If there’s one thing you must do flawlessly in your career, it’s killing

February 7, 2023 2:21 PM

“Some of you say pig vets have no heart,” he continues softly. “That might be true, but find us when we have to liquidate a farm. Those days I still carry with me.” from Our Business Is Killing by Andrew Bullis [CW: animals in pain, euthanasia, suicide. This is a hard read, feel free to skip it. But it is worthy.]
posted by chavenet (45 comments total)

You are right. It was a hard read. But necessary as well.
posted by y2karl at 2:46 PM on February 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Holy fuck, yes. Thank you for posting this.
posted by corb at 2:50 PM on February 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

I had to have one of my dogs euthanized during the height pandemic and some friends recommended a vet that specializes in coming to your home to do the procedure. He was amazing at his job and compassionate, but I don't know how he could cope with doing that and only that, day in and day out. Never something we'd recognize as a true win, only death.

My ex was a vet tech who interned at an animal shelter where some hard cases are surrendered and she came home broken some days when they had to do a series of euthanasia. I'm thankful for what all of these people do for not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. What vet techs get paid compared to the amount of knowledge they have and the work they do is shameful.
posted by mikesch at 3:19 PM on February 7, 2023 [14 favorites]

I'm with you mikesch - we have a vet here who only does end of life house calls. She's always great, super calming and compassionate and unflappable in the face of me inevitably losing my damn gourd despite trying not ot. I have no clue how they do it. (One vet friend of mine said that she centers on it being a good act, one of kindness.)
posted by drewbage1847 at 3:32 PM on February 7, 2023 [6 favorites]

That was a good read, but I've had the surrender option explained to me and I'm with the owners that chose to euthanize.

I know they mean well, but when you're in that seat it sounds like "there's a person here who is rich enough to help you out but won't." In either case the dog is dead to them. I realize that's not necessarily how it is, but I get the mindset, and that's how it's felt when explained to me.

I guess it's fine if you think if it as your dog died that day and it went to heaven in someone else's back yard, but it doesn't sit well with me. Accidents happen. Not having good credit or 5k you can spend on a pet doesn't make you a bad pet owner.

On the flip side, my dog goes to the vet far more than I go to the doctor...
posted by jellywerker at 3:41 PM on February 7, 2023 [18 favorites]

There are times when euthanasia is the kindest thing for the animal. Lots of times actually, but that does not make it easier. I do not know how they do it.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:42 PM on February 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

(This is an essay about the emotional toll taken on veterinarians in general. The mention of liquidating a pig farm is a passing anecdote, not the focus of the story.)
posted by zamboni at 3:55 PM on February 7, 2023 [16 favorites]

That surrender thing is bullshit. That's a young dog so I can understand their heartbreak, but come on: if you can afford to pay for the surgery, offer to do it for the owner. I have heard of this "offer to surrender" thing happening more and more, often with quite elderly animals. It's cruel to the pets and cruel to the owners. Why would you take a very old, sick animal who has spent their entire life with one family, uproot them and force them to adjust to new people all in the name of a few more months of not very high quality life?

There are so many things in the world that are worse than death.
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:33 PM on February 7, 2023 [17 favorites]

I used one of the mobile vet services that specializes in euthanizing family animal companions very recently, too.

The vet acted with loving kindness and compassion. And I was crying and crying and saying, "I don't think that he is gone; is he gone ? is he gone?" And she was as gentle with me as she was with my best friend.

But I am still left with the bifurcation that every freaking niche of human compassion is a capitalist sting for profit-building off of my my now deceased best friend. I have grown a very cold heart watching him turn head to the wall.

I am both incredibly grateful and horribly depressed knowing that I could at least pay the several extra hundreds of dollars on my credit card to hopefully cover the costs later.

I felt like I was being exploited for loving.

