Bringing Work Home

*** I must preface this entry with a warning: the following is not for the weak of stomach.***

There's a phenomenon in the veterinary world that occurs every year around the holidays. Everyone and their cousins decide to put their old sick dogs to sleep. I always figured that people would prefer to get through the holidays, maybe have that one last landmark memory with their old friend, but experience has proven that to not be the case. I suppose they all feel like they have to make room for that Christmas puppy their kids have been hounding them for. **Note: Do NOT buy your children a pet for Christmas. Have you ever seen how quickly they bore of those expensive gotta-have-it toys? Now imagine having to be obligated to walking, feeding, and (ugh) housebreaking that Christmas gift... Besides, no one has time for a puppy when your busy going to holiday parties and entertaining out of town guests.**

So we've been passing out the pink juice a lot over the last few weeks. It's not a fun part of the job, and whether you believe it or not, if you're a regular at a particular vet clinic, the staff there is pretty attached to your old pet, too.

Have you ever wondered what happens to beloved old Rufus once he's evacuated his earthly vessel? Of course you have. He gets stuffed into a body bag, which is little more than a heavy duty garbage bag. Trust me, there's an art to tying this bag off so that nothing escapes. What might escape, you ask? I'm sure you have an imagination. This bag is given a label, with the pet's name, and some disposal instructions, and then it's packed, not so neatly, into a chest freezer, along with everyone elses dearly departed critters. A service picks them up, usually on a weekly schedule, and then disposes of them however you requested. Usually this involves cremation.

Our freezer is usually plenty big enough to accomodate a weeks worth of death, but around the holidays space becomes somewhat of an issue.

So Saturday we euthanized a Rottweiler, a Greyhoud, and a Doberman, only to find out that the freezer was at capacity. Who knew you needed to make reservations at the doggie morgue?

No problem, really, I'll just call the folks that service our clinic and have them do an emergency pickup.

SURPRISE! They don't work weekends.

No reason to panic now, I'll call the emergency clinic downtown and see if they have some spare room.

Sorry, all booked up.

No we have a problem. We can either leave them laying out in the open where they will start rotting and smelling pretty funky by Monday, not to mention being just a little more than creepy to the poor dogs staying in the kennel for the weekend.

The next option was the last, and unfortunately, the winner. Angie has a deep freezer at her house! It's been empty ever since the first hurricane because it sat for 11 days with meat rotting inside, and no matter how much we've cleaned it, the smell just won't go away.

So home with me came three dead dogs. They are now housed in the freezer in my kitchen. I'm not one to be squeamish about these things, but it is a bit creepy. I keep telling myself that it's no different than if I had gone to the store and bought a couple of steaks. I mean, hunters stuff dead deer in their freezers all the time, right?

But somehow it seems different to have people's pets chilling (pardon the pun) in my kitchen. Thankfully, this is only a temporary situation, and my unwanted guests will be going back to work with me on Monday.

So next time you complain about having to take your work home with you on the weekends, keep in mind that it could be a whole lot worse.