The Garden of Eden

Qwang-Boy was fostered early this year. He was doing fine with us and we were preparing him for amputation of his limb. When we felt that he was ready for it, we sent him in to the vet on 4/9/11. The surgery was to be done on 5/9/11. He appeared very normal even up till the week before he was sent in. Vivian Ng and Vicky Soh who were in close contact with him also affirmed that he showed no signs of abnormality. He was eating well and we could see nothing wrong with him. Well, according to the vet, he died when under anaesthetic before he started the surgery. It's been 3 weeks since he died on 5 September 2011.

It's quite torturous for me to put in these post-mortem pictures as memories of Qwang-Boy came flooding back, and I'm certainly not one for looking at these kind of pics.These pictures have been sent to other vets for their views and feedbacks, but I have to say that we're none the wiser as to the cause of death. Instead, I've become even more confused after listening to the explanations. But, one thing keeps bugging me and will always be haunting me - would he have died if I had complied with his rescuer's request to send him to their vet for the amputation to be done? This question could never be answered here on earth. In fact, I have decided not to pursue further on the cause of death. That is not to say that I have swallowed hook, line and sinker what I had been told. We will give the vet the benefit of the doubt. Nothing could bring Qwang-Boy back to life. We believe that eventually the truth will be revealed.

But, one thing that we were very upset about was the way his body was handled. From our experiences, some vets really treated animals as mere animals. As animals, I guess they didn't deserve any respect. But, what about the owners? They had no respect for owners too. Moreover, to some owners, the animals are like their family.

Amy specifically asked that Qwang-Boy's body be properly wrapped up as we wanted to take him back for burial. At the same time, we had a cat that died at this vet and we wanted to bring him back too. When Amy was about to bury them, she discovered that Qwang-Boy was not properly wrapped up. The cat was even worse. He was not wrapped at all but just put in a garbage bag. This is rather nauseating and disgusting. It is already upsetting to have to bury the dead but to see them in that state of simply done up was even more disgusting. Of course, we are not asking for embalment of their bodies but that in death they should at least be treated decently and not as a piece of garbage although they use garbage bags.

Some of our recent past experiences of how our dead animals were handled:

- A cat that died at a vet in Bandar Puteri Puchong was put in a black garbage bag still in the position when he died. How horrible! Amy had to rewrap at the clinic but it was so difficult as the body is already stiff. The person there was more concerned that Amy dirtied her floor.

- A puppy that died of parvo at a vet in Mahkota Cheras was just dumped in a box with the four legs facing up. Amy told me tears sprang to her eyes when she saw that.

- A dog that died at a vet in Bandar Sg Long was also just put in a plastic bag. I guess in this case, the vet would just say that the dog is too big to be wrapped which would be utter nonsense. What about our cats that died at this same vet. I'm sure cats can't be as big as a dog. Yet, they were just put in garbage bags.

It's very obvious that to these vets, these are merely animals. When I was talking about this with a friend, she made one very apt remark. When the animal is still alive, there is still business for the vet. These dead animals can no longer bring money to the vets, so why should they bother. I agree wholeheartedly with this view.

Then again, they may put the blame on their workers. But, who trained the workers?

All I can say about these kinds of vets is that I hope they have no reason to see their loved ones being treated in this way or worse.

As always, it's not fair to condemn all vets. Here, we have to commend St. Angel. When Dr Toh and Dr Chan were at St Angel, the limbs of dead animals were pushed together properly so that they were in a sleeping position. They were then wrapped up in newspapers before putting in a plastic bag. It was not such a heartbreaking sight as it looked so neat and tidy. Why I mentioned these 2 vets is because they were the ones whom we usually send our animals to when they were at St Angel. The other considerate vet is Hillpark in Kota Kemuning. From past experience, Dr Loh would wrap up the animal nicely before handing to the owner.

I don't know about other owners but to us, our animals may be rescued but they are as precious as any life on earth. In life or in death, they are to be treated as such, not as some garbage. I still believe in God and I'm sure He's looking hard. We reap what we sow and I believe some vets have already reaped what they deserve. Well, well, they should know who they are and to those who haven't, it should serve them well to take note that there is always a payback, especially in a profession that's dealing with life.