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Old September 20th, 2010, 06:53 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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Rant of a shelter tech.

Okay, I need to rant somewhere that it will be appreciated.

1. We are a low cost clinic. We are dirt cheap and have a program for basically every need. If you cannot afford to get your cat spayed and vaccinated for a whole 25-50$ and you pull up in a BMW, it's not really appreciated. Or when you cannot afford your dogs vaccines or HW pills but can afford to put a Louis Vuitton collar and leash on it, that's also not really appreciated it.

2. People who come in with their 1,000$ puppy mill mutts dressed up in clothes, brag about how Fluffy cost soooo much and they got her from a farm all the way in *gasp* Lancaster, PA, but suddenly can't afford the surgery and play the guilt trip on US.

3. Why is it everyone has a story? Today I had a woman SCREAM at me on the phone that I (personally) should give her doxycycline for her dog because SHE is unemployed. Soooo even though we just helped your doggy out by giving him his shots and stuff for dirt cheap you are screaming at us??

4. People who threaten to breed their dogs so that we give them the surgery for free or cheaper. Yes, this happens. All the time. "Well if you aren't going to do it i don't see why we should have to pay when we can make money selling her puppies". Nice one.


I have more but I can't even think of them.

Then just the general crazies-

Little puppy running loose through our busy parking lot
Me- "Do you have a leash for your dog?"
Owner- "Yes."
*pause*
Me -"Okay would you like to put it on so he doesn't get hurt?"
Owner- "No"


Cat comes in without carrier
Me- "Do you have a carrier for your kitty so he doesn't run off?"
Owner -"I have 7 kids!!"
Me- "Okay, but do you have a carrier for your cat?"


Dog comes in for surgery
One of the clinic girls- "Has your dog had any food since last night?"
Owner -"My son was murdered in January!"

VERY skinny mastiffs come in for vaccines w/owner of "I have 7 kids!!"
Me- "They are a bit thin, they should go for a checkup"
Owner- "Well since it was warm over the summer their food went bad so they weren't really eating it so they got sick and loose weight because it was warm (etc etc etc etc etc)"
Me -"Okay, but they are very thin so they probably should go to the vets".
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Old September 20th, 2010, 08:31 PM
Jim Hall Jim Hall is offline
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lol yup suonds like the old clinic for sure I had to get fired cause i was really getting nasty at the foo foo breeder dogs.. well not the dogs but the "owners"




how about the old "kitty got sick again but the other end" [puking instead of squirting} " can i get the same medicine. you only saw her last year"
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  #3  
Old September 21st, 2010, 06:48 AM
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Oh, Kathryn, the things you see must be so heartbreaking . I just don't get why people are so stupid
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Old September 21st, 2010, 07:21 AM
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I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. I truly wish people would appreciate and respect what you all do for them. We have nothing like that here at all. In fact, every time we take either of our babies in we have to sign a form stating if we do not pay, in full, at the time of pick-up then they have the right to sell or euthanize the animal. Pretty disgusting IMO.

It's over $500 for a neuter with blood work here unless you go to the spay/neuter clinic, which I never would (animals are treated very poor by the staff) and then it's still $350.

Even though I live no where near you, I appreciate what you do for the animals.
Take care, and God bless you
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Old September 21st, 2010, 09:05 AM
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People

We have a program in the county for (I think $10) you can go to the vet and they will honour the certificate for the rabies shot,

When I had my guys in this year, of course I pay the full price the vet tells me about one of the councillors in the area that showed up with the certificate. He probably didn't even pay the $10.00.

It happens everywhere.
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Old September 21st, 2010, 09:18 AM
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Rant away dear , I wouldn't be able to deal with that stuff everyday.