I can't read this story right now. But I will try later.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 4:36 PM on February 7, 2023 [8 favorites]

This resonates. Thank you, chavenet.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:40 PM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

Uri Burstyn has done a video about this which links to Not One More Vet, which helps anyone in the veterinary profession who is struggling with mental health.
posted by amtho at 4:40 PM on February 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

if you can afford to pay for the surgery, offer to do it for the owner

This is a vet tech we're talking about. She might have been saving money to be able to help her own dog in an emergency. For a really long time.
posted by amtho at 4:41 PM on February 7, 2023 [7 favorites]

When my cat before last had to be put down, it was the vet tech who did the dirty work -- nor the vet. And my cat died in terror. It's not a happy memory. Calling the process 'putting them to sleep' is such a rank hypocritical horror.
posted by y2karl at 4:43 PM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a vet tech we're talking about. She might have been saving money to be able to help her own dog in an emergency. For a really long time.

But she offered to pay for the surgery anyway! Suggesting that maybe she can only barely afford to save the dog doesn’t strengthen the case that she should keep the dog over the original owners.
posted by atoxyl at 5:02 PM on February 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

I think...a vet tech can't offer to pay for something every time. And on top of that...what's to prevent the owners from gratefully accepting now and then coming back later expecting that to happen again? It isn't sustainable at all, and the larger point of this article is burnout. If the vet tech can't help next time...that's not good for the situation, the practice, or their own mental health.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:06 PM on February 7, 2023 [13 favorites]

Calling the process 'putting them to sleep' is such a rank hypocritical horror.

Then you likely had a vet tech who was bad at their job. I've had animals put down, and they were in my lap and being gently petted as they were first sedated and then euthanized. No terror involved at all. I'm sure there are some animals that are distressed because they are always distressed at the vet, but that's why a well-trained vet tech will sedate them.
posted by tavella at 5:11 PM on February 7, 2023 [8 favorites]

I wonder why a gunshot is not a humane solution. Because euthanasia includes pain relief? People miss?

I had to call a cow vet once to possibly put down a horse for us (horse vet was unavailable) and I thought they would roll their eyes when I started to cry, but he was very understanding and gentle about it all. (The horse rallied and lived a few more months, than died overnight in his pasture.)

Edit: I should say I didn't literally think they would roll their eyes. Just that they would be less sympathetic than a vet who works with people and their pets, rather than livestock. Which says more about my uncharitable assumption than anything about the cow vet.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:17 PM on February 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

Well, my two dogs that were euthanized at home really did have a "put to sleep" experience. One minute they were alive but very, very tired and in a lot of pain, then they were sound asleep, then they were gone. It was absolutely not a misnomer. It was how I would want to go, if I had the choice - surrounded by people I love and trust, confident they're caring for me as best they can.

I've sung the praises of palliative care vets here before, and I've wondered how they can stand to put animals to sleep (and interact with really, really sad people) day in and day out. This article was a hard read, but it gave me some perspective on how at least palliative vets can frame their work to themselves as making the last days, weeks, or months as comfortable as possible and helping the animal's family make informed and humane choices. Whereas a generalist vet is sometimes going to have to euthanize an animal under much less humane circumstances, and with much more constrained decision making.

Pretty cold to read about someone making an extremely generous offer to save a stranger's dog's life and be like, "wow, what a skinflint, should have donated hundreds to thousands of dollars out of their own pocket to perfect strangers who were planning to kill the dog, in order to prevent them from doing so, and let them go home with their still-living but disabled dog." Nobody in this story is made of money. All of them need to get paid to do the jobs they do and keep their business open. Becoming your town's "vet where people go to get softhearted employees to pay for their procedures" is the first stop on the road to financial ruin. Part of this story is about the incredible financial stress on veterinarians. And a BIG part of that stress is that there are a lot of people out there who take the attitude, "if they can fix it for money, or in exchange for the animal, why can't they just fix it for free?"

