What was your worst pts experience?

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Tim Browning — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 13:12:04 GMT

First day first job euthanasia of GSD which seemed not very ill but owner gave some sob story and I was not yet very assertive ( that came on day 2). Later on phone call from real owner who was understandably upset as ex partner had picked up dog and had it killed for revenge. Police were involved but nothing came of it. Reinforced need to get consent forms signed as having one signed helped.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

shona maguire — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 19:51:18 GMT

[quote user="Linda Filshie"]I had a down cow that despite 2 bottle of somulose, 1 of pentoject, and 2 bottles of magnesium IV simply refused to die and just slumbered away peacefully. I eventually resorted to severing the abdominal aorta per rectum.

Actually in no way as dramatic/traumatic as some of the experiences here, but I just wanted to crawl into a by safesaver" style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline" href="http://www.vetsurgeon.org/forums/AddPost.aspx?ReplyToPostID=95692&Quote=False#" 91c4="1" in_rurl="http://i.tracksrv.com/click?v=SUU6MjMyMzk6MTE0NTpob2xlOjEyZmI4MWE4Nzc1ZjAwZDdlMThjNjQ4OGQ1NjdjODkyOnotMTQ5OS0yOTI1MjE6d3d3LnZldHN1cmdlb24ub3JnOjM4OTA1OmJhMjgyMTYzNmU4ZTA0YmRiOTM3Zjc1ZGUwZTdjN2YxOjEzNzgyMzQxMTQ3MDc">hole as the farmer was getting increasingly exasperated

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Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Sammy82 — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 18:16:51 GMT

Reading this made me cry. Did have a similar situation with an elderly lady and her cat. I was so glad when I heared that she got a new kitten.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Lorna McHardy — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 15:46:16 GMT

Old man living in obvious poverty, with an ancient border collie that undoubtedly needed euthanasia. Did it on a house visit (and strongly suspect he didn't eat that day to pay for it). All went perfectly, vein immediately, dog slipped peacefully away with a gentle sigh. Then the old man looks at me with great sadness and immense dignity and says, in a tone of complete acceptance yet making clear he will not recover from this: "now I have no friends left".

It was during my first year in practice, I cried all the way back to the surgery, and have never forgotten his voice.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Wren — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 15:19:03 GMT

It seems to me that GSDs are over-represented!

Three from me, two fairly awful, one funny.

1) Train gone through herd of bullocks. Some kind soul had let them off the railway line and into a 40 acre field where I was faced with no way of restraining them and 10-15 extremely angry bullocks with variously broken legs. In the end a good farmer friend who had turned up to help drove me round the field and I shot them from the passenger seat - getting out of the truck would have been lethal. We drove up to each one in turn, got as close as possible then I stretched my arm out of the window and tried to get the humane killer to their foreheads without getting charged at. A lot of ammunition was required.

2) A shed roof that had collapsed under the weight of the snow, most of the cattle escaped alive, one heifer pinned to the ground by a fallen beam which had broken her back. The shed was half demolished, totally unstable and unsafe and I crept in through the timbers to shoot her praying that the noise of the shot didn't bring the remaining structure down on top of me.

3) A collapsed flat-out donkey - actually moribund. I walked past its head to go to the car for some somulose and it gave some sort of aginal gasp, stretched its neck out and clamped its jaws around my foot. My welly and all my toes were completely locked in its jaws and I was fairly sure that if I ever got my foot back out I'd find that my toes had been amputated inside my boot. We couldn't prise its mouth open for love nor money and in the end hd to wedge a broom handle through its mouth (where a bit would sit) and lever its jaws open that way. Amazingly my toes were still attached and although it gave the impression of having expired I gave it a bottle of Somulose to be sure, after which it was dead as a doornail. Two hours later the owners rang to say that they'd seen it moving. I went back out to check and found it utterly dead, cold and rigid. Odd!

There have also been some pretty traumatic SA ones. When they go wrong they're horrific. Utterly horrific.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

meyerga00 — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 13:37:39 GMT

My worst....

