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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

in thinking the pdsa vet could have walked outside their door to help a run over cat

25 replies

Morph2 · 29/04/2012 22:40

this was a while ago now but i just read another thread on AIBU about vets fees and mentioning the PDSA and it reminded me. About a year or so ago i was drivining to work and a cat ran out in front of me and the car coming the other way ended up hitting it. The cat ran under a parked car and was making a funny noise and was obviously in distress and was bleeding. A few cars stopped and we tried for ages to get the cat out but couldn't. If we got near touching it it hissed and spit. Anyway the accident was literally outside the PDSA building, less than 3 mins walk, so i went in and told them and they said that they weren't allowed to leave the surgery and they could only help the cat if we brought it in. We tried for quite a while and we couldn't get the cat out, we didn't have any type of equipment for grapping the cat (if there is such a thing). AIBU in thinking the PDSA vet could have come outside the door and at least tried to get the cat from under the car, or perhaps given it a jab with something for pain relief, perhaps an experienced person would have had more chance in getting it out than we did. Anyway we just ended up having to leave the car under the car and go to work which i felt awful about but not sure what else we could have done.

OP posts:

bogeyface · 29/04/2012 23:53

YANBU to think that they should.

But sadly, there are probably myriad reasons why they will insist they couldnt such as health and safety, insurance etc.

A decent vet who is in the job because they genuinely care about animals should have done it though :(

ListenToYourHeart · 30/04/2012 01:21

YANBU

They could have at least sent someone out to try help you get it out.

Birdsgottafly · 30/04/2012 01:34

I suppose the problem is that they are funded/insured to treat the animals bought into them.

Also, once someone went out, they would have to try to see to the cat, however long it took and would then have been short staffed and would possibly have to turn someone else away.

garlicnutter · 30/04/2012 01:49

YANBU but it's the devil's own job to get people to help a human sometimes, let alone a cat! Blummin' elf'n'safety, fears of being 'blamed' and all that :( Poor thing. Glad you and others stopped.

Boomerwang · 30/04/2012 04:20

It can't be that hard to pretend the cat had been brought in by someone other than a member of staff, surely?

I couldn't cope with the guilt of knowing a creature was in pain and it could be stopped. With nothing around to get the cat out, though, you can't do much except call the RSPCA.

Rubygloom · 30/04/2012 07:12

I found rspca unhelpful.I saw a seagul a few years back with barbed wire stuck in its webbed foot and leg with blood and would they come out.No.I felt so sad for the poor thing

YellowDinosaur · 30/04/2012 07:36

Twats. I bet if they found themselves in need of medical attention and a passing doctor said 'sorry i'm not going to help you unless you come to my surgery'they'd have a few words to say.

My cat was attacked by dogs and hid under a car. My neighbour who found her called the local vet which was a small single handed practice and they sent 2 members of staff a10 minute walk to get her out. That is how it should be.

I wouldn't want to take my animals to a vet where the staff don't give a shit about them

BeingFluffy · 30/04/2012 08:33

YANBU. Our vet, a sole practitioner, was called outside to attend to a stray dog that had been hit by a car in the street outside the surgery. He went out without a moments hesitation - unfortunaterly it was so badly hurt there was nothing he could do except put it to sleep. I would have thought it would be a vet's instinct to go to the immediate aid of an animal.

Sparklingbrook · 30/04/2012 08:42

It's odd because if you watch some of the programmes about the RSPCA you see them spending half a day trying to get a hedgehog from down a drain or catch a swan with fishing line in it's mouth.

crazynanna · 30/04/2012 08:54

I remember years ago,a beautiful Parrot had escaped from somewhere and was in the medium sized tree outside my block. All the blackbirds' were trying to attack it,and it was all very noisy. My neighbour ran indoors to ring the Royal Bird charity people (can't remember the name),and said come they come and rescue it. They said no because it was in a tree! . They said if it was on the floor they could come. But it was a bird.....in a tree.

Sparklingbrook · 30/04/2012 08:56

Fancy that. A bird in a tree.

crazynanna · 30/04/2012 08:59

I know! What next!

worldgonecrazy · 30/04/2012 09:02

YANBU. If the vet truly cared about animals then s/he would have wanted to help.

There are rules attached to the treatment of animals by the RSPCA, perhaps the same applies to the PDSA? I know when we took an unknown RTA cat to our vets he said he would have to put that the accident occured local to the surgery to get the RSPCA to fund any treatment. The haridan receptionist always made us say that we would fund the treatment before she would tell the vet we were on our way. We've taken three road-traffic strays to our vets and they have all been treated by the vet for free. Unfortunately two didn't make it but at least we tried.

catsmother · 30/04/2012 09:04

The very least you'd have thought they might have suggested is to hand you a cat basket and a tin of food (can't believe they'd have neither in the surgery as presumably they must have to keep animals in sometimes) in the hope it might have been tempted from beneath the car and into the cage.

