I had to tell a little girl that her rat was going to die

16/02/2008 by Arielle.

I had one case today that stood out from the others. A mother came in with her little 5 year old daughter, their pet cat Molly and rat called Erica. Molly needed her 6 monthly program injection and the little girl watched me with great interest as I listened to her cat’s heart and then gave it the injection. Her mother mentioned that it was the first time she had been to a vet.

She then showed me their 3 year old pet rat that just sat miserably over its food bowl. She had stopped eating, was terribly thin and had grown lifeless over the last week. She was so dehydrated and I sadly had to make a diagnosis of a possible kidney or womb infection. The young mother had previously nursed a seizuring rat and she felt it would be kinder (which I wholeheartedly supported) if she was put to sleep.

She turned to her daughter and explained that I was going to take Erica away and give her an injection to make her die. The little girl burst into tears of genuine grief and looked at me with a mixture of hatred and confusion. I tried to explain to her that Erica would die if we left her or tried to treat her and she would suffer, but she was crying too much.

Erica passed away very quietly with a bit of gas and an injection in the hospital. One of the nurses was hand-feeding a 3 week Chihuahua puppy called Finnigan. I quickly borrowed him and rushed out with Finnigan wrapped in a pink towel to show him to the little girl who had touched my heart. I hope that she will grow up to understand that vets are not terrible people!

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