A very ataxic pony (long standing cervical vertebral issue), white in colour. The owner INSISTED her two children, ages 10 and 12, observe the procedure and insisted on injection over gunshot. Played it safe I thought, and put in a long 14 ga jug cath, super glued in place. Light sedation with domo and torb. Skilled knacker man holding the pony. Pony standing quietly. Started injecting the Somulose and the pony suddenly spooks at some unknown gremlin. Of course pony stumbles and falls, and in the process the catheter gets jerked out. Pony on the ground flailing about, blood coming from the former catheter site and going all over the white pony's neck. Because of the sedation and the 10ml of Somulose on board could not get a vein to give the rest of the Somulose. Children go beserk screaming at me "You killed my pony ect ect ect." Ran to car (about 100 meters away) to get the 14 ga cath stilette so I could do a pericardial stick and give the rest of the Somulose. Knacker man did a world class job of holding the pony's head down while I ran to the car. Got the rest of the Somulose in without a problem and the pony went to the great beyond, leaving behind two hysterical children, a not very impressed client, one beat up knacker man, and one vet thinking hard about going to truck driving school!!!

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Dagmar Steele — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:28:04 GMT

That reminds me of a very weird moment back in the days when there were no mobile phones. I was on call and on my way back home when my mum buzzed me. I rang the owner back from a telephone booth and we spent the best part of 30 minutes discussing if his budgie had already died or if I should see it. In the end we agreed that it hadn't been breathing for 30 minutes and it must be dead by now. But then he hung up with the words: "I think I'll better whack a big stone on it just to make sure."

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:56:15 GMT

Not a bad experience, just an awkward moment...

Had a moribund budgie brought in a few days ago. I lifted it off the bottom of the cage and was holding it in my hands, trying to tell the owner that it's chances were slim to non-existent, when the owner quietly interrupted me to say 'it has stopped breathing'. Not good when the client diagnoses death before you've noticed.... . They had only been in the room approximately 30 seconds.....

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:14:21 GMT

It was-but not as bad as the sheep

Wynne

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:13:02 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

Half my post seems tohave deleted itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dog deteriorated on a Saturday afternoon, so it was me or me. Dog was collapsed,cyanotic, dyspnoeic, ascitic. I tried to persuade the owner to PTS-fialed. Injected lasix, was still trying to persuade PTS when it atarted Cheyne -Stoking.

Wynne

[/quote]

I think that would have taken years off my life! Must have been ghastly!

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:24:01 GMT

Micheal It was awful. As you say-how much to stock? All the ammo we used between us (if stocked in 1 practice) would have convinced a suspicious firearms officer that we were planning on starting WW3 Luckily, all the practices in the area were on good terms!

Wynne

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:16:19 GMT

Half my post seems tohave deleted itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wynne

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:15:14 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]I think my most traumatic was when I worked in Radnorshire. A sheep shed had gone on fire (during the lambing season.) I was phoned on rounds to go there ASAP. Boss' wife met me with the captive bolt and all the euthatal in the practice. The farmer wasn't actually our client-but veterinary surgeons from 3 practices were there-no one practice had either enough ammo or euthatal-really upsetting.[/quote]

That sounds truly awful. A chap I used to work for had to go and shoot 70 odd sheep one night. The farmer lived somewhere very remote and had no family. He died and his sheep were indoors. I for get the details, but ~14 days later the farmer was found one evening. Nearly half the sheep had died and the rest were not looking good (I suspect the farmer not looking too good either). Vet said he used all but two of his entire stock of bullets.

Makes you wonder how much ammo and Pentoject to keep in stock. I have a couple of thousand shotgun cartridges in the house so could move onto that and anywhere up to 1200 rounds of .22. If I had the forethought to take extra firearms.

Never been in a mass cull situation and really don't want to be. The horror stories from FMD..........

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:06:30 GMT

I think my most traumatic was when I worked in Radnorshire. A sheep shed had gone on fire (during the lambing season.) I was phoned on rounds to go there ASAP. Boss' wife met me with the captive bolt and all the euthatal in the practice. The farmer wasn't actually our client-but veterinary surgeons from 3 practices were there-no one practice had either enough ammo or euthatal-really upsetting.

