. My vet I have known from her being a child, so trust her to come/be available at once unless otherwise urgently occupied; otherwise could call on any other vet available that I have number for.
RIP Goose
 
marydoll said:
Really !!!! Im sure ive picked up your point ;)
Mine is if the receptionist didnt tell vets she was there, how can they be blamed for not treating the bird, :confused: at some point in any job you have to trust people will use their own initiative, clearly the receptionist didnt.
My point is that after this awful incident, measures should be put in place to ensure it doesnt happen again.
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:bangs head on desk:
 
Unfortunately a lot of places seem to hire receptionists with that sort of attitude. A little bit of power and they feel they can play god.

I had a similar thing a couple of years ago. I had just returned from abroad, was at university and had felt ill for a while. Got to the stage that I was massively feverish, had hallucinations, garbled speak, hours of a day unaccounted for, and when I was in a very poor state I managed to make my way to the GP which was 100yds from my university halls. The receptionist said noone could see me without an appointment, even to decide what I should do. (I know in retrospect I should have gone straight to the hospital, but I firmly believe not in wasting A+E time so I wasn't sure...and by that point I wasn't really fit to use a phone). She also refused to call an ambulance for me because it would incur expense (??!). When I collapsed on the floor of the office it still didn't spur her into action. Luckily one of the porters from my university halls had followed me because I looked so bad and was there in time to call me an ambulance. 4 months in hospital for malaria/dengue fever later....

Needless to say I am not the most trusting of receptionists. I accept I was stupid not to just go to hospital, but she should have spotted that anyway! But when it's an animal who can't explain how they feel or make that decision, it's just wrong for a lay person to make that call.
 
Receptionist gestapo syndrome! Yes you should complain to be fair to the vet if they dont know they have employed a member of jobs worth etc.

I had a goose put to sleep a few years ago and they used a vial and half of pig anaesthetic birds are hard to PTS and they injected it in the liver it took about 10 mins to die and kept keeling over and then bolt upright! I stood there wishing it to die FAST. I wish I had got someone to wring its neck much quicker.

What a shame for your pet though....poor old goose.
 
I was just about to post similar to Indie above- to be brutally honest dispatching a goose at home is by far the kindest thing you can do.
A vet must use the appropriate method which is an injection into the liver, which does take time and suffering-it is also not terribly easy to locate the liver and as a goose owner myself who has indeed dispatched my own birds, my way is calmer and quicker for me and the bird!
However, in the situation you were in at that time it was too late for explanations and someone should have been 'on-call' to respond to your emergency for humane reasons if nothing else!
 
serenityjane said:
I was just about to post similar to Indie above- to be brutally honest dispatching a goose at home is by far the kindest thing you can do.
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I can't say I've ever put a goose down but have been involved in putting plenty of swans down via i.v. injection into either the leg vein or the vein under the wing - always worked really quickly. Can you not do the same with geese? :confused:

If OP didn't know how to neck such a big bird or didn't want to then I fully respect her taking it to a vet rather than risk not doing it properly.. I don't think anyone should be expected to have to kill their own pets..
 
Meeting or not - no vet should refuse to treat an animal and I would have clobbered the secretary and gone and found the vets myself and had a tantrum!

Your poor goose - they are such lovely birds - so fierce but such characters - the best guard 'dogs' ever and if they bite the burgler they don't get into trouble!

I would write to your usual vet advising them that you were really dissapointed and angry with their lack of attention. They have a duty of care in just the same way as a doctor.

Big (((((HUGS))))) for you.
 
The letter is written, I got myself all upset and angry again whilst writing it but it is done now. SJ, I wondered the same as Rhino why they have to inject into the liver and not the wing. I have had a hen PTS by injection and that was horrible but more because the vet wasn't experienced with hens - farm vet, don't usually deal with pet hens! This vet did actually neck a hen after the fox attack a couple of years ago rather than injecting so, as he has his own geese, whether he would do that in this situation I don't know. TBH I wouldn't have cared which method they used as long as it was humane and quick for her. She is now buried alongside her brother that was killed by a dog last year and the girls have all made little prayer cards for her (they go to a Catholic school!) and are going to have a little service tomorrow. I will update when I get a reply from the vet but once again thank you for your supportive comments - it helped to know I wasn't over reacting.
 
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