Shelter Euthanizes Wrong Cat in Mixup
A Florida family is mourning the loss of Buddy after Hernando County Animal Services mistakenly euthanized him.
Buddy’s owner, Maria Velez had taken Buddy to a friend’s house for her to cat sit while they were on vacation. When the friend, Debra Yarzab, was playing with Buddy, he bit her on the hand.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” said Yarzab.
Later, her hand swelled up, and she sought medical attention for the injury.
Because Buddy hadn’t received his rabies shot, he was put in quarantine at Hernando County Animal Services, which is routine in such cases.
It turned out that he was fine, but there was a mix up with another orange tabby cat, and Buddy was euthanized.
When the Velezes went to pick Buddy up, they were presented with a different cat–a very skinny orange tabby who was missing a tail. Maria Velez told them it was the wrong cat, at which point they discovered that the wrong cat had been euthanized.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Maria Velez said. “I was in shock. I’m like are you kidding me?”
Animal Services officials say they feel bad about the mixup, but admitted that similar incidents have occurred before. They said they are working on implementing new procedures to prevent future mix ups.
“I just want something to be done so it doesn’t ever happen again to someone else, to another animal,” Maria Velez said.
“I can never get him back,” said her son, Austin.
County Commissioner Rose Rocco said she is investigating the incident and is going to make sure new guidelines are put in place.
[LINK: BayNews9.com]
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How difficult could it be to keep better records so things like this don’t happen! It makes me sad, and I feel bad for Buddy and his owners.
That is heartbreaking! Simple collar tags and tags on the cages could prevent this kind of thing from happening.
It never would have happened if Buddy had had his shots! Poor Buddy!
My EyeTailYun eyes izza weeping fur Buddy
Oh Guido, let me wipa yusa tears.. sniff sniff..
da poor little orange tabby kitty.. Id sue that place..
hold on let me calla my loiyer
Dose Stoopid peeples !!
Word to the wise and the caring: NEVER tell medical personnel or vets or law enforcement if you are bitten. Innocent lives ARE lost because of human intolerance, ignorance, and arrogance. Treat the wound yourself immediately with hydrogen peroxide flush or other foaming antiseptic, then apply OTC triple-antibiotic CREAM (never ointment — it does not allow aeration and may exacerbate the wound and even allow for infection to occur).
And yes, the place that did this needs to have legal action taken against it immediately.
Oh my- such a handsome cat. It sure makes me feel so sad and no excuse for what happened to poor Buddy.
How horrible!!!! We are so sorry for Buddy and his family!!! He must have been real scared….and then to cross the bridge because of a simple bite. We are purring and purring for him and his family. We won’t say what we are thinking of the shelter where he was.
OH MY
OH MY again these ype of situations are so horrible. We are so sorry for your loss.
How awful! We are so sorry for your loss. We hope that new procedures are put into place immediately so no other family has to go through such pain.
I’ve thought of how to impliment a way to keep track of the cats. Now, this may be complicated HC Animal Services, so please listen:
Enter cat info and pic into the computer and save it and give it a name/number/whatever to access.
Put a vinyl collar on the kitty with the ref name/numer and an abbreviated message.
Put the exact same icollar nfo on a cage plate that the kitties in as well as a pic of the kitty.
Now…was THAT too hard for you?
I’m so sad for Buddy. Yes, the shelter made a horrible mistake but I’m also upset with the owners. Why didn’t Buddy have his required shots??? It’s a simple rabies shot, most towns offer them for free.
Also, I would seek medical attention if I were bit especially by a cat. I work for a lawyer. A client did not and almost lost his arm. He treated it himself at home with rubbing alcohol but the infection immediately entered his blood stream. He actually had a red line that was climbing his arm.
You have to be honest and tell the doctors you were bit and by what type of animal. I know the animal may be in trouble but I’m not sure it’s worth losing your arm or life over.
Ashley, you are correct about seeking medical attention for cat bites and scratches. It’s not necessary to go to ER the minute you get bit/scratched, but you should wash the wound thoroughly – total immersion in a Betadine solution is best — and watch it. If it swells and turns red, go to ER.
Joints are especially vulnerable, because it’s hard to fight infection that takes hold within the joint. Since a large percentage of bites and scratches occur on the hands — with a lot of joints — you need to be watchful to ensure infection does not develop.
Here’s my story: I was scratched when rescuing my cat from a predicament several years ago. I was more concerned about getting the cat to the vet than tending to my injury. It happened the day before Thanksgiving, I had houseguests arriving, and I just didn’t have time to go and wait in ER for hours. It was a very painful, deep, scratch, and began to swell almost immediately. The morning after Thanksgiving (a day and a half after the scratch), with my hand and arm swollen to Michelin Man proportions, and red streaks 2/3 of the way up my arm, I contacted my doctor, who insisted very emphatically that I go to ER immediately. When I got to ER, I was ushered in immediately ahead of everyone else and checked into the hospital for IV antibiotics. I was in the hospital for a week, and on heavy duty antibiotics for six weeks afterward.
Even at that, the infection did not go away all the way. A few months later, after several doctor visits to different specialists, I was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a serious bone infection. I have to have an IV port inserted, and had IV antibiotics twice daily for five weeks. It successfully attacked the infection, but I was left with limited use of the affected hand.
Bottom line: cat bites and scratches are potentially life-threatening. Although it is noble to withhold info about the cat, you are risking your life in doing so. If the cat does turn out to have rabies, other people and pets risk being bitten, and a delay in treatment could cost you your life.