When my own cat was run over on a Sunday evening - so no open surgeries - a very kind neighbour called a vet (not my normal one) who agreed to open up to see her. She had to be put down sadly but the lovely vet told me there'd be no charge other than the crem fee, even though he'd come out on a Sunday especially. By doing that he ensured all my future business went there. Shows that being compassionate reaps reward.

AvocadoAndFitch · 30/04/2012 09:08

A normal vets would of, but the PDSA have a high rate of people attacking staff. so are probably prevented from helping because it would have been a set up to get them away from the cameras in the practice.

Also if they can't get near it they can't treat it injection or other wise.

Cats are notoriously difficult to catch and if it had breathing issues they could of exasperated the problem. With adrenaline and the fight or flight response they are unlikely to have been able to help and could have made the cat do more damage.

So yes a normal vets could and should have gone to assess the cat from a distance but the outcome was likely to be the same as frustrating as it is.

AvocadoAndFitch · 30/04/2012 09:10

Argh not would, could
could possibility be a set up.

Boomerwang · 01/05/2012 05:17

Why on earth would anybody want to attack staff from the PDSA?

AvocadoAndFitch · 01/05/2012 06:33

They have free access to drugs and needles. The media keep on reminding people of that vets have ketamine that also doesn't help.

I locum'ed for a vets in a dodgy area once, for one night. I client pushed me to the ground because I refused to give his dog steriods. He really failed to grasp the 5mg that the dog would be prescribed isn't going to be anywhere near what he wanted.

Also its what vets know, people (another locum job) were annoyed that we knew their dog had consumed a class A drug. We knew, we were not stupid, but wouldn't of taken it any further. The owners didn't like that we tagged on to the symptoms and the fact they were very similar to their own appearance but alot more severe and attacked a colleague.

Neither where PDSA but its well known they end up being attacked the most often.

Flightty · 01/05/2012 06:42

Well it's a tricky one. I don't know what their rules are or why.

You were definitely unreasonable to leave it there though.

Sorry. I could NOT have done that. You FIND a WAY. I'd have stayed there all day if necessary and tried to find whose car it was but most of all just FOUND some equipment to get it out.

You have made me really cross.

bettybat · 01/05/2012 07:00

Agree Flightty and I'm sure lots of people will come up with a lot of reasons why they should have left the cat but - there's just no way I would have done, I would have tried and tried all freakin' day.

Practically speaking I would have called the RSPCA....not sure why you didn't? Failing that - if they didn't come out - I would have rung around all the local vets to see if one would come out.

I've never had much dealing with with the PDSA so couldn't comment on what they are or aren't likely to do. But I have called out the RSPCA for injured animals including a pigeon with a broken wing, and a dove that flew into my glass building at work and was bleeding badly. The RSPCA have always been brilliant, it's a shame some people haven't had the same experience.

I've had animals my entire life, and lived in a lot of places, and the local vets have always, unfailingly, been very committed, caring and just really awesome people. I love vets :) They should - and will - do whatever they can, and you could have at least tried to ring round a few to see if they would help once it was clear the PDSA wouldn't help.

Flightty · 01/05/2012 07:04

Thanks Betty, couldn't believe no one else had said it.

I'm not talking hydraulic grabbing machines. I'm talking a cloth or cardi or something, or even a long thing to shift it with till it was reachable.

I know you probably didn't have time, didn't want to make its injuries worse etc but what did you think would happen if you left it there? I don't understand.

Sparklingbrook · 01/05/2012 07:11

The OP did say they had to go to work, if your boss is not an animal lover that would be a tough phone call to make?

bettybat · 01/05/2012 07:20

I don't understand why other vets weren't tried if OP had to leave...they obviously tried for a while, so hung around for a while after the PDSA refused. A local vet would have come out.

Flightty · 01/05/2012 10:10

I can see that a boss who didn't appreciate this sort of situation might make life hard.

But you cannot just leave a badly injured animal to whatever fate, under a car...you just can't.

Boomerwang · 01/05/2012 11:07

I hit a dog with my car just before starting work. It was 5.30am and pitch black. I was only doing about 5 miles an hour as I was turning a tight corner but I still must have hurt this dog which flashed across the front of me. I jumped out of the car in shock and then drove up and down the street where it ran, desperately trying to find it. Even though it carried on running it must have had severe bruising and I intended to get it to a vet but I couldn't find it.

I turned up at work with tears streaming down my face and apologised for being late (by about 20 minutes) but my boss seemed clueless as to how to deal with me. The rest of the staff just took the piss out of me for getting upset over a dog.

Assholes.

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