Agonizing decision...gone wrong

[Jordan20]

I'm in a situation that I can't even process and was hoping to get the thoughts of others on what could have happened and what, if anything, I should do.

My beloved girl is 12 years old. She has arthritis that has been compounded by two TPLO surgeries, she has had hip dysplasia her entire life, and she has had cancerous growths removed four time. The last time she was sedated for a tumor removal she had to get an injection to boost her heart rate as she was having trouble coming out of the anesthesia. Her back legs have been deteriorating and this morning she was unable to stand at all. She tried desperately and could not. I gave her the medicine I have on hand and three hours later she still could not get up. We agonized over the decision and ultimately chose to do best by her and put her to sleep. We loved on her and fed her all the people food she ordinarily isn't allowed then my father took her to the vet. He couldn't bear to watch the actual euthanasia process so showered her with love and cookies, paid for the euthanasia and cremation, and she was taken to the back. My family began the process of grieving the loss of our little buddy.

At 7:30 the vet's office calls. She says somebody wants to adopt my dog and will assume all financial responsibility for her care and asked for my consent. I immediately freaked out as, to my knowledge, she was euthanized at 2 in the afternoon. I did not abandon her or relinquish her or deny her any necessary medical treatment...we watched her suffer and decline and made an informed decision that assured her tremendous suffering ended. I'm so completely confused. My dad immediately went to the vets office and picked her up. She is out cold as they sedated her. Nobody can explain why the sedated her if they had decided not to euthanize her.

In one respect I can't believe the blessing of another night with my precious baby. On the other hand, I know tomorrow will bring her pain and misery and that we will, once more, agonize over what to do.

I can't comprehend how this happened, how this can even be allowed. Can a vet choose to disregard the wishes of a loving pet owner and simply do as they please? I thought her suffering was over... Is there anything I should do other than change vets?

[SunDance]

I am so sorry...that should never have happened.

I would get specifics from that office on how/why that happened...and then I would report the vet. I would not go back to that vet. I would definitely request to stay with your dog when you take her in on that final visit.

For what it's worth, I always hold my pets when they're being euthanized. I never thought that something like this would happen, I just think the pets are more comfortable knowing their human is near. Not judging...I know this is harder for some people than for others.

Again, I am so sorry.

[Snowshoe]

Oh, this is terrible, you poor thing. FWIW I think you were absolutely right to give her a final peace. I've seen animals trying to stand up when they can't and it seems to terrify them.

Here, yes, the Vet must follow the directions of the owner. Or I think they can refuse to follow them but they can't impose their own wishes instead. I have to wonder if there has been a bad mistake made in understanding the directions. Is this your usual Vet?

I'm sorry but the first thing you need to do is look after your girl. Then find out how this happened and file a complaint with whatever board governs Vets in your state.

Your girl is coming to now, the sedation has worn off? I'm so sorry, this is awful for her and all of you.

ETA: All mine have been given light sedation first.

[Meeps83]

How upsetting. It's such a tough decision in the first place, but to have to go thru it a second time is unreal. Did your dad have to sign a euthanasia consent form? I thought they had to follow that as being the owner's final wish. I absolutely would have picked her up too. You guys know her best and have loved her for her entire life. You know that this is the right time and the right thing to do. It's more than rude and inappropriate for them to call you about adopting her to someone else. Is there maybe a bet that can do the euthanasia in home? I guess, so you can make sure it's done? As far as sedation goes, many vets (including mine) sedate an animal before the euthanasia is done. Good luck to you guys.

[JenC]

I can't even imagine that. I hope they gave your dad back all his money for the services they DID not provide and I would be reporting them. Making a decision to help a loved pet along is difficult. We've done it twice so far with our dogs. We used an at home vet, which made it a lot easier on all of us, including our other dogs who didn't wonder why the old ones didn't come home.

Let the "good Samaritan" adopt a dog from the shelter in need instead of giving you guys more heartache.

[POPTOP]

So very sorry this has happened, for your girl and your family. We home seniors and know how hard it is to make that final decision. I do stay during the procedure, my DH can't. It's different for each of us and I am not judging at all.

Definitely go to a vet you trust. What that vet did is horrible. I would definitely report the vet to whatever licensing board in your area. Get all the records and see if you can find out why they acted as they did.

My heart goes out to you and your girl.

