Everyone please chip your pets.
Carol

My greyhound is tatooed but I had her chipped also. San Diego County Animal Services encourages chipping and they do it for you for a very small fee when you adopt.

The dog in the top picture is her new dog Ollie.
He came to her very quickly after Aurich was shown the way to the Rainbow Bridge.
As Aurich was being carried in to his vet he looked over at his owner-his friend and touched his nose to her hand so she would know how to go. She is vision impaired and he took care of her until the end. His loss is still mourned.

This story takes a nasty turn when she was worried about his food during the recall and started to switch him to another. It had Rice Protein-which wasn’t shown on the ingredients until after it was identified for recall. He had to have surgery to remove the stones and crystals in his kidneys and bladder.
He is still recovering after several months and must be taken out at least every three hours so his bladder won’t stretch too far. Working dogs are usually required to urinate in the morning and not again until they return home.
He was such a beautiful playful dog -no one knows if he will ever be that way again. He is among three that acquired this from bad food who went to her school. One died. It seems to me that the whole dog food problem has been stuck on a back burner. I think this is bad as they will go back and so it again.

I just answered a poll that asked if you had cremated or buried your pets-I buried all of mine in a pet cemetery. After hearing this I am so glad.

I also want to reiterate that
Pet Loss.com is a wonderful site to go to when you have lost a beloved companion.
They have a chat room that is open 24-7-a message board and a Monday night candle ceremony. I found it over 4 years ago when I found out my Brandy had liver cancer and was going to die. Soon after she passed I found out that my other dog ,Spartacus was very ill. this site-no not the site-the people there helped me through my grief. I stayed as did many others to help others.

Carewolf

Stefeni-that is horrible. I never knew.

I have no words to this tragic tale - to Quinn I bid God Speed and peace, may you enjoy the company of angels - to Richard - I would extend an invitation to http://www.petloss.com where you will find many who understand your loss and pain

Clients would sometimes call asking about euthanasia. One woman in particular called crying saying her pet was old and sick. The only option the clinic offered for getting animals remains back after euth was cremation, and they had to buy the urn, which ran around $100. She started crying harder, saying she couldn’t afford it and she asked what would happen to her pets remains if she chose not to get the cremation with urn option.

I put her on hold and went to ask “Dr. A”, the head vet. I didn’t mention that there was a lady on the phone, I just asked what happened to the bodies of the animals when the owners didn’t choose cremation. He told me that the health department picked up the bodies and buried them in a common grave.

I went back to the phone and repeated this to the crying woman, in the most reassuring voice I could muster. Dr. A, however, was walking out from the treatment area and behind the reception desk and heard me repeat this. He gave me a look that could have killed. I had not worked there very long at all, maybe a couple of weeks, he hardly knew me. The guy got very angry at me. He said something like “Don’t you EVER say that to a client again, do you understand? Don’t you ever tell them that again!!!” Of course, he had not indicated this was confidential information, so I was very hurt and upset at his outburst, because I had no idea why what I had done was wrong. (I was a 19 year old and very eager to please in my new job.)

Well, in time, I would figure out why he blew up like this.

There was a veterinary assistant who seemed to me to have some mental issues. She was always physically unkempt and laughed innapropriately, muttered to herself, was vey strange. They scheculed this woman to come in after hours, or stay after hours, and sometimes it would be just her and me closing up. They trusted her a great deal, apparently, and she was responsible for locking up. She was also responsible for euthanizing the cats.

It struck me as odd that there were always several cats back there, seemingly every day more cats, waiting to be euthanized after hours by this woman. As far as I knew, they had no medical records and were not associated with any clients. I didn’t really know what went on back there, but they had a big cylinder drum which I later learned was used to gas the cats by the seemingnly mentally unhinged woman after hours. One night, the cackling and creepy vet assistant came out, laughing to me about how the cats struggled and carried on inside the drum when she was turning the gas on. All the vets were off the premises by then, I guess they didn’t want to be around for the bad deeds they were paying her to do.

That obviously upset me a great deal because I had been telling myself pretty lies about why these cats were there to be euthanized.

Then, the final straw. One of those nights when it was just me and the crazy assistant after hours, a man showed up and he mumbled something unintelligible. I made him repeat himself several times. He handed me his card. It said “BRAUN company,” and also: “We buy bones, meat, fat and gristle.” I will never forget that. It is burned in my mind. He said he was there for a pickup.

All at once it became clear to me why there were always so many ownerless cats waiting for after hours euthanasia in the gas chamber by the evil assistant. All at once it became clear to me why the vet had yelled at me when I told the lady the story about her pet being buried in a communal grave — it must have been a pretty little lie, like the pretty little lies I had told myself to be able to work there.

I quit, of course.

It is more than 20 years later now. Twice in the last 2 years well-meaning friends have tried to refer me to Dr. A, not knowing my history with him. He is practicing “in home” acupuncture now. They think he is a nice guy.

I know better.

Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t have enough sophistication or experience to know that I could have reported him to a board. But in truth, everything he was doing was probably legal. There were lots of chambers back then, even in Northern Virginia, I guess. Those cats probably were taken off the hands of the local shelter — maybe he was euthing (if you can call it that) them for free, or low cost, then selling their bodies to BRAUN corp. Probably that was all perfectly legal, too.

But evil, all the same.

Today, what happens to the bodies of unclaimed pets, at shelters — even at the vets? You must assume that a rendering plant is one possible destination. If you don’t want your pet to end up rendered, you need to do your best to keep control over their remains until the very end. This kind of thing is still going on. I believe people at least have a right to know - a right to full disclosure, which that lady I spoke with 20 years ago was not given. But legally, once you have signed over the custody of the body, this is all probably perfectly legal, although immoral and disrespectful.

Stefani
The Toonces Project
http://www.TheTooncesProject.com
“Is Your Pet Safe at the Vet?”

Quinn what happened to you was so very wrong and I am sorry. Please know that I will be telling & showing your story to many people who feed by-products to there babies. While you are playing with all of our babies know that your death will help other babies live a better life untill we all see each other again.

Richard, I am so sorry for your loss.

Katie

Both the Hiway officer & the Caltrans worker should be punished for this horriable incedent…

Rest @ the Bridge Dear Quinn…

For Quinn:

Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

Author unknown…

but of course they don’t take pets at rendering plants-isn’t that what we’re suppose to believe?

“The California Highway Patrol Officer who took Quinn’s body from the highway told Caltrans that the dog was wearing a collar and its purple service uniform. The Caltrans employee said he did not see a collar or uniform”

well now we know the reason why they may call a dog food something like ‘ red flannel’. don’t let youre dog out in a workshirt-that’s all i’m saying…

a a particularly grotesque story of breath taking callousness and stupidity.