AIBU to think vet behaved badly?

[ariel333]

A couple of months ago it looked as if my mother’s 17 year old, semi-feral cat was on her last legs. After fruitless attempts to catch her we had to get the RSPCA (who were brilliant) to trap her so she could be taken to the vet. The vet did lots of tests and said that the cat might last a year or so longer with special food. I explained the difficulty of catching the cat and her age but he wouldn’t indicate that he thought putting the cat to sleep was a reasonable course of action. So £500 later the cat went home and predictably within two months she is failing and we have to put her and my Mum through the trauma of catching her all over again. I rang up the vet to complain and he said he never recommended that a cat be put down and it was always the decision of the owner. Does anybody else think this is just ducking his professional responsibility and bad practice on his part?

I think there is a difference between agreeing with an owner that their thoughts of putting the animal down are reasonable (fine), telling the owner that putting down the animal is one of a few options (also fine) and telling the owner that putting the animal down is 'right' (only ok if the animal is actually suffering, imo).

Perhaps the vet didn't get enough of a vibe from you that PTS was your preferred route?

You don't need permission? You can literally book an animal for a PTS. I have never been asked why and that's on horses, dogs and cats over the years. Why did you not tell the vet you wanted the cat PTS?

It's up to you to explain what you want to do. Lots of people with elderly cats just want a bit more time, reasonable quality of life and obviously review that situation as time passes.

I realise that I didn’t need his permission but I was asking for his professional opinion and definitely putting it forward as probably the best option in the circs and he was definitely refusing to acknowledge that it was a reasonable option. All made more difficult because of not actually being there because of lockdown etc

I agree with the vet on this, it is the owner's decision whether to have a pet PTS or not

Vet did nothing wrong. Take some personal accountability

Did you ask him directly about PTS? 'Wouldn't indicate' is very vague.

The vet did absolutely nothing wrong .

I said putting the cat to sleep was the best option given her age and the difficulty treating her. He said it might be nice for my Mum to have her around for longer. I pointed out that if she went downhill quickly and had to be trapped again it would be doubly traumatic both for my Mum and for the cat- which is exactly what has happened. My decision but I still feel like I was guilt tripped and taken for a ride.

First off, I'm very sorry for you and your mum OP. That must have been hard. It's horrible to see an animal in pain.

So the vet diagnosed a cat with a condition and said that she could last a year or so with special food. Presumably he thought that this the cat would still have quality of life on this treatment. It was not unreasonable for the vet to push this option over putting the animal to sleep. They wouldn't want to put an animal with a condition that they can manage to sleep just because it is hard to catch.

A few months later, the cat starts failing again. It might not have been the original condition that caused this. It was a very old cat, it could have developed additional problems that caused it to start failing.

Without knowing all of the medical facts, it is hard to know if the vet was being unreasonable or not.

Sorry, just seen your update. OP, any self respecting vet won't put an animal to sleep just because it is old. Or because it's owners don't like the idea of having to give it medication/special food at home.

OP, any self respecting vet won't put an animal to sleep just because it is old. Or because it's owners don't like the idea of having to give it medication/special food at home.

Do you know a lot of vets?

This was a decision for OP to make. And yes a self respecting bet would absolutely PTS a 17 year old semi feral cat with health problems.