Linda Hall: Vet makes hard decision a little easier

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

Along with thousands of other children, I decided I was going to be a vet when I grew up.

I never thought for a minute that being a vet would entail anything sad at all. It would be all about making the cute animals all better and their owners would be ever so thankful — I would be a heroine.

Never did I think for a second that being a vet would involve tears and grief.

But of course it does and I imagine many vets have to deal with grieving pet owners on a daily basis. Plus they have to deal with people deciding how much money they can afford to spend on care for their pets — hard decisions.

We experienced this first hand yesterday as we made the heart-breaking decision to put our beautiful cat Pixie to sleep.

It was a very emotional morning.

We adopted her about 13 years ago when my daughter went to Australia. She howled the entire car trip from Levin to Hastings and hid behind the couch for days.

About four weeks ago we took 18-year-old Pixie to the vet. It's of course not the first time she's visited Vet Services Hawke's Bay in Heretaunga St — they always call for Pixie Hall when it's her turn.

We hide the catbox when a trip is called for until the very last minute.

She's been along after sitting in the doorway one very hot windy day when I opened the front door and the backdoor slammed on her tail, skinning the end of it. She had a very short tail after that.

She's been after fighting with other cats but generally she's been a healthy girl.

However, we could see that she was losing condition although she was still eating every five minutes, so off to the vet we went — worried but sure they could fix her.

The vet was absolutely fantastic. She said her kidneys were failing, she had an overactive thyroid gland — hence all the eating but still losing weight and that her teeth were decaying.

"Did we feel we wanted to put her to sleep?"

I asked if she was in pain. "No. She might be a bit uncomfortable and achy as you do when you get older".

She said she could give her some medicine and see how she went. We agreed and I'm afraid to say that looking back that decision was more for our sake than hers — we couldn't bring ourselves to let her go.

She did perk up a lot. Then she would have the odd day when she ate hardly anything, but next day she would be okay again.

However, on Monday she wasn't eating at all and was struggling for breath. We knew what we must do.

It was hard. I approached the counter and said we were here with Pixie. We had already phoned and found out what our options were. The receptionist asked me what we had decided, I went to answer and found I couldn't speak, I pointed behind me. He said "we will take her home".

And we did. She's buried in the garden.

I know many people will say "it's only a cat" and they are right. She was a cat and loads of people all over the world are going through far worse. But she was our cat and had been in our lives for a very long time. All pet owners will understand.

She won't be waiting by the garage door when I get home from work, she won't be there for the grandies to pat next time they visit.

So here's a huge shout out to all our vets. They do an amazing job. They are healers and life takers when they have to be. It takes compassion and empathy not to mention a great deal of skill to be a vet — thank you.
.
■Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today