Photo: Corbis
In medicine, even a minor problem can lead to complications or malpractices that result in the unexpected death of a loved one. We are, at least on some level, conditioned for the possibility. But we don't expect to bring an animal companion to a vet for something fairly routine and then find our pet unnecessarily and accidentally put down. But according to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, Maria Velez and her young son lived that very nightmare when their cat, Buddy, was euthanized by a local animal shelter after a paperwork mix-up.
The unfortunate sequence of events that ended with Buddy's untimely death began when Velez asked a friend, Debra Yarzab, to look after Buddy while she was out of town. Yarzab agreed and went to Velez's house each day to feed and play with the lonesome but friendly cat. During one of these visits, Buddy bit Yarzab. She ignored it as a non-incident, but a few days later the bite wound had swelled, sending her to the doctor.
By this time, Velez had returned home. Because Buddy hadn't been vaccinated and his bite required medical attention, the health department ordered Velez to bring him to Hernando County Animal Services for quarantine pending testing for rabies. The tests eventually showed that Buddy was disease free, and he was cleared to go home.
Normally, this is where the story ends.
But when Velez went to the shelter to retrieve Buddy, she was presented with a different cat. Though the cat resembled Buddy in its color patterns, it was skinnier, had a different face, and was missing its tail. Further investigation revealed the terrible truth: Buddy was dead. He had been put down after being mixed up on paper with his skinny, tailless look-alike whose owner had given permission for euthanization.
"I was horrified," Velez said. "My poor baby."
"This was just one of those tragedies that happens, but we don't want it to happen again," said Leana Teague, the animal services manager.
Velez wasn't quite appeased by this non-apology. "They said, 'It happens. We don't live in a perfect world, and Buddy paid the ultimate price,'" Velez said. She explained that apart from barely taking responsibility for their mistake, the shelter showed little to no compassion for Velez's loss. "They're cruel,'" Yarzab said.
The shelter claimed that they do feel badly about the incident. "It tears the staff up. I know it's more tragic for the owner, but it's terrible for us. It's not what we do," Teague said. She met with her staff today to discuss ways to improve communication and prevent further unnecessary tragedies.
Do you have a similar story? Have you and your pet ever been the victims of unnecessary suffering due to negligence? Share your experience in the comments.
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this should NEVER happen. STUPID people is the only reason it happened.
I believe that all shelters should be no kill shelters and I also believe that the price of adoption should be dropped so it would be easier for the animals to find homes.and that it should be the person choice rather to have that animal spayed or neutered and not the shelters.people who work in shelters and euthinize heathy animals are cruel I never could do it id find a home for that pet.
Very true... this is sad and I don't know about Ms. Maria Velez, but I'd probably look into getting a lawyer and having them shut down. I don't want to sound as cruel as them, but what are the chances of this NOT happening again at this very place? At this point money won't do any good because it won't bring Buddy back... can you imagine how her son feels? This shouldn't happen at all regardless of whether or not one has their pet vaccinated; perhaps she just didn't have the funds available to have it done at this specific time... but whatever, these people are supposed to be professionals. To all the jerks out there commenting out of their you know what - how would you like to be taken to a clinic or hospital for a routine checkup and end up getting surgery you don't need, or maybe a limb taken off, oops, or even sent into a coma or something like that, life support plug, (the one you didn't need), pulled accidentally. Oh well, I guess it would be your fault too for not feeling well enough to have to take your A-Doubless-S to the hospital... I say shut up and shut the place down... yes indeed.
Unfortunately, as a society, we are becoming more and more stupid as time goes on.
All household cats should at least be vaccinated for rabies to help prevent this tragedy from happening, this is partly the owners fault, but also the fault of the person caring for the pet. Cats usually give warning when they will strike. For the person who said people should have a choice on fixing their pet, well this is partly why there is a OVERPOPULATION especially with cats and this is why they are euthanized because there is no room in shelters and not enough people to foster or money to keep them. I work in the veterinary field and I know people who trap and fix feral cats to help with the overpopulation, my local shelter feel they are a nuisance and will destroy them. The comment on micro chipping well most shelters do scan the pet they just can not always find it( sometimes the chip migrates) or they say they do and don't. The best and healthiest place for your cat is in the house. We have a local no-kill shelter that usually brings in mobile homes to help house cats, this shelter will only take animals found in that city only, last year they had over 200 cats that needed homes, now they have over 100 Chihuahuas found in a hoarders house ( national news) and over 160 dead Chihuahuas in this house mainly because the owner did not NEUTER or SPAY these dogs. The vets I ever worked for gave discounts for people who adopt or rescue pets for vaccines and neutering, this service can not be provided for free since it does cost a lot of money to keep the doors open of a vet hospital. Please people get with reality and have your pet vaccinated to help prevent this tragedy. Humans make mistakes but this mistake is unforgivable, they need to pay more attention and have a better system in place.
This too happened to me. I cried for days. You don't expect the Humane Society to do this to you.
Yes, this error should not have happened and the shelter staff should have been more understanding to the pet owners needs. But, as to all the other crap that is being posted on here...I work at an animal shelter!!!! This is not a perfect world where all animals have loving, caring homes, get the proper vet treatment and are spayed and neutered. The animal population is just to large to do that. All animals should at least be vaccinated. Rabies vaccinations are a nation wide LAW!!!! And shelters cannot lower their adoption prices because they need money to be able to give care to the animals that are housed in the shelters. So instead of complaining about animal shelters complain about the reason that animal shelters are here in the first place!