I remember when my phone number was posted on the rescue web page , as I was fostering , I was also taking in the surrender calls or anyone who had questions. I got the "if you don't come to take my dog "yesterday" ,I'll have it put down and it will be your fault".

never mind giving me time to find a foster home ...
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  #7  
Old September 21st, 2010, 09:20 AM
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erykah1310 erykah1310 is offline
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Off topic but... There are Louis Vuitton collars and leashes??? I must find some

Back on topic
What on earth does your son being murdered have to do with your dog eating? Weird.
Sad but weird.
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Old September 21st, 2010, 11:06 AM
Chris21711 Chris21711 is offline
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I feel for you Kathryn, my Daughter worked in the shelter for 5 years, she has told me some doozie stories
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  #9  
Old September 21st, 2010, 01:50 PM
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Kathyrn, I don't know how you deal with it day in and day out. I know I certainly couldn't, kudos to you for being so tolerant for the sake of the animals.
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Old September 21st, 2010, 04:08 PM
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Kathryn, as always, my hat's off to you and all the other rescue workers out there. You are doing a job that I couldn't. But I can promise not to make your jobs any harder by making sure that my fur babies are well looked after and stay with me until it's time to go to the Rainbow Bridge.
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  #11  
Old September 21st, 2010, 06:53 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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Uhhh more rants for today.


Cardboard box was taped shut and sitting on our picnic table outfront this morning when we were opening (7am). Surprise, it's a cat!

Had a lady who had an appointment for 2 of her cats to be spayed and neutered. She brought in the boy cat, but did not bring in the mom cat because "she might be pregnant and I told my daughter we were going to have kittens!!" And then I HAVE TO BE THE BAD GUY and talk to her about spaying the kitty. And of course she acts like I'm because I don't want her kitty to have MORE kitties, but then finally gets the point when I get into the numbers and horror stories.. but I think I redeemed myself when I told her all about our foster program and how she can help save the lives of tons of homeless kitties by fostering for us And she seemed very interested and agreed to spay the kitty (we hope she actually shows up).


And just the weird stuff people say

"My dog has her period"

Retained testicles-

"Oh, you mean cats/dogs are supposed to have 2??"



Today had someone ask to clip her yorkie-mutts tail. We thought she meant to trim the hair on the tail because it was a bit matted, so we said sure no problem... then later she gets upset because she wanted us to CROP her adult yorkies tail!!! are you kidding me? Well we set her straight with all the lovely facts of tail cropping.


And all the people who expect us to declaw their cat?!?! What, you can't even afford the basic needs of your cat but expect us to declaw it? Are you kidding me!?! Oh, I get all the folks set straight on that one I've actually seen a declaw firsthand just once, and so I go ahead and demonstrate it to them using my own hands as an example and tell them alllll about it.


I suppose I have gotten quite cynical.. but anyone who hasn't gotten a bit whacky in this profession is just not human. I LOVEEEE being able to help all the kitties and doggies (mostly the kitties), but people are just INSANE!!
ON ANOTHER NOTE, we spayed/neutered 53 animals today (cats, dogs and a rabbit). And we are adding on an extra surgery shift once a week to s/n even more animals
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  #12  
Old September 21st, 2010, 07:49 PM
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Frenchy Frenchy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kathryn View Post

ON ANOTHER NOTE, we spayed/neutered 53 animals today (cats, dogs and a rabbit). And we are adding on an extra surgery shift once a week to s/n even more animals
that is good news ! A little "plaster" to put on all the other bad stuff that is happening.
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Old September 21st, 2010, 11:16 PM
Etown_Chick Etown_Chick is offline
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And the worst part is, these HUMANS breed at will.... And pass this all on to their children, repeating the cycle ad nauseum.
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Old September 22nd, 2010, 03:35 PM
Jumajum Jumajum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kathryn View Post
And just the weird stuff people say

"My dog has her period"
I hear you. I used to work in a shelter – spay/neuter clinic and every week there were some doozies.

I actually had a number of incidences within a week (must've been a full moon) of people bringing in their dogs in heat and saying, ‘She’s leaving blood all over the place. Can you do something to stop it?”

I finally couldn’t hold my tongue any longer and replied,
“Yeah, you can get dog tampons but you’re going to have to insert them into her and pull them out yourself.”
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Old September 23rd, 2010, 03:45 PM
JennieV JennieV is offline
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Originally Posted by Jumajum View Post
I finally couldn’t hold my tongue any longer and replied,
“Yeah, you can get dog tampons but you’re going to have to insert them into her and pull them out yourself.”


