First of all, I need to tell you that the facts that I am going to narrate in this story are completely real. It happened to me three days ago.
That day, I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, and headed to classes. As it always happens on Wednesdays, I was a bit late. Hence, when I saw a filthy, sad, extremely skinny, and sick cat standing next to the entrance, I was not able to stop and check him. However, I couldn’t stop thinking of the sad image I had seen at my arrival to the university. As soon as my class finished, I went to see whether the cat was still at the same place. And there he was… He could barely walk, see or eat.
He was awfully skinny and dirty, had a severe infection in his eyes and snout, stank and tottered when he walked. I watched him for a while, deliberating what to do. I wanted to do something for him, but what could I do? I had only $1000 in my pocket, didn’t know any vet, and couldn’t take him home with me. I rent an apartment here in Viña and live with my brother and sister. Besides I already have a bunny as a pet, which is quite moody (really, he seems extremely cute, but he hates cats, dogs and animals in general… he is quite aggressive). Notwithstanding all this, I couldn’t leave him there; especially after seeing that he was almost run over by a car and tried to “poop” but only diarrhea came out. I went quickly to talk to Mr. Luis and his wife (they sell candies outside the university) and asked them if they could give me a box. Without even doubting, they helped me and gave me a small box so I could carry the cat. I stood next to the box that contained the cat for about ten minutes, thinking what to do. The only thing I knew at that moment was that I couldn’t let this poor animal just die there, because with only one glance, you could realize he was dying.
I took the bus carrying my box, and decided that the best thing to do was finding a veterinarian that could help him without charging. I went to a vet who is located in 3 Norte. I told him that I had found an extremely sick cat, but that I had no money. I explained him everything, but he answered: “The consultation here costs $7000. If you are looking for someone that can help the cat for free, maybe you should go ask the vet on the next block”. Was he being serious? If you are a veterinarian, aren’t you supposed to be fond of animals and care about them? I stayed speechless for some seconds and tried to explain the situation again. But he just mumbled an almost inaudible “Sorry”.
Completely shocked and angry, I searched for the other vet, who worked at “
“What’s the next step, then?” I asked myself. However, the answer seemed quite obvious. There was nothing I could do. The animal was suffering and had almost no chance of survival, even if he were hospitalized and given the best treatment. But, was euthanasia the right alternative? That means killing him! Yet, after discussing all the possibilities with the veterinarian, “making the cat sleep” didn’t sound that cruel idea after all.
Was I going to leave the cat on the street and let him just die painfully? I’m not cold blooded. Was I going to take him home with me and take care of him until he finally passed away? I couldn’t even imagine having a cat in my apartment constantly meowing because of the pain, so definitely not.
The vet told me sadly that she could not take care of the cat either. So, after talking for a while, we decided to make the cat sleep. With the injection he would not get stressed nor feel pain at all. I petted this creature for a while, and he purred. It wasn’t a strong purr, but it was a purr after all.
First the veterinarian injected the cat a solution so he would relax. After a minute or to, he fell almost asleep. Then, with he cat still looking at us, she injected him the “deathly solution” directly to his heart (she could not find any vein, since the cat was too skeletal). His pupils became dilated instantly.
DYING WITH DIGNITY
What happened that day still makes me deliberate whether I did the right thing or not. Maybe my mind, in its effort to protect my emotions, forces me to believe that I did not make the wrong decision. I strongly believe that animals have the right to die with dignity as well as human beings.
When people are sick, especially if they have a chronic or degenerative disease (like cancer or AIDS for instance), they are given medicines to diminish the pain. Palliative cares in humans are very common. But, what happens if the sick is an animal? Furthermore, what if that animal lives on the street? Should we ignore them and just let them suffer and die in pain? I don’t think so.
Many people think, that because they are animals, they do not feel pain. Well… let me tell you something: researchers in this field conclude that animals have also a threshold of pain Just like humans. This means that if they are injured, ill, or abused, they WILL suffer and feel pain.
I’d like you to tell me how you feel about this issue, so we can start a debate on this blog.
18 comments:
yo no se escribir en inglés, entiendo su resto al leer pero no me da para escribirlo, lo siento =(
Leí la historia, que pena por el pobre gatito, ningún animal merece sufrir ni los malos tratos, que pena y rabia por el veterinario, su prioridad deben ser los animales, no el dinero, un peligro, no se puede confiar en alquien que no hace su trabajo de corazón. Esto no quiere decir que hagan siempre la pega gratis, pero cuando no hay dinero no pueden cerrarle la puerta, ellos no conocen el dinero, y si el humano a cargo no lo posee no es culpa de los animales.
yolei
We have decided that this time, but only this time, we are going to allow the comment in Spanish. From now on every comment that it is not in English will be deleted.
Here's the translation for the comment that "ojo encantado" left:
I can’t write in English. I understand when I read it but I don’t know enough to write. I’m sorry.