It also points out the necessity of ensuring your pets have all their shots–including rabies shots–when you are entrusting them to the care of a catsitter. You should leave your vaccination records in an easy-to-find spot (We leave a binder) for your catsitter.
Even indoor-only cats can benefit from rabies shots. If they ever escape, and say, get stuck in a tree, the rescuer may be bitten during the rescue, and your cat might need to be quarantined. Or, a lost cat could be bitten by a rabid skunk, raccoon or possum. Read why your cat should be vaccinated against rabies in this article on The Cat’s Meow.
An animal shelter that mixes up two cats, one having distinctive features, is neglegent (that’s the nicest word I can think of). Actually, I think the animal shelter is covering someone’s rear end because a mistake like that take some doing and points to a complete lack or breakdown in records and/or someone that doesn’t check what they are doing.
I’d bite the friend. My cats are inside cats and they do not have rabies shots. I have never seen feline rabies shots offered for free.
I too have never seen rabies shots offered for free. I think that other person was off a tad much on that point.
Also many people don’t vaccinate because of the risk of developing tumors in the vaccination site. An indoor cat has a lower risk of getting rabies so they don’t always require it.
I know I’d never trust that ‘catsitter’ to so much as breathe in my direction again but at the same time I know that reporting it was important. It could mean not only her life but the lives of others in not reporting it.
How could a small paper collar you can write info on not be in use in the shelter mentioned? I know when I was helping out with a spay neuter clinic, every cat that came in the doors was given one to avoid mix ups, even large batches of rescues from various local shelters. You can even color code them! They only cost pennies, seriously a small card on a cage and paper collar would of saved this cat. Or maybe someone didn’t bother to read any info available? Carelessness kills. Literally.
It saddens and angers me that this had to happen when there were so many easy ways to prevent it. Poor poor Buddy. :`(
I’m afraid that “jmuhj” did not give very good advice. If you are bitten and show the SLIGHTEST redness, you must present immediately to a doctor and tell them the cause of the injury! Treatment of different animal bites require different antibiotics! Please seek medical help. The intent of the animal does not obviate the result of the deeply implanted bacteria. Superficial cleansing does NOT clean the bacteria that the tip of the tooth implants deep in your tissue. (My Mom is a P.A. in the E.R., and this is a public service announcement that she MADE me write!)
Some good and well-intentioned advice has been given here. We’re just very sad for the family and the pet.
Oh my God, my heart goes out to poor Buddy and his poor grieving parents. I am speachless.
Julie
to the people who say it never would have happened if buddy had had his shots:
rabies shots are not required for cats in all states-they are not required for cats in michigan, where i live, for example. vaccinations should not be given if they are unnecessary, and as buddy was an inside cat, i can see why he was not vaccinated if the rabies vaccination is not required in his state.
incredible carelessness and lack of any organizational skills on the part of the shelter are at fault here, not failure to vaccinate.
oops…pressed submit and didn’t mean to. i was recently bitten by one of the ferals in my neighborhood, and got a raging infection. had to get i.v. antibiotics, antibiotic shot, tetanus shot, oral antibiotics-and god love me, rabies prophylaxis. if it had been one of mine that bit me i could have just said i’d watch them at home and see if their behavior changed, since it was a feral i was halfway through the cycle by the time i noticed-you know, this cat is fine. the shots made me feel like crap every time i took one, so i blew off the last two. it is debatable whether that was wise-it would have given me some insurance against a future bite, and i attract feral cats the same way i do mosquitos-but the point is that if the cat is an unknown quantity i understand demanding they be quarantined. what i don’t understand is a pet cat being quarantined in an animal shelter when the cat sitter could have just put him in a cage for the ten days of observation necessary. that’s all i would have had to do with my feral, cage her for ten days and then call animal control to assess her. so…why did this cat have to be quarantined in a shelter again?
Kaya Skye, as you said, different states (or counties) have different rules and when a friend’s dog bit a child, because he was behind on his shots, he had to be quarantined at the county shelter. For one thing, it prevents further bites. For another, we can’t trust all pet owners to be honest about the pet’s behavior during quarantine… some would even try to deceive authorities.
I’m curious whether the other cat was also in quarantine… to mix up a quarantined animal with a non-quarantined animal is even more frightening. I agree with others that there are SIMPLE ways to track your feline “inventory” and this NEVER should have happened.
Oh poor Buddy! Poor family!
If our country had a totally no-kill shelter policy, this would NEVER ever have happened.
We are so sad fur Buddy & family, purrs to them.
Hernando County officials screwed up royally? Oh now THERE’S a shocker.
/former Hernando County resident
This is absolutely terrible..shame on the owners for not getting the rabies shot to Buddy ,he cat paid dearly for their big mistake….I feel sorry for the cat..if the people that owned Buddy get another cat..they should be sure the cat has his vaccines…It is only once a year…and it will save the cat’s life. It is sad the people lost their cat but it was their fault for not getting the rabies shot. I sure hope they have learned. As for the shelter…shame on your staff for doing such a terrible thing…You should be sure of the identity of the cat..before you do something and kill the cat…poor Buddy….he is the one who lost the most…Buddy lost his life.
Oh yes..rabies vaccines are mandatory in the state of Florida where poor Buddy lived…so his owners should have done it to save Buddy.
People who work at shelters are not well educated in the work they are to perform. And some are just there because it is a “job” and others really have no concern for animals.This creates disasters like this story is about. Only well informed,compassionate people should work at shelters/pounds. Terribly sorry this had to happen.
What about the poor kitty who was suppose to be killed, what happen to him? Did they take him home?