There are a LOT of industries that exploit your tender and loving bonds to enrich truly awful people. And maybe the CEO of VCA is laughing all the way to the basement to swim in his Scrooge-McDuck money pool. But your vet and their staff are almost certainly not getting rich off caring for your pets. Many of them are barely breaking even.
posted by potrzebie at 5:34 PM on February 7, 2023 [18 favorites]

I have also witnessed pet euthanasia done poorly, and it haunts me to this day if I let myself think about it. Fortunately, the vast majority I've been there for have been done kindly, humanely, and peacefully. I've been very lucky to have a regular vet who I trust like a member of the family.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:35 PM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

My friend adopted a cat that had been surrendered to SPCA because of issues including IBS. The cat was very sweet and had several more years of life in him. I'm not sure they were great quality of life years since he had to contend with another more dominant cat, but he seemed fine overall. But eventually his health failed precipitously and we had to call a home-euthanizer who, as it happened, was also a friend of ours. It was a very respectful process, almost a ceremony, and he seemed relieved, unburdened. I miss that little guy but prolonging his suffering any longer would have been selfish.
posted by sjswitzer at 5:40 PM on February 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a very sensitive topic and I hope that we can read comments as charitably as possible. I don't see anyone accusing the vet & vet tech of being evil greedy moneybags. What I see is engagement with the implications in the piece of how capitalism affects veterinary practice. The vet goes into quite a bit of detail on how financial considerations affect the care that he can provide and the care that pet owners can consent to.

House pets have such a tricky place in our society, are they property or are they members of the family? I think in some ways it might be easier for domesticated farm animals because while the emotions may be just as fraught the economics are more explicit.
posted by muddgirl at 5:47 PM on February 7, 2023 [9 favorites]

Yeah, I think the point of demanding a surrender is because it’s a huge thing that’s being done - and it’s also an important limit on the vet tech as well. “Don’t offer to pay for it if you aren’t willing to take it on yourself”. But also - it could be that the owner just didn’t want to deal with a three legged dog, in which case “just paying” wouldn’t be a solution either.
posted by corb at 5:52 PM on February 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

I’ve always been super curious about the economics of vet care. This piece went into a lot of very illuminating detail on what it’s like for “the other side” of the interaction but I still don’t understand the calculus of $5,000-$6,000 for a surgery but also no one in the vet practice seems to be making bank.

Definitely not a criticism of this author or this piece, but would love to know more about where the money does actually ends up since in my experience vet care is incredibly, and at times prohibitively, expensive.
posted by forkisbetter at 6:53 PM on February 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

It's hard. I've had to euthanize quite a few cats over the years. Most were elderly and ready to go, and the process was as merciful as it can be made. But there was an exception, the three month old kitten who had FIP. He went from completely okay to obviously dying in the space of 24 hours. He started crashing overnight at the emergency vet, and we came in to let him go. I still remember his heartrending howls of pain... and knowing there wasn't anything else to be done. He died in pain and it was still better than the alternative, of dying in even more pain, after even more pain. It was hard to listen to, and hard to watch, and hard to bury him afterward. I have no heart in me to blame people who struggle to deal gracefully in that moment.
posted by notoriety public at 6:59 PM on February 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

Previously on MetaFilter: The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming (also a hard read, but compassionate and humane).
posted by verstegan at 7:24 PM on February 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

it’s also an important limit on the vet tech as well. “Don’t offer to pay for it if you aren’t willing to take it on yourself”.

This is the bit that clicks it into place as a satisfactory answer, thanks.
posted by atoxyl at 9:00 PM on February 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Had a picture window looking out towards the yard, the street, the creek, abandoned golf course beyond that. Dog Paradise. 3 dogs so varied but a pack. When eldest time was near, it was so quick, the decision. But turning towards the wall in it's variations was the factor. It was a short ride, and injections so quick. I cried, grieved were time past and present are in statis, quiet, enraged. I took her blanket, ITS HER BLANKET. Going home I just dropped it in her bed and went to the window.

"The branches are gone" from a dead tree by the curb. she said.
I didn't notice and the other two who sat, staring in silence and I reached out my hand, elder dog sniffed then turned to younger who sorta sniffed his nose, like confirmation.
Go out side. The beagle did that beagle howl like thing done in rare occasions, not sad but sad. They did not play or run but followed.

we left her dish, in the center as they all ate in close proximity and feed in order. bigdogfastdoglittledog.
Vet told us twice when she was paralyzed (rear legs) the humane thing to do was blah, blah.
partial paralysis. I nursed her back, made a sling so she could go outside.
And she knew it, tha spark that fights and does beat it, twice. The second time was from dog #2. clipping her in dogs ever on -going test for pack leader.
anger is what snapped me out, damn Cattahoola clipping...and #2 had a look, I swear to god was almost remorse because they hid when in fear, usually behind me. It takes a smattering of grace and understanding to get back to life.
outside? two liitlle heads turn.

then you get your coat.
posted by clavdivs at 11:12 PM on February 7, 2023 [19 favorites]

>I wonder why a gunshot is not a humane solution. Because euthanasia includes pain relief? People miss?

