Our Urgent Tails
Stories from the Heart
Valentine has taught us a lot about life and people. Even professional people I might say.
When we brought Valentine to the emergency hospital the Veterinarian suggested that she should be
euthanized. Why? Because the bill was going to be $5,100. After we told the Dr. we would pay for it she
nearly fell off her chair. Then a few days later when we called to see when we could take her home
another veterinarian suggest she be put to sleep once again…Why? Because he insisted that she was
vicious. Lauren and I were astonished that the vet came to this conclusion and asked why? He said when
she woke up from the anesthesia she was lunging at the crate she was in. He said she growled when he
went to open her crate. Instead of being patient and offering her a treat of some sort they took a pole
with a noose on the end and dragged her out. I’m not sure what happened but what I do know is she did not
bite anyone. The Dr. insisted that she be sedated so he could examine her before she went home.
When Lauren and I came to visit Valentine the next day we prepared ourselves thinking we better use
caution. We walked in the isolation room and a clerical worker ran to stop us. She made us sign a
disclosure document indicating that Valentine was vicious and if we were injured we would take full
responsibility. The woman would not even stand anywhere near Valentines crate. She was cold and made us
feel like we were doing something wrong. It was a very uncomfortable feeling to say the very least.
Lauren and I anticipated…
How could this be? What will she be like when we see her? She probably won’t quite remember us after
that frightening, cloudy night. I must say I was a bit leery about seeing her and prayed that the
veterinarians were wrong about her temperament. We signed the papers and the clerical woman left the
room. There sat Valentine in her crate. She looked like a little bear cub. Her big brown eyes staring at
us. We sat down next to her crate and she crawled over to us and licked our fingers. Lauren opened the
crate and she slowly walked out. She looked around and walked to the end of the room to relieve herself
and walked back to Lauren and I and laid down next to us. We rubbed her ears and she licked us again .She
fell asleep next to us. We put her back in her crate and walked out to the reception room in disbelief.
How could a professional person who is supposed to care about animals be so wrong? How could he not see
she was frightened? Here she was a stray, hit by a car with multiple injuries on the express way at 3:00
in the morning. All alone in pain dying. Who knows what else horrible has happened in her life?
She ends up in a hospital where she is poked, sedated, x-rayed and more…
While she was sedated, she was put in a crate only to wake up confused, disoriented and most importantly
frightened out of her mind! Wasn’t anyone there to understand..?... Yes there was. A young Vet Tech came
up to us while we were walking out. He said “Valentine is a sweet dog.” Don’t believe what they are
saying”. “She ate right out of my hand while I sat in the crate with her”. I looked in his eyes and I cried.
I said I know, I know. He thanked me for not listening to other people and making my own assumption.
Lauren and I sat in our car. We were stunned, relieved and then angry. What is wrong with mankind?
Why are people so wanting to euthanize? If Lauren and I were naïve we could mostly likely have listened
to the Veterinarian’s suggestion of euthanasia. This is so very sad and disturbing.