The next worst wasn't actually a PTS but went to PIC (who sensibly rejected the complaint.) Owner normally refused to see anybody but the boss. (different practice ) He'd been nursing this ancient GSD for ages-arthritis and CHF-and it a PTS would be kindest-nothing doing.I injected lasix, continued trying to persuade owner-dog started Cheyne-Stoking. Owner was convinced my injection was a PTS

Wynne

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

patrick murphy — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 13:36:36 GMT

I had a day off ill, when at night a new batch of the travelling community told me to grab my gun as they had a horse with a broken leg. I then had to walk for what seemed years in the dark across country to a dilapadated old barn, gripping my handgun tighter and tighter, what a wonderful way of aquiring a handgun!. sorry to say that I have never been as relieved to find that they were actually telling the truth re. the poor horse, but certainly not when they promised to pay next morning. my regular travelling community members told me to leave them alone, don't try to collect, as they were bad ones!

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Lucy Fleming — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 12:58:52 GMT

Not a bad PTS experience...but certainly an awkward post-PTS experience! As a new graduate in (very) rural, small-town New Zealand, I attended a house visit to PTS a very nice couple's elderly dog. Luckily, all went smoothly (I think it was my first house visit PTS!), it was the dog's time etc.

This was just before Christmas, and as I had only been living there a month or so, a friend from uni had very kindly invited me to spend Christmas day with his aunt and uncle, who lived in said small town and who he was visiting for Christmas. When he gave me the address, it sounded very familiar. When I duly arrived for Christmas lunch, it looked horribly familiar! His aunt and uncle opened the door, greeted me very kindly with a comment about it being much happier circumstances than mere days before....

Of course, being kiwis, my friend and his cousin spent the rest of the day taking the p**s, 'make sure she don't kill any other dogs today' etc.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

bob lehner — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 09:57:14 GMT

I've had some memorable equine ones.

One in particular sticks in the mind. A very high-flying lady City lawyer, whose large dressage horse had reached the end of the road. She decided she wanted it shot rather than injected and insisted that she should attend the event.

Now normally when shooting horses I would move heaven and earth to make sure the owner was not present - but she absolutely would not take 'No' for an answer.

The due day arrived - I sedated the horse, stood the lady well behind me and pulled the trigger. The horse went down with a satisfactory crash. Simultaneously the lady let out a piercing scream and also keeled over with a mighty thump and a loud crack as her head hit the hard ground - she was absolutely out stone-cold.

Dilemma - do I attend to the horse first to make sure it is properly deceased - or do I do something (what exactly ?) with the unconscious body behind me ?

Anyway, fortunately the horse was dead and the lady came round after a while. She had the grace to admit that I had been right to try and dissuade her from being there - and fortunately didn't sue for any personal injury.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

mariette asselbergs — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 21:01:11 GMT

It was one of those very freezing February's 2 or 3 years ago.Ten inches of frozen snow. An elderly sounding lady called me at 2.00 am to come and put her old golden retriever to sleep. But when she described how to get to her, I realised that I did not want to go on this home visit. I would have to park the car and walk down a dark footpath on the outskirts of my town, which is notorious for nightly muggings and worse. I would have to look for her house about 100 meters from the road, and then how to get the dog to the car? So I pleaded with her to find transport. OK she was going to phone a friend. An hour later they arrived at the practice, and I was shocked to see that both were in their eighties, very lovely people, very upset about the dog, but it was her time, and so she went nice and quiet, sedation first, then the final injection, and when all was over and we had had some tea I helped them wrap the dog up in a blanket and got it in the boot of the friend's car. And I left for some more sleep. A|t 6.00 that morning I was called again for another case, and on arrival at the practice I noticed that their car was still there, an RAC van with it, and a flat tire. The old lady wrapped in her coat frozen in the back, her gentleman friend out on the pavement with the RAC man. The dead dog in the boot of the car. They had not wanted to call a taxi and abandon the dog.

I have rarely felt so bad in my life about these poor poor people. Since then I have a weak spot for the oldies amongst our clients.

Mariette

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Busybee — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 19:16:30 GMT

Another one of a wild and wailing owner - a woman well known in the town where our branch practice is for her 'erratic' behaviour and beliefs. I hadn't had much to do with her until I had to put down one of her many elderly dogs. During an open evening surgery. Just to say thank goodness nobody else turned up at the surgery during her 45 minute performance which included screaming at me, changing her mind (after the dog had died), screaming to God and threatening to kill herself as she nothing left to live for (no mention of the remaining 5 or 6 dogs at home).