Because people miss. If you had a perfect shot it would cause instant loss of consciousness and arguably be less painful than the IV placement. But what if the animal moved a bit or your aim wasn't perfect with an animal you love... the failure mode is painful.

Plus it's traumatic for those who love the animal.
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 5:37 AM on February 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

Hmm, I just picked our dog up at the vet. She's had to remove a few teeth, and of course was sedated. I was stroking her as she lost consciousness, and had a lump in my throat, because apparently I'm a big baby. I think I'll read this article later, though, but not right now.
posted by Harald74 at 5:50 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

It takes a smattering of grace and understanding to get back to life.

Oh, clav. Yes. Hugs to you.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:31 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Does anyone here understand why the family would be so adamant about euthanasia?
posted by Selena777 at 6:55 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

The reason surrendering is necessary is because otherwise every irresponsible owner who gets pets they can't afford would just choose not to pay. I mean, why would anyone ever choose to pay if it was optional, for that matter?

There are some charity options out there and of course sometimes people really are victims of a long series of unlikely financially devastating events, but there are also a huge number of people who simply don't think about the possibility (the very likely possibility) of someday needing emergency vet care when they choose to get a pet - or even multiple pets, as in the case in this article. Or if they do think about it, it's "we'll make it work somehow", making no concrete plans, and then when the emergency arrives it's not as easy to instantly come up with a couple thousand bucks as they imagined. Pet insurance is "too expensive" and "a rip off", and then when there's an injury or illness, who could have predicted that? Emergencies don't always conveniently wait until you're having a good time financially.

If a vet tech, who is very likely earning less than that dog's owners, paid for this one surgery, they certainly wouldn't be able to pay for the next necessary surgery that an owner can't afford. Vets and vet techs shouldn't be guilted into subsidizing the necessary costs of pet ownership for all the irresponsible owners out there. They also literally couldn't - the numbers of them are just way too high. The surrender option means they (or a rescue) is essentially paying an extra-high adoption cost for a new pet, which is very different from simply paying a stranger's vet bills. A fair number of people would consider doing the first one, but very few people will do the second, as generous and kind as it is.
posted by randomnity at 7:18 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

In terms of gunshots being/not being humane solutions - I know some people who feel that they are, but I could never imagine doing that, because 1) if you miss, their last moments are pain and fear, and 2) dogs know what guns are. In my view, their last moments should not be "why is the person I love pointing a gun in my direction" either.
posted by corb at 7:39 AM on February 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

“I’ve always been super curious about the economics of vet care. “

Well to start the x-ray equipment for a small animal vet practice runs about $100,000. That’s the only price I know off the top of my head, but I imagine all the other medical equipment runs around the same.
posted by FritoKAL at 7:44 AM on February 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Does anyone here understand why the family would be so adamant about euthanasia?

I grew up in a more rural area with a lot of strays and barn cats. If they're not habituated as kittens they likely will not make good pets, ever. Sometimes they may imprint on a single human and be absolutely feral for anyone else. We aren't given this cat's history but I can think of similar cats in my childhood where I believe euthanasia would have been the moral choice. If I know that they will be absolutely miserable during recovery, face an uncertain future with a stranger, and the loss of a leg meaning they would struggle to continue life as they know it then a kind death may be the best option.

We don't know anything about this couple's circumstances or about the cat so it is easy to put our own experiences on them, and judge them accordingly. All we learn is that they cannot afford surgery and would struggle even to pay for a cast. But as described by the vet they seem to love this cat very much.

