Ref: http://www.myanimalcare.org/2011/10/two-kittens-for-worm-treatment.html
I was very busy yesterday and could not obtain the whole story of what actually happened (see link above, part in red).
So, today I went to our vet and got the whole story from the vet assistant.
Apparently, when the lady went back to the first vet, he was already treating the kitten. However, when he went to the back of his clinic to get something, the lady took the kitten away and sent it to our vet.
Our vet assistant advised her that she should not have done that. Yes, it is unethical and not right. Most importantly, it is not good for a weak kitten to be carted from one clinic to another, especially when the first vet was already treating it.
But the lady said she wanted our rescue rate.
Sigh....not everything in life is about money.
We have never scrimped when it comes to the animals. We always give the best, and this includes not unnecessarily stressing the kitten just to save a few bucks. Moreover, what difference does it make in this case? Our subsidy is 50% whether it is done at our panel vets or non-panel vets.
We also do NOT ask for a rescue rate in medical treatment at our panel vets because we understand treatment costs money. Our vets are not running a charity. They are commercial vets and they run a business. We raise money to pay our vets for the services rendered, and if out of goodwill, they offer us a discount, we are grateful.
Our discounted rate is only for spay-neuter.
If we keep asking for discounts for everything, who loses at the end? Our vets? The animals? As it is, vets are already so "afraid" of rescuers who are demanding or those who keep owing money all the time, citing "This is just a stray, why are you charging me full rate?". Think for a moment, is that fair on the vets? Vets do not discriminate, whether they are treating a pet or a stray. It is the same treatment given, same materials used, some care given. The very fact that some vets offer us a discount is already a huge bonus. Dare we demand for more?
I have now texted the lady and told her never EVER to do that again.
We are here to save lives, not to save money.
Please...the animals' safety, wellbeing and health are given priority. NOT money.
But she defended herself saying I told her to bring the kitten to our vet. Yes, I did, but only because she said the first vet was in surgery and could not treat the kitten and the kitten was already dying. What would you expect me to do when I hear that? "Oh so sorry, let us pray"? Surely, I'd source for another vet to treat the kitten since it sounded like an emergency, which was what I did. When there is still a chance, I will do everything possible to save a life.
My apologies to the lady for having to write this, but one of our missions is to educate, and educate, we must.
If rescuers "spoil the market" by behaving in unacceptable ways, at the end of the day, genuine, responsible rescuers/feeders/ caregivers suffer. And when this happens, the animals suffer.
The lady texted to say the other kitten is doing well. That's good.
All said, this may be a case of ignorance on her part.
It's as the Malay saying goes, lain orang, lain ragam.
It takes all kinds to make the world.
My purpose of writing this is only to educate, not to criticise.
Just in case anyone is thinking of doing what the lady did, I beg of you - please don't.
The animal's wellbeing comes first. ALWAYS.
It is written in our policies that we encourage you to use your own vet or a vet near you for geographical convenience: http://www.myanimalcare.org/p/policies.html
Carting an animal from one place to another is detrimental to the animal's condition, especially if it is already sick.
You would only transfer the case to another vet if your vet cannot treat the animal or does not have the facilities to carry out the treatment. And all times, please put the animals' wellbeing and best interests as priority.
Updates at 6.40pm:
The lady mentioned in this incident was very unhappy that I did not hear her side of the story. She said when she went back to the first clinic, the kitten was in a cage and the vet was treating a dog, not the kitten. She also clarified that she had no intention of asking for our funds at all. She asked me to obtain information from all sources and not to portray her as someone who merely wanted our funds.
Since she was so unhappy, I offered her to write her side of the story, which I shall publish verbatim in this post, but until now she has not sent me anything.
As such, I can only write what I understand of the whole situation, and what was reported back to me.
To get a clearer picture of the whole incident, I decided to speak in person with the first vet, which I just did, and this is what the vet and his assistant told me:
The first vet was in surgery at another clinic when the lady brought the kitten in. The vet assistant put the kitten on a hot pad and revived the kitten with supplements. The kitten was brought in not breathing, but after being given the supplements and being put on the hot pad, the kitten started breathing again.
By the time this lady went back, supposedly to take the kitten to our panel vet, the first vet had already gone back and had already attended to the kitten. He was right there at his clinic. His plan was to stabilise the kitten first since it was breathing again and was already put on a hot pad. So, treatment and medical attention had already been given.
He said before he could do the next thing, the kitten had been taken away from his clinic and the lady did not tell him anything at all.
He later heard that a "Dr Chan" had instructed this lady to bring the kitten to another clinic where there would be some sort of 50% sponsorship for the treatment.
Hearing such things, this first vet thought this "Dr Chan" was another vet (!) out to undercut existing vets by offering half-price for treatments.
Luckily I went to clarify with this first vet and explained that I am not a vet and in no way was I trying to undercut his business.
He then explained to me that there is a proper way to do things, following proper protocol and ethics. He said clients have the right to discharge their pets and bring them to another clinic, but please do it according to proper protocol.
Yes, I absolutely agree. I explained that the only reason I offered our panel vet was that I was told there was no vet present to treat the kitten and it was dying. I had no idea the lady would still take the kitten away knowing that the vet had already returned to his clinic and had already attended to the kitten.
I then cross-checked with this clinic's vet assistant as well and the story tallied. She said the lady told her she had to take the kitten to another clinic as there would be a 50% sponsorship.
So, that's from the first vet and his assistant.
If the lady is still not happy, my offer to publish her story verbatim, word-for-word, is still open and if she does write, it will be cut-and-pasted here, in this post.
In view of this case, our committee would need to look at our policies and revise it further. I do not want future misunderstandings with other vets, leading to so much unpleasantness and misunderstandings where I have to spend my time clarifying things when I have better things to do.
We have no intention of undercutting any vet at all. It is written very clearly in our policies that we will sponsor up to 50% of treatments done either at our panel vets or non-panel vets. The sponsorship is at our sole discretion and dependent on fund availability.
In the past we also have existing clients at our panel vets trying to come under us for our rescue rate for spay-neuter. I have rejected such cases because it is not ethical. That would be "stealing" business away from our panel vets because these are their existing clients.
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