I’ve read the story and I felt very sorry for the poor kitten. No animal deserve to suffer or being mistreated.
I also felt frustrated and angry with the veterinarian: his priority should be the animals not money. It is a danger that he doesn't
take his job seriously; he can't be trusted. I am not trying to say that they should always work for free. However, when there is no money, the door can’t be shut. Animals don’t know about money, and if the human in charge of them doesn’t have it, the animal can’t pay the price.
We have discussed this before, and I strongly believe that animals do have the right to die with dignity, as well as they have the right to be treated with respect. I think that what you did was very noble, was definetely the rightg thing to do. It was not possible to make the cat get better becasue he was already too ill; it would have been a miserable existance.
I felt very impressed by the reaction of the first vet you went to. There are lots and lots of people that only care about money, but I never imagined that someone could be so cold to just stood in front of a dying animal and do nothing.
Posted by Lis.
Well, I understood the story but i'm not sure if you will understand me because my english is not very good :P
When I was a little girl, I thought about being vet, but at the time I had to decide to study something I realised that it's not necesary to be a vet to help animals.. Now i'm studying "ingenieria civil industrial" and I dream to have some day my own veterinary clinic to help animals and people that love animals as much as I can. If I don't have the opportunity to have my own vet clinic, I'll help anyway either working for some fundation or doing whatever that helps animals.
However, I try to understand why people don't like animals, and maybe I understand it.. The thing I don't understand is that they don't care about an animal that is suffering, specialy a vet!! That's really abhorrent!!!! I prefer to think that people like the vet in 3 Norte is only a minority..
About your decision.. I think it was the best for the cat.. Now he is in heaven waiting to have a new and better life.. He was just an angel that wanted you to meet him that wednesday ;)
Greetings
Rocío
I think that both topics, animal's rights and euthanasia are very important to us as a society, the problem is that animals are not considered as important as they should be. You just gave a clear example: the vet you went to first.
If a vet does not worry about it, what do we expect from a society that every day is more concerned about what to wear, where to party, where to go on vacation?
animals in streets are seen everyday, dogs, cats... most of them suffer some kind of infection. is there any method to control this? I think there is not.
a possible solution would be people mmore concerned about animals but we do know that this is not likely to happen.
about euthanasia is complicated. we do not have the right to take somebody's life. in humans is up to who is suffering any kind of pain, but should we decide for animals? in this case, I think is not that we do or not have the right but the must of doing it.
we suffer and we think it's wrong but it's the right thing to do.
animals deserve to be treated with respect.
Great job guys, congratulations.
Leandro Sepúlveda.
I read the article about the little cat, and I think veterinarians (And all kind of professionals) have to be consistent with their choice,nobody is forced to choose a career, so, if your mission is to help animals, just do it. I also think if an animal (even a human being) is suffering from a terminal disease, the best option is to stop with that suffering by giving him/her/it a "last shot".
Summarizing, I would like to say that sometimes we are a little bit selfish with the people we love.
I think if they don't wanna live anymore, we have to respect their decision and to give them what they
want to receive.
I totally agree with how you reacted and I feel sorry for the ending of the poor cat, but to think on how lucky the cat was to have someone like you to have noticed it outside our U it's probably something that noone did or wanted to notice. And also to have the good will of doing something for the poor animal is something that more people should have in this country specially. I think just like, I don't need a scientist to tell me that animals suffer, I've had many pets in my life and they've all have been with me until the end (may it be by diseases or just natural dead for their age) but the thing is that by doing these kind of things we just do a minor change if you can say it in some way, but things like this sites are the ones that get to people's mind and does the real change, keep up the good job.
Joaquin Martinez.
For me, this one is a very important topic. I believe that the topic of the animal rights has not been an agreement correctly, and importance is diminished only by the fact that our shaggy brothers can't speak, and much less protest for his rights.
It’s logical that a human is not like a dog … or a cat for example. Because of it same, obviously the same rights are not going to be given them, as right to vote, or things for the style.
Nevertheless, there are basic rights that they must grant, as the right to the life, one of the basic worldwide rights.
I believe that the dignity must be considered to be a basic right also for the whole animal kingdom. Lamentably, the euthanasia isn’t legalized in many places of the world. Nevertheless, I believe that it’s the best solution for terminal patients who are suffering and who it hasn’t gone back with their disease. They say that the doctors are to save lives, and not to remove them, but it were necessary to be an option of each one.
In case of the not human animals, it is logical that can’t ask their opinion, but if the death is imminent, and in a painful way and with a lot of suffering, I believe that the best option is to end as soon as possible with this feeling of pain.
Maybe my opinion was egoist, but in case of the history of the kitty here exposed I feel that what you did was the more rational thing that it might have done, due to the fact that if it had not been for your action, the kitty still(yet) would be still alive and suffering probably till when.