I understand the vet tech's offer to adopt the cat and pay for surgery (I have also heard of pet rescues making similar offers) but I also think it is unintentionally cruel. It buys into the framework that pets are objects/property. I would offer to take a broken clock off someone's hands but I wouldn't ever tell someone that I would only pay for their child's surgery if they surrendered custody to a stranger.
posted by muddgirl at 9:05 AM on February 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Um, I really apologize, I went through this whole article thinking Lacey was a cat for some reason. My answer doesn't really change if it's a dog though. We don't know the circumstances of Lacey's life or health at all.
posted by muddgirl at 9:17 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

If a vet tech, who is very likely earning less than that dog's owners, paid for this one surgery, they certainly wouldn't be able to pay for the next necessary surgery that an owner can't afford. Vets and vet techs shouldn't be guilted into subsidizing the necessary costs of pet ownership for all the irresponsible owners out there.

There are a variety of systems one could use to limit charity care - my original line of thought was, with the way people were emphasizing the financial hardship, why do it in a way that puts pressure on the vet staff to commit to adopting a pet they may themselves not be quite sure they can afford? But Corb’s framing makes sense to me, that the point is that you don’t want them to do this without being willing to commit up front to paying next time, because it will be their pet next time. And that you trust them more than a random person to make this judgment because caring for animals is what they do.
posted by atoxyl at 9:58 AM on February 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

This article (understandably) focuses on the humans, and doesn't really take the animals' perspectives. The dog needing an amputation is not going to understand one bit why they are now minus a leg and painfully recovering from surgery for weeks. Whereas with euthanasia they will be asleep in a few moments (a minute at most) and that will be that. Our consciousness as humans is what makes death emotionally painful. I thought part of the reason we liked pets was their absolute ability to be in the moment. Dogs and cats are not, cannot, be afraid of death. From the animal's point of view, it seems like by far the best option is euthanasia, not major surgery. For almost all humans, the opposite would be true.

Look, I get it, we have paid US$10K+ over the years for various surgeries that the animals had no hope of understanding. We did that so the be with us and have good quality of life, and when that wasn't true we opted for in-home euthanasia, so the animal did not have to endure the final trip to the vet. We have said goodbye to an 18 year old cat that we raised from a kitten, and to a 4 year old cat with cancer. I made a small round casket for the latter one so she could curl up and we buried her in the yard. It's very sad and now tears are streaming down my face even though it's been 2 years. But it's sad for me, not them. In every case we have waited, arguably, too long to euthanize.

If there's a central issue here it's that veterinary medicine's ability to keep animals alive has vastly outstripped the quality of life that is granted by medicine.
posted by wnissen at 11:42 AM on February 8, 2023 [5 favorites]

I wonder why a gunshot is not a humane solution. Because euthanasia includes pain relief? People miss?

My sister-in-law is (like the author of the article) a veterinarian in a rural/farmland area, and is also one of the most pragmatic people I've ever met. We talked about this topic a while ago and she reminded me that animals come in a very wide range of sizes and hardiness, and that if she regularly used firearms in her job she'd need to own an armory to accomplish it humanely.
posted by ZaphodB at 12:39 PM on February 8, 2023 [4 favorites]

a veterinarian in a rural/farmland area

Interesting. Some farm people I know talk as if shooting your dog yourself is a final act of respect and love for them, but I don't actually know of people doing it or have heard about the aftermath. It could have been tough guy talk from people who when faced with the moment, would choose the vet.

Our horse that died of old age - my sister asked the vet if we should put him down before winter as we weren't sure how hard it would be on him (he was in his late 30s!). The vet said, well, you're always either too late or too early. He could go either way. It felt so generous of him to go on his own, before winter set in and made us question the choice.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:41 PM on February 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

My XFIL (ex father in law) euthanized / shot his dog one afternoon in West Virginia; I was there. My ex in laws were back to the land hippie artists who lived in a log cabin way out in the woods that they had built themselves. The dog - Francis! He was lovely! He was a blue tick hound they found starving and abandoned and nursed back to health; they had him for years - was snoozing in the sunlight and XFIL didn't see him as he backed the truck up. Francis would have died on his own but XFIL ran to get the shotgun and put him out of his misery. There was no time for a vet who was an hour away at minimum and would have charged money nobody had. We all cried. XFIL was completely destroyed: just a stupid, horrible, completely preventable accident. Years and years later I still tear up a little.