Kathryn,
stay strong and keep "edumacating and rectumfying" these doosies
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  #16  
Old September 27th, 2010, 10:00 AM
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oh me nerves oh me nerves is offline
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Stupid people attract pets like moths to a flame. Its one thing I hate about working with animals, I have to see so much of this BS. I've worked at vet clinics, groomers, pet supply stores and even a humane society. I've lost count of how many wtf moments I've encountered. Some of the people you meet... you just want to squeeze their neck until their head pops off. And so many of the animals in the "care" of these swamp donkies are the sweetest, most loyal creatures.

The lastest one was only a week or so ago. Woman comes in, she's a regular, not afraid to spend her money, brand new Dodge Ram, new car, has her own business yadda yadda yadda. Buys a Newfoundland landseer puppy, beautiful little girl, and oh so sweet. Not cheap. She's returning a collar, its too big so she brings in the puppy. My god, on her neck is a red, angry looking sore about the size of a golf ball. she's been picking at it a lot according to this woman, the hair around it is all matted into the sore and discolored. I have a look at it, lift up the matted ball of hair so see the actual sore and my finger goes right into a festering open sore of blood and puss, its even more red then on the outside, probably infected. Woman says she hasn't brought her to the vet because she's cleaning it daily with polysporin and knows how to do such a thing being she is a beautician. Obviously your not cleaning it you're just cleaning the top, matted hair area not the actual wound. I tell her she needs to get the puppy to a vet so they can shave and clear the area, give her some medication as it has a very big possibility of getting bad and fast.

So what does she do? Nothing, came in the other day said its 98% cleared up, she shaved the area around it and has been putting poly on it. Umm, no. I highly doubt it cleared up that fast considering the size and how infected it looked. Lord only knows what caused/is causing it and she's still taking this puppy out for walks, letting it around other dogs and putting a collar on that poor neck. What is wrong with you! You have money! Take the poor creature to the vet and get it dealt with properly! She know says the dog is chewing on itself all the time, I'd suggest something like take the dog to a vet but why bother? It all falls on deaf ears because she knows better, after all she's a beautician.
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Old September 27th, 2010, 01:40 PM
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You have my utmost admiration. Anyone who works at rescues are amazing people. I could never work at one. 1. because I'd be fired daily because I wouldn't be able to not tell people what idiots they are and 2. I'd have to pop anxiety and depression pills by the hour.
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Old September 28th, 2010, 03:23 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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UGH!! Luckily where I work since we are strictly basically a "whole foods" for pets, most of our customers are regulars and very nice people. We have some weirdos here and there, but nothing like the shelter.


Okay so for example, yesterday we get an email from a woman who said her dog bit her other dogs "boy parts" (I don't even want to have to repeat the way she described it ) and she is unemployed and can't afford a vet and wants us to treat her dog for free.

So she can apparently afford a computer and internet access (unless she just happened to use a computer at a library or something ) but he dog is injured and wants us to do something for free even though the shelter is lucky it's staying afloat in this economy.



And another one!!! This morning we are signing in our clients and prepping the patients for surgery. One of the girls starts a womans paperwork and gives her the price for the surgery and vaccines (the cats never been to a vet and has had nothing done ever).... so she goes "isn't this the low cost clinic?" my friend giggles and is like.. well yeah... that's why it's so cheap. The woman gets all agitated and is like WELL I can't afford that etc etc. She of course claims that we told her it would be X amount (i didn't hear it but probably either free or like $10 or something) and that it would include a "shot" and that she could come back for more shots for free. Ummm.. no.... sorry, as much as we'd LOVE to do that for everyone how do you expect a non-profit to pay the bills?!?!

So we are like okay, we will give you the $50 program which includes the cats spay, rabies and FVRCP vaccine.. "WELL I CAN'T AFFORD THAT" is the first thing that comes out, and we are like.. umm do you have any documentation that shows you are low income or on medicaid or anything? she gets all mad and LEAVES!!