The best solution for the problems of animals, would be to open popular veterinary, without ends of profit, probably financed by the State. I raise this due to the fact that many people, on not having had the resources to take care of pets of a correct way, throw them in the street. To open the popular veterinary one might diminish this problem. In addition, it might have euthanasia in case of needing it, and if many not human animals could die with dignity and without suffering, beside being able to attack infections and diseases that afflict the human and no human population.
Before this, the most logical thing would be that the human beings we are empathic with other alive beings, and try to fight for solutions, like the already raised option, in favour of them without voice.
This, nevertheless, has to be then, to finish as soon as possible with these problems, because, as says the Animal Liberation Front… If not you, who? If not now, when?
Good luck, and I hope that you debate on similar topics, presents continue being done.
Ricardo...
PD: espero se entienda...
Hi am María and i would like to say that am totally agree with the way Alondra acted and with her way of thinking. i would just like to add some thought that passed thought my mind while i was reading . I deeply believe that as there are human beings that deserve to suffer like the kitty (although am not saying they should) there is no animal that deserve the pain the poor cat felt. Beside, I think that as we have the ability to walk in somebody else’s shoes, we should also try to open our minds to understand how animals feel, as they feel just like we do.
Congratulations Alondra and thanks for your words.
Marìa Eugenia Rojas
DON'T DIE WITH DIGNITY...
... LIVE WITH IT
So, if you wanna live with dignity, why don't you write your name? It would be so dignifying for you, not acting like a coward writing anonymously.
by the way, I think Alondra's determination was the best.
This Blog is great, nice work, guys!
i don't have to give my name... internet is free... and i have freedom to say what i want ... free speech my friend
and.. 'bout my name.. u dunno wanna know it ;)
OK guys, lets stop this here.
I have to say thanks to the last anonymous person that commented because, as the idea for this blog is to inform and debate, you are helping us a lot by giving more possibilities to get a higher mark with your contradictory and debatable comment.
Have you ever had a pet that is really sick, and you know he is suffering just because of the look in his eyes?
I think it is absolutely clear that we are talking about animals, so we have to stick to that "topic".
Then, going back to Alondra's experience: Was the cat living with dignity? Is the street a proper place for a pet to live happily and safety?
Of course, animals have the right to live with dignity, because they are living creatures, and they feel, suffer, eat, and breath just like humans do.
So, why can't they die with dignity too?
Would've it been better to leave the poor cat just there, in the street feeling all that pain? (because, as we read in Alondra's post, he was infected, dehydrated, had digestive problems, and many other health problems)
Think about it.
Oh! by the way... I think "dunno" stands for "dont know" so I guess you wrote: You don't know want to know it"
I suggest to check your grammar.
RuuuL
wow.. i read the post... and i was thinking... have you ever seen on "animal planet" (i think it is) a program that is about "animal cops" (or at least that i can remember, i don't have cable anymore) they control the pets and their owners... that's great because they even get fined!! imagine that here in chile.. i know it's a little bit unrealistic, but for sure that could be a very good way to end with the "street animals" and keep them with their owners... i think its 's a good idea... but needs time and hardwork...
good blog... i like it
see ya
First of all, I have to say that I wanted to read this blog like two weeks ago, but I found no time to do it conciously, until now.
For mi, you took the right desition, you talked when you took care and asked for heald and decided, when the poor cat couldn't.
And afetr all, what else could you do
These is a really important issue, that we all should consider in our minds all the time, I mean, in one hand, we all the time have the possibility of helping, wheter is a person, or an animal, but we don't do it.
Your history, besides putting an important issue on the carpet, is an example for all of us who are able to read it, you did what many people, probably including me, would think to do, but wouldn't do.
And in the other hand, we have the euthanasia theme, that is not minor, I mean, if you saw an animal suffer, and take the absolutely right desition of getting the pain away, don't we have the right to decide about our own life, or someone that is unable to decide because of the pain, or illness.
By the way, I wanted to read this blog with time, and it absolutely worth it
Nice work
Greetings
Bye!
Nicolle Benavente Ascui
By the way, sorry about the grammatical mistakes, I should have read it because publishing it
Sorry
Some mistakes are
Mi=my
heald=help
afetr=after
history=story
Those are some mistakes that I saw
Probably there are more
Greetings
Bye!
Nicolle Benavente Ascui
I think that the relationship between mankind and animals is the touchstone of human civilization. Everyone wants to live with a clear and clean conscience. A clear conscience provides rest and you can be proud of it. A clear conscience has to do with the conviction, that you are making the right choices.
Right choices not only are the black fellow man and with women rights, but also concerns animals. Animals too have a right to freedom and fondness.
The freedom has to see with: law, health, responsibility, love, protection, respect, etc.
:) You can do something. That's very important.
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