Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Serious Post

Lily's mommy here:  I'm gonna do a serious post today.  One thing I love about the cat blogosphere is the information we can share and help others out.  I have learned so much from you guys.  I hope no one is offended or upset at me for posting about this, but I just wanted to let everyone know about what happened when Lily was spayed.


So when Lily was brought into the call center she was skinny like most strays.  She was taken to someone's home, bathed, and taken to the vet for a checkup and her first shots.  She was taken back to the call center and her spay was scheduled.  She was about 9 months old by the vet's guess.  


The lady who had taken responsibility for her dropped her off the next week for her spay.   She had given the vet her home number and planned on picking her up after work.  She had not thought about the vet needing to contact her while at work.  When the vet started the spay he discovered that Lily was pregnant.    He tried to call the lady, but could not contact her because she was at work.


Now from what I understand most vets usually will not spay under these circumstances, but this is the humane society vet.  He sees all the cats that go through the shelter.  Not knowing what to do, he went ahead and spayed her.  


I do not know how far along she was.  It upset a lot of people at my husbands workplace.  They started calling the lady a "kitten killer."  I do no blame her one bit.  I am very sure that she would have said no if she knew.


When we started having Lily with us on weekends, we had to take her to the vet because she had a full mammary gland and we were worried it was blocked.  Of course we had to explain to our vet what had happened.  Our vet thanked us for not contributing to the pet overpopulation problem.  That made me a little upset, but I know she meant well.  Lily was fine and just needed time for the hormones and milk to get out of her system.


I'm not quite sure what the message I think people should get out of this.  Mainly please, please, please spay and neuter and adopt shelter pets.  I know I'm preaching to the choir so to speak.


Thanks for listening about my Lily.


Edited to add:  Just wanted to make sure everyone knows I don't blame the humane society vet.  I really don't blame anybody.  I just knew this was something I did not want to hide about how Lily's life started off.

12 comments:

  1. I don't know why people blamed that lady, it's not like she knew and did it anyway... Shelters have their own rules, could be that the vet didn't have much choice either. It's a shame, but wow, watch who gets blamed, sheesh.
    I'm glad Lily is fine. And fixed. And adopted?

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  2. It certainly was not that lady's fault. Normally when the shelters or humane society's spay cats, they will not tell you that it was pregnant. It is too bad that happened to Lily but having seen so many kittens born here and it is so hard to find homes for cats, I can understand why they went ahead and spayed the cat. There are so many kittens that are born and don't make it because no one is feeding them. But I could go on forever. I can understand why they went ahead and spayed Lily.

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  3. I know that some people don't understand. But, some humane societies and some clinics will do this. I DO think it can be hard on the mom cats, but it does save lives in the long run.....shame on those people for blaming the nice lady. It certainly isn't her fault. And what about those kittens that are euthanized every day at shelters across the world due to space??? If these people want to get upset about something, try that - not this woman trying to help. My view of those people who complain is that they need to walk in the shoes of rescuers and shelter volunteers/workers who deal with overpopulation everyday..... (ok - getting off my soapbox now). Glad that Lily is safe and healthy!!!

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  4. I love each and every reply. This is Katie's mom speaking. Each and every reply!

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  5. I SO agree with my friends who have already commented above. I'm sure that lady did not do that on purpose. She was obviously trying to do the right thing, so anyone who said such terrible things to her really needs to check themselves in the mirror. We are glad that Lily has such a wonderful and loving home, and that she is happy and healthy.

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  6. So unfortunate. Perhaps the vet folks will learn and in the future get cell numbers and work numbers. The mom here always gives them out when my sister doggie, who is no longer here, is dropped off at the vet. This was just something that happene and I know those involved were terrible upset by this. I am glad that Lily has a loving and wonderful furever home and will be taken care of.

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  7. We have heard of this happening...some vets will spay cats that are pregnant. No one should have blamed the lady...it really wasn't her fault. We're glad Lily was okay and now is happy in her new home.

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  8. We hope Lily is okay and hope everyone upset will let the anger go. The vet had to make a choice & probably made it based on what he sees - so many pets killed for lack of a home.

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  9. Lita and the boys in MelbourneFebruary 26, 2012 at 7:01 PM

    Oh, Lily, a bit of a rough start for you, hey? We are sorry you didn't get to be a mum but we are glad you are well now. And we don't think anyone's to blame - it's just how circumstances played out.

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  10. thanks for sharing. stories like this are good to communicate.

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  11. Poor Lily, we don't think it was anyone's fault. Everyone made the best decision they could under the circumstances. But whenever your cat is at the vet you need to leave a contact # where they can reach you in case something goes wrong or they have a question about the treatment you want to pursue.

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  12. Poor Lily, and poor rescue lady. Those beans were just mean, and kinda dumb. Sometimes, things like that happen.

    If those beans want to save a kitteh, ther were still lots at the shelter, we're sure.

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