So now we've got a cat out there with no vaccines, probably going to reproduce. All because even though we were willing to work out a deal with this woman it wasn't good enough for her and she walks out the door before we can even talk to her
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Old September 28th, 2010, 03:59 PM
BenMax BenMax is offline
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Rich isn't it. There are even those who are in 'rescue' (wanna bee's anyways) that 'rescue' an animal and then get pissed off if you cannot pick it up NOW without notifying you first as to what they are doing????
So it's not just the public that is obnoxious but so called rescue people as well.

I hear you Girl. Rant away.
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Old September 28th, 2010, 04:14 PM
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kudos and to all of you dealing with these morons on a daily basis,it takes a very special person,i would not be it,i'd probably end up in jail
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Old September 28th, 2010, 05:23 PM
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Frenchy Frenchy is offline
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Rich isn't it. There are even those who are in 'rescue' (wanna bee's anyways) that 'rescue' an animal and then get pissed off if you cannot pick it up NOW without notifying you first as to what they are doing????
yep , and then suddenly , we become b*tches to those people.

there's a saying in french , "feed a pig and he'll come pooping on your doorstep" ..... sounds better in french !!
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  #22  
Old September 28th, 2010, 05:25 PM
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she gets all mad and LEAVES!!
she probably got the cat for free somewhere and thinks she'll never have to spend any money on him.
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Old September 28th, 2010, 05:53 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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Ugh I cannot make this stuff up.

LOL AND I HAVE MORE.

So we have a vaccination clinic every week and you can come in and you don't have to pay an office visit.. we just do the basics like rabies and distemper and HW tests.. etc. Okay so this guy and his wife come in yesterday with these disgusting nasty american bulldogs. An intact male & female.

So they are trying to attack everyone in the lobby, so we pull them into the office and are like.. okay, what's going on here? you have two very dirty, skinny intact mean dogs?

So the dude is all, WELL I paid $1,800 for da female and $1,500 for da male and I wanna breed 'em AND IMMA GET MAH MONIES WORTH!! (okay, you have to understand this is really how the guy was talking to us)

so we are like, well there are lots of homeless puppies we put to sleep every year, etc etc.. and your dogs don't look like they are in good shape.


So he's not getting that nasty or anything but is being a total blockhead. And guess what? The city that he lives in requires mandatory S/N. We tell him we have a grant for s/n animals in his city and it would be only $25 each dog to have them fixed. No no no, he wants a litter of puppies!!!

We give him the speech again, give his dogs the rabies vaccines and send him on his way with his flea infested, emaciated dogs.


A call may have been made to Animal Control that afternoon to report someone in violation of the mandatory s/n law

I know it's a controversial subject, but I have to tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mandatory s/n law in my particular area just because we have a major amount of low costs clinics and there is no excuse not to do it.. so when people don't s/n just for these kinds of reasons it's really nice to be able to call up and say hey, these people were told about the rules and they didn't care. And then they come in and get their pets fixed
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Old October 2nd, 2010, 08:30 AM
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NoahGrey NoahGrey is offline
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We give him the speech again, give his dogs the rabies vaccines and send him on his way with his flea infested, emaciated dogs.
Just wondering why HS was not contacted and why his a flea infested, emaciated dogs, were not reported to the HS? Seems like he needs a visit from them. Do you not work with them closely? I would think you would see some animals, that raises questions and that HS should be contacted.

Quote:
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A call may have been made to Animal Control that afternoon to report someone in violation of the mandatory s/n law
yup

Good to hear that you are being pro-active in spaying and neutering and educating people
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Old October 8th, 2010, 05:10 PM
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kiara kiara is offline
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This makes me think of a certain veterinary clinic in Montreal that offers very good prices to the public, in general. These wonderful people also help several rescue groups. They are very well known and respected in the community. Their secretary-technician, a real swieetie-pie and a major chatter-box, of many years is very ASSERTIVE and if you have an attitude you will get THROWN OUT!!! never to be allowed in again. She gets screamed at all the time by rescue groups, even though she is doing them a favor. I think you need to have proof of salary and not let rich people take advantage of the situation, because they can go somewhere else and pay a full price, let people with a small income get preferrential treatment. The word will get around and you will create a new "reputation". NO ONE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION !!!!!
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