[labsnewfy]

I am so sorry your family and your beloved girl has to go through this. From what you have written you had done everything for your girl it is a matter of quality of life and she should have been let go in peace. I don't understand who or why someone would want to adopt your dog at this late stage when you were releasing her from her pain and suffering. I would question the vet and find another one that will do as you requested.

[lovemylabby]

I would like to put a different spin on this situation.

Is it possible that your Vet did not feel your dog should be euthanized? And perhaps it was not her time in her opinion?

Maybe she just couldn't bring herself to do it? And an adopter came forward?

I am very sorry your family is going through this...but maybe this all happened for a reason?

I believe in fate...and maybe your dog was just not ready.

[SunDance]

I would like to put a different spin on this situation.

Is it possible that your Vet did not feel your dog should be euthanized? And perhaps it was not her time in her opinion?

Maybe she just couldn't bring herself to do it? And an adopter came forward?

I am very sorry your family is going through this...but maybe this all happened for a reason?

I believe in fate...and maybe your dog was just not ready.

If the vet feels that way, it's something that should be stated up front....not mentioned 5 1/2 hours after drop-off. Our emergency vet refused to put our last cat down because "he looked too good". So I had to walk out that door with my kidney failure cat who hadn't been concentrating his urine for quite some time and who was having a crisis (no food/water/litter box for at least 12 hours at that point...looking back overnight...and hiding), wait for my vet to open and then dismantle our king size bed to get Charlie out before we could get him to that appointment. Not something you ever want to do. But the vet was up front about this...he didn't take my cat and then call me at home to say "sorry".

The way this happened is inexcusable. And, anyway, who was the Samaritan? Someone on a list of "hey, I'll take pets you don't want to euthanize....just call me"? How on earth did that coincidentally happen?

Sorry, Lily....there's heat in my reply and it's not coming to you. This situation just makes me see red.

[Labradorks]

We don't know the whole story here. Not saying the OP is lying, but there could be more to it than what meets the eye. Could have been simple miscommunication but could have been more. From the point of view of the OP, it wasn't handled well and obviously, this is an upsetting time, but something is just not adding up.

I worked at a vet clinic (one day practice and one 24 hour vet clinic). There have been times when vets refused to euthanize animals. The outcomes of that conversation with owners varied. But, you can't just take an animal to a vet clinic and say you want euthanasia. If the vet feels that the animal is not ready for euthanasia because there are treatments that are not beyond the scope of what the animal can handle or a large expense (I realize this is relative), they can and often will refuse to do it. I realize the owner paid and everything, but I don't know if he actually spoke to the vet? It sounds like he rushed in and rushed out and it could have been that he spoke to the front desk or a tech and when the vet went to see the dog, determined that no, the dog was not ready. Did the owner make an appointment? Or did he just rush to the vet and drop off the dog while the vet was in surgery and could not leave the animal on the table? Was the owner too overcome with emotion to talk to anyone? The owners that we have had that didn't want to stay with the pets were usually rushed and unable to have difficult conversations or refused these conversations. They have a hard time dealing with emotion or they don't want to be emotional around others. Or, maybe the owner is a difficult person and hard to talk to, which is not saying anything bad, just that there are difficult people in the world. Lots of things could have happened, especially since the owner was upset.

Perhaps in this case the dog does fine with pain meds but the owner refused the expense. Because someone asked to take the dog and bear all financial responsibility (per the original post) this tells me that there was something that could have been done and it was refused due to cost. In this case, one of the techs or office workers may have thought that if the owner would not or could not do it, they would do it and take the dog home (this has and does happen). I've seen people want to euthanize their pets for things that can be treated and people at the clinic take the animal home WITH THE OWNER'S PERMISSION (which is what this clinic did). The fact that the clinic didn't just keep the dog and not say anything to the owner (the owner never would have known), tells me they are not doing something shady or seedy. Any why did it take so long? Perhaps the vet was in surgery, as mentioned previously. Perhaps the vet suspected it was something else that was treatable and wanted to run a blood test as his expense to rule it out before euthanizing the dog? Perhaps the vet didn't have a chance to discuss this with the owner or perhaps the owner would not entertain it and/or was too upset to have the conversation while he was there. There are lots of reasons in this case as to why things took time to unfold.

I don't really know what happened, obviously, and the OP wasn't even there either, but in the case the owner really needs to discuss this with the vet before jumping to conclusions or euthanizing their dog at another clinic. Vets don't typically do these kinds of things without reason is what I am trying to say, so I'd contend that it is worth looking into.