This is an extremely unfortunate situation and I feel for the family of Buddy. I have fur-companions at home so I can only guess at what Buddy's family's anguish might be. While such mix-ups should never happen, the people at that clinic are only human - like all of us making comments. Most of us probably don't work in jobs that hold life/death/care of humans/animals in our hands, so it is easy for us to cast aspersions on those who do. What is you harmed an animal for every mistake you ever made at work? These clinics/vet practices employ good people, as a whole. No one who works with animals as a life choice would purposely do this.
Finally, shelters must humanely euthanize animals when they are not able to be re-introduced into society. And frankly, Buddy should have had his vaccinations up to date.
What ever happened to taking responsibility, if the woman had taken care of her cat by vaccinating it the cat would have never been at the shelter in the first place. As far as peoples choice to fix their adopted pet, that is crazy, why do you think the shelters are over populated and they have to put animals down. If you think you can find homes for all these animals go do it. I have 5 dogs because I try to rescue what I can, but you can't save them all there are just to many.
Are you folks kidding me? This lady shouldn't be on vacation if she can't afford to vaccinate her cat and this incident wouldn't have happened. As for the idea of a no-kill shelter, they do exist. Unfortuantely, when you don't require spaying and neutering your pet or leaving it optional for the new owner to do the right thing, you would be screaming about all the over population that would create. Shelters require that for a reason. And as for the fees they charge for adoption is for a cause. To pay for their living arrangements to be available for a roof over their head and food in their tummies until they find new homes. You are dead wrong if you believe that someones pocket is being filled with these funds.
If you can't afford adoption fees, then you have no business adopting a pet.
So, what you're saying Tracy, is that pets should be allowed to reproduce freely, that shelters should never put any down, and that they should be adopted out for next to nothing?
Problem is, people don't take responsibility for all those extra animals and dump them on shelters. Shelters are forced to put animals down because they don't have space for thousands of animals at a time. And, hardly ANY animal comes into a shelter in perfect condition, so vet bills pile up, and of course, they need to eat each day. How do you propose shelters stay afloat?
The answer, of course, is people taking responsibility for their own animals, but good luck with that one...
Stupid is right. If the PET OWNER had kept the cat's shots current, the cat would NEVER have been at the shelter.
Yes, the shelter made a mistake, but the PET OWNER was down right negligent! The LAW requires rabies vaccination for a reason!
I work at an animal hospital and I am deeply troubled by this story. First of all you cannot "test" an animal for rabies unless you euthanize it, remove his head and send to a state lab for testing. There is NO blood test for this. What they might have done was monitor the cat for two weeks and watch for sympthoms. But as most know, they normally would not show up in two weeks time. I feel bad for the family. This should be a wake up call for everyone to atleast get your pets the rabies vax.
I have heard from professional vets that the only way to tell if an animal has rabies is to put it to "sleep" and do the testing. When an unprotected animal has bitten a human being, the risk is too high and the person needs to undergo painful shots to protect themselves. That is why it IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PET OWNER have these shots done timely when the law dictates. I would be interested in knowing what kind of tests are done while the animal is alive to diagnosis rabies. Any vets out there that can answer this question? Local shelters sometimes offer rabies shots annually for a small donation to the shelter. There is no excuse, it is simply laziness or the inability to just carve out the time and get it done. Plan it, do. Do not wait. Your own family is in jeopardy with even just a scratch from a rabid animal.
Lets look at this rationally Beth, the cat may have been unfamilair with the family friend feeding it and vice versa, so to say a cat gives warning signs before a strike would imply a) the friend is familiar with cats b) all cats are the same and c) the friend had 100 percent of her attention on the cat at the moment of the strike. All of which is ridiculous to assume, since i have seen a plethra of neurotic cats in my time. BUT lets get to the root of the problem here, all of this could have been avoided had the reckless owner done her duty as the pets owner and abided by the laws we all have to live by. So sorry for ya Buddy, but u didnt have 8 more lives to give.
I do not belive all people are stupid, just LAZY. Too lazy to double check paper work, too lazy to make a phone call, too lazy to do their job!
Idiots! Lets start with hiring people with a brain check and double check before you euthanize any animal...you can't take it back once the dirty deed is done. The poor cat paid the ultimate price for someones stupidity. As for Tracy's comment, ALL ANIMALS SHOULD BE SPAYED AND NEUTERED! Puppy mills & backyard breeders should be stopped. Get a job...don't sit on you ass and profit from breeding animals. All of us that do rescue know the heartbreak of trying to find homes for the thousands of unwanted and abandoned animals. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!
Let's see one is fluffy the other not fluffy, one has a tail and the other does not have a tail, Are they sure it was a cat or dog???? DUHHHHH!!!!! I think the key to this could be to use a little "COMMON SENSE". I can't even begin to imagine the pain and loss that this family is feeling.
A similar thing happened to our cat "Tony". We got Tony from the local Animal Shelter in Indiana. We took him to the vet to be declawed. After the procedure we took Tony home. After 5 days of not eating and drinking I took him back to the vet's. For 2 days they ran tests and couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. His kidneys and other organs were starting to shut down. Finally the vet called one night and said he had taken Tony's chart home an studied it line by line. After the surgery they give cats pain medication. The student intern gave Tony 1.0 cc instead of .1 cc. They flushed his system and he finally got better. The vet was very appologetic and wrote off the bill for the whole procedure and paid for any medical expenses for the following year. It has been 5 years and Tony is doing great. He has to eat special kidney food but is very healthy.
I agree with Beth, ALL animals should be given their shots and not let run around loose. I have neighbors that let thier dogs run loose outside their house without tags or even being collared. With no identifcation that the animal has recieved their shots what are these shelters to do. My dog has his shots which is identifed by the tags he wears and I would never aloow him to run loose.