This and the occasional rabid raccoon and the wounded groundhog we had to kill with a shovel are why I believe people who live in rural areas should be able to have guns. I still think they should be licensed and insured and annually inspected, etc., but if it's a choice between a gun and hours of agony, the gun is better. I think about this a lot since the nearest emergency vet to me is at least 2 hours away: there is no local vet open on Sundays or after 6 pm on weekdays. When my old dog Django died of cancer in 2019 he started bleeding out on a Sunday and it was 10 long horrible hours before I could take him in for what turned out to be a botched and terrible euthanasia. Every other euthanasia I have attended, and sadly there have been quite a lot, that happens as you age and have pets, was a peaceful release: just the anesthesia and then the shot and then the end, buckets of tears and strong drinks afterwards.
posted by mygothlaundry at 2:20 PM on February 8, 2023 [8 favorites]

Some farm people I know talk as if shooting your dog yourself is a final act of respect and love for them, but I don't actually know of people doing it or have heard about the aftermath.

My family kept hunting dogs. Hunting dogs like Outside. They don’t like the vet, even if they go to the vet. They’re not frightened of guns. They go to a place where they’ve hunted before. The middle-class opinion on animal welfare is getting to a point where it’s a bit “well, poor people shouldn’t have animals.”
posted by Hypatia at 5:08 PM on February 8, 2023 [8 favorites]

The middle-class opinion on animal welfare is getting to a point where it’s a bit “well, poor people shouldn’t have animals.”

I just want to be clear that the people I'm thinking of are not poor. They have vet money. (Or if they don't they own too many brand new F-350s.) They expressed that the right and upstanding thing to do would be to shoot your dog yourself rather than get the vet. I was just wondering why this vet says it is not humane. I realize some people can't afford vet bills and they still deserve to have pets.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:27 PM on February 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

I believe that both gunshots and decapitation are AVMA-approved forms of euthanasia when done properly but they are disfavored due to the emotional component. In other words they are considered "humane" for the companion animal but not necessarily for the companion human or the vet. The human factor is all over AVMA ethical considerations. But I'm not going to Google any more of this because it leads to some dark animal welfare concerns that I don't want to see.
posted by muddgirl at 6:31 PM on February 8, 2023 [3 favorites]

Well, that sure hit home. Sixteen months ago, my cat fell off the kitchen counter (yes, it happens) and badly broke his leg. Delicate repair involving multiple pieces of metal were needed to fix his leg, exactly like the case in the essay. The surgery and follow up cost several thousand dollars, which was a hell of a lot to spend on a free cat. He’s a good cat, also young with many years ahead of him, and the expense didn’t break me, but there sure were other things I could have done with that money. And much as I love him, he is not a family member. He is an animal, a pet. I was frankly surprised that no one among the several veterinary staff I worked with raised euthanasia as an option. If they had, I probably would have chosen it. Because they didn’t, I was too abashed to suggest it myself, in the stress and upset of the situation.

I discussed this with a friend of mine who is a livestock farmer. He deals with animal death regularly and has euthanized animals himself on a number of occasions, including animals who were especially dear to him. He has written beautifully about the struggle in killing a particularly beloved ewe who had declined so badly that a merciful bullet to the head was the only thing he has left to offer her. My friend pointed out that animals live in the moment, they cannot understand that the pain the suffer today may abate tomorrow and the impositions of medical care are a temporary state intended to lead to a better outcome. He was in no way judgmental of my unease at spending all that money—the economics of his business are cut and dried, and there is a clear limit to how much they can spend on medical care of livestock animals. His perspectives were reassuring to me, that I’m not a bad pet owner or unloving or something.

A different friend lent me the huge, octagonal, fully contained enclosure that my recuperating cat lived in for weeks as his leg healed. I had the space in my apartment to confine him for that time, and leaving my entire dining room otherwise unusable was a tolerable tradeoff since I lived alone (vs. earlier years with kids to feed). The cat survived and is healthy and happy and even as I type is warming my feet at the foot of the bed. I’m glad he made it through, but I gotta say, I do not begrudge the owners’ decision in story, not even a little.
posted by Sublimity at 8:45 PM on February 10, 2023 [7 favorites]