Needing a shoulder to cry on...

[Goldenstar]

OMG!!! Is that something that you HAVE to do?! That is horrible and I'm actually really shocked at that! There is no way on this earth that I would ever be able to do that

I don't know about the healthy kitten but they definatly have to go to the slaughter house and do a cow.An RSPCA officer told me that.

 

[Goldenstar]

OP , I think you will to a certain extend get used to death while I was a welfare officer I was with quite a lot of horses while they were PTS and it did get easier.
However my little horse was PTS yesterday a planned event not an emergency and the vet ( a friend ) arrived in floods of tears but I did not mind because it meant that she cared for him and for me ,no one will expect you to be super human.

 

[HashRouge]

I did a week's work experience at a veterinary practice when I was 16, and I knew from the first day that it wasn't for me. A cat was brought in whose owner wanted to have it PTS. They didn't stay with it so it was PTS downstairs where the surgeries happened and I cried my eyes out over that lovely little cat . But don't forget that if you can get past that side of it you'll be able to do a lot of good

 

[applecart14]

That story sounds more like one of those "my friend's cousin's husband's sister in law..." type things. I doubt it's true.

What if you are an RSPCA Officer and you come across a horse with a broken leg then? Do you just whip a gun out of your pocket and aim somewhere in the direction of the forehead and hope for the best??? A vet from a practice which I refuse to be associated with now shot my previous horse, and had to shoot twice because he stuffed it up the first time and that was a fully trained vet who'd been doing it for years!

These skills have to be learned. If you can't cope with doing these sad tasks before you are made into an RSPCA officer then you would not manage when you were one and you didn't have an instructor or someone to shadow with you.

I can assure you there was no reason to lie. I seem to remember a program about this on the telly some years back which followed a similar path.

 

[applecart14]

I don't know about the healthy kitten but they definatly have to go to the slaughter house and do a cow.An RSPCA officer told me that.

Oh thank you I knew I was right.

http://ihdg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=non&action=print&thread=112886

 

[mulledwhine]

Bless you, that is just the kind of attitude that makes you the ideal person for the job.

I had to stop my vet training half way through due to a very serious illness, that made me lose time on my course and loose the ability to withhold information

However, I was in bits everytime I had to assist with a 'PTS' and it was not easy, however if you know in your heart that you made those last minutes kind, and peaceful and with compassion , then, yes, you have done the best you can. Xx

 

[Sheep]

What if you are an RSPCA Officer and you come across a horse with a broken leg then? Do you just whip a gun out of your pocket and aim somewhere in the direction of the forehead and hope for the best???

No, don't be ridiculous. The way the original anecdote was relayed made it sound like a bizarre initiation rite.

 

[Maesfen]

To OP. I used to be a complete wuss too until someone told me to think of all the bad things that can happen and what would I do to cope with them. I can't tell you how helpful that was to me many many years ago when I was about your age.
I was that bad before then that when a young puppy died I had to pick it up by tongs, the thought of touching anything dead filled me with horror, you get the picture? Then I started working with horses and it soon taught me that bad things can happen but if you've thought things through and how you would cope say if something broke a leg, gashed itself, got badly cast, having to hold something to be put down (always shot then of course) Because I had prepared myself, they weren't half as bad as I thought they'd be and that is always how I cope now. I might come across as hard sometimes but I'm a real softy at heart and it was practising thinking how I would cope that has helped (and still helps) me through things.

You will get used to it; you won't ever get immune to it but if you can be practical and methodical you will get through. Don't waste the training you've already had.

 

[Orangehorse]

OP, I hope you feel you can carry on, because there will be lots of good days too, helping with operations and making animals better.

The important thing is to remember how you felt at the start and continue to feel compassion for the animals and the owners.

 

[applecart14]

No, don't be ridiculous. The way the original anecdote was relayed made it sound like a bizarre initiation rite.

Oh right. I suppose its a test. Those that fail do not get to wear the uniform. And why should they? I don't think I could put a healthy animal down, yet I'm quite happy for other people to kill healthy cows, sheep, pigs and chickens (free range) which have been killed in their prime of life in order for me to eat them. Double standards I guess.

I do wish I could have got over the terror of the abbatoir as I would have found the work incredibly rewarding, although watching the 'Kill it, Cook it, Eat It' programs made me realise its not quite as bad as I had imagined inside one of those places and I developed a real respect for the slaughtermen (one of whom I was once engaged to I might add).

 

[Maesfen]

The vet that I worked for did not at that time that I know of offer any personal cremation service.

Back in the 80s there were no animal cremation services. Animals were either incinerated at the vets or taken home for burial by the owners; it was not a case of your vet not offering that service, it just wasn't available until people decided it could be a good lucrative business to be in.

 

[Emilieu]

There were tears in our vet's eyes when she told my sister she had to put her wee hammy to sleep (hammy was in an awful state, it was very distressing). It was ridiculous - three grown women crying over a hamster. She is now our favourite vet at the the practice - so nice that she cared. I like to think that if, for any reason, i couldn't be with my pet in its last moments that someone is feeling sad for them

 

[Ladydragon]

I can't speak for all veterinary practices and if times have indeed changed as I have not since experienced the 'behind the scenes' approach to a practice.
All I can say is that my experience as a teenager in the 80's left me with a bitter taste.
I did not witness that much compassion or dignity in death in the practice where I got a weekend job. It was my first and only job involving animals and after wanting to train as a vet from a young age it was suited to my chosen career path.
That job put me off for life.
Animals were put to sleep that I believe should not have been imo. I believe it was done not for the welfare of the animal but to ring another payment into the till. After all euthanasia of small animals or pets is one of the quickest consultations you will see in a vets. There will be no follow up appointment or lengthy examination. Animal is brought in assessed, explanation heard, a syringe drawn up and administered and said animal either leaves with the client or else disposed of by the practice.
The vet that I worked for did not at that time that I know of offer any personal cremation service.
Animals were not dealt with by compassion.
It was a quick lets get dead animal into the bag, wipe over the table and usher in the next client, or at least that is how it felt.
I have seen animals ( and helped, did not like it) pushed and shoved into bags. Legs bent up, bodies doubled and so on. Just slid off the table and into a bag, so undignified.
If bags could not be found a vet who could be rude anyway would tell me in no uncertain terms and even demonstrated this, to go outside where said bodies were kept. Open up a bag and place Mrs A's dead cat on top of Mr B's dead dog even if that dog had been dead for at least a few days.
It was undignified, and not the image you would imagine if you had left your animal with the vet to euthanise or to dispose of after being pts.
The things I witnessed as a then 15 year old did scar me. So much so that I gave up wanting to be a vet.
I know insist that any animal I take to be pts comes home with me for burial and my last pet my beloved cat was taken to be individually cremated myself!

That sounds an awful experience...

The surgery I was at was completely different - even the old codger snr vet who had a rather dry and macabre sense of humour that took some getting used to...

Our bodies were all put into the freezer with two or three collections a week - I don't believe there was the individual cremation service option that is offered today... But they were handled respectfully at our end - one of the vets was a total softie and would have had forty fits with anything less...

Like most areas in life though, I suppose acknowledging and catching up with the human/emotional aspect of different services took some time...