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Richard Carter — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:44:13 GMT

as others have mentioned - which one do you choose - the collapsed black dog in a dark room with the nurse holding a torch? One very recent one was a dearly beloved goose that had been saved x number of years ago from Christmas but had finally run its course. Tried sedating with i/p pentoject - no effect. Tried i/m torb/ med - no effect. Managed to get small amount into a bracheal vein - slight sedation. Other vein blown. By this time ready to get out an axe but finally managed to get another vein. Owners were very grateful whereas I was hoping for a fatal car crash by time back to surgery.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Suzanne Kelly — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 23:40:09 GMT

1) I was working as a locum and had to do a house call to PTS a dog that had been having chemo for lymphoma. The way the practice worked was that the crematorium people would come to the house at a pre- arranged time to collect the body. I got totally lost on the way, managed to kerb the practice car as was in the holy horrors that the crematorium crew would arrive whilst Fido alive and kicking. Arrived eventually, found hysterical people and an angry black dog in very poorly lit house. Dog had no veins left. The nurse I has with me was a trainee and fairly hopeless. Owners utterly incapable of restraining dog. They went hysterical when I told them I'd have to sedate it first and muzzle it. Sedation had very limited effect on dog but made already crap veins ten times worse. They had a loudly ticking clock in the living room to remind me that I was against the clock. Finally managed it and dog expired before the crematorium people arrived.

2) Another locum adventure. House call to a GSD off it's back legs. Arrived into a filthy stinking house with very smelly but nice owners to find an obese GSD rotting into the carpet. Literally. It had massively oedematous legs with open sores that were liquifying into the carpet. It's back end was a liquid mess of rotting flesh, urine and faeces. The carpet squelched as I walked towards the dog. It "didn't like vets" and although it couldn't move it's legs it had excellent head and neck mobility and a fabulous aim. The owners wanted it treated. Eventually after many phone calls and the arrival of most of the extended family they agreed to pts. Jabbed it in the bum with xylazine ketamine. No effect. After another 2 doses it finally became sedated. No hope of a vein, I hadn't a needle long enough to go intra cardiac, so had to go intra abdominal and wait.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Charlotte Marshall — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 23:31:59 GMT

Unfortunately over the years there are a few that vie for this title but a relativey recent one was an obese black labrador with to elderly owners which was pretty collapsed. I can't remember the full details but it was anaemic anyway. Tried to get a vein in their garden in the dusk then moved the dog into the house still couldn't find a vein, veins under black skin not showing up well in poor light! Then gave some acp/torb usually gets a bit of a vein initially still nothing ended up sedating it further and taking back to the surgery unconscious and leaving it on the back seat of my car while the nurse arrived and I saw another patient. (I could not lift it out by myself!) even with the nurses help I struggled to finish the deed.

Mind you my worst might be the one many years ago where I read a visit as a PTS. I arrived and was presented with a dog that obviously needed pts and I went ahead saying what I was doing, then when dog had already had half the dose and I was trying to get the vein again as it blew the owner said 'so does it need putting to sleep then?' Obviously I was not as clear as I might have been and never again have I ever pts an animal without getting a consent form signed! When I got back to the surgery I discovered the visit book did actually say possible pts.

I had nightmares about that for a while!

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Bob Russell — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 09:06:21 GMT

Horrible sick feeling when I realised at a home visit that I had left my reading glasses at the surgery!!!

Most recent contact lenses have everything built in but did not at that stage!

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Kara Gibson — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 07:50:07 GMT

Mine is another GSD who was actually rather lovely but a bit nervous. His owners had taken it upon themselves to help restrain him by two of them wrestling him to the ground when there was no need, this panicked him a bit and he jumped just as I was about to insert my green needle. As I had placed my thumb alongside the vein to stabilise it I ended up plunging the needle through the tip of my thumb! Blood all over the dog, I calmly told the owners not to worry, that wasn't their dogs blood and then popped out to bandage my thumb before take two.

Re: What was your worst pts experience?

Claire Fisher — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:55:40 GMT

I had a house call to PTS a cat, when we got there we were shown in to the living room which was decorated with multiple framed pictures of women either in underwear or completely naked!

I kept my eyes on the floor the whole time and have never been so glad for a straight forward euthanasia!