Rescue Journal

practicing medicine....

Carol  ·  Nov. 24, 2008

it never ceases to amaze me how many people in rescue practice medicine...and i do mean practice because at best without the knowledge and education it is not a well honed skill....it is a guessing game with a toss of the lucky (or unlucky) dice for good measure. with the growing popularity of homeopathics and naturopathics this trend has grown even bigger....it is cheap and anyone can apparently do it. while rescuers can get their hands on donated traditional meds (and sc fluids), it is not as easy as walking into a pharmacy or health food store to pick up a few good sounding herbal supplies....and for some reason everyone thinks because these meds are natural....they are also completely safe to be used and abused incorrectly. put a book or two or the internet and the ability to read together and poof you have a homemade natural medical practioner....scary.

there is a fine line between..giving advice, starting responsible, initial, appropriate treatment and going too far. i give advice all the time re:geriatric or palliative care when folks ask, (i get ALOT of emails asking for help or ideas) but my advice always begins and ends with "in consultation with your vet".... and i will start the animals here on a beginning course of well thought out and educated and appropriate treatment UNTIL i can get them into the vet within a day or two.

i am not a vet, i am not a registered homeopathic or naturopathic practitioner, i don't know everything these folks know but i am smart enough to know this too.

what brings this to mind is a phone call i had today from deb....mable mae's time has come and they will be helping her to pass tomorrow.

and i started remembering when mable came to us, almost 2 years ago. so i will tell the beginning of her sad story and leave the happy middle and end to deb.

i did not want mable mae...i had a newly broken ankle and was freaking out in my wheelchair. but when the call came about this 16 yr old dog...it took one sentence for me to say "yes." mable's rescuer had rescued her and mable had alot of serious health problems. but mable's rescuer was not treating her thru the vets, she was making up her own herbal and homeopathic concoctions....she was growing herbal weeds in her garden (like dandolines) distilling them down and injecting them into maple's neck. mable grew a cancerous mass right where the woman was injecting. she offerred to make up several batches for me to continue on with mable's treatment, apparently it was amazing stuff. plus she had a list of homeopathics that she was giving to the dog that she picked up from the pharmacy.
ok...i hear alot of weird stuff in rescue, but this just took the cake. who in their right mind buys a book on herbal or homeopathic medicine and then starts practicing on their rescues?..it might not be illegal (not sure) but i am sure it is stupid so i said "give that dog to me." and refrained from saying too much more about what i thought of the whole nutbar insanity.
mable was a great dog here...a little brave shitz-head...all four feet firmly planted on the ground. she was blind and deaf as a post but she knew what she wanted and she got what she wanted and i loved her all the more for that. we started her on her appropriate medical treatment and deb and chris then STOLE her from me and continued on with her medical care.

and for almost two years mable mae has been coddled and loved (and not injected with ignorant poison) and lived her life happy and well. she would be about 18 yrs old now.

thank god for a home with not only a heart, but a brain as well, for the little old princess which understood something critical to responsible animal care....medical treatment in any form is for medical experts to provide. it is not a learn as you go, and when all else fails, guess answer "C" from the list in the book you have on your shelf....come on...if you want to be a vet, or a homeo/naturopath, then do the work and go school and earn the right to practice whatever medicine you believe in, but don't turn sweet mable-mae's into captive home-based basement laboratory test subjects....REALLY NOT FAIR.
mable escaped from whatever crappy home she came from, she escaped from a wanna-be but wasn't and shouldn't be vet and she escaped from spending the rest of her life as part of the saints crippled crew, three times lucky girl..... and so to deb and chris...i deeply and forever, thank you and i am sorry her time is done, but it has been a great time for mable with you.
gentle journey mable-mae, you are a very, very good dog.

Comments

Eva Stock

Wow;
It will be different for me too when I am there to not see and touch and talk to the great little one. She gave me so much joy when I listened to her telling Drb in a very loud voice that a couple of minutes to wait for her food was not satisfactory. It was hillarious. And to her size did not matter as she looked up at Deb and told her two minutes was much too long. I was amazed at her when she would go out in the yard to do her business and go all the way back in the yard and around the shed and then come back to the house!! Blind and deaf did not matter to her. Love and peace to the sweetest little one. Sleep well. Eva She had the best at your house you guys. Eva

Chris T

I hand-fed Mabel a bunch of chicken last night while Deb held her. She enjoyed it and so did I. Mabel lived life here completely on her terms. We demanded nothing from her and gave her everything she wanted. This morning, she went out on the deck to pee and then barked her despotic, loud, demanding bark and I happily got her some of her beloved Cesar dog food. She loved that stuff almost as much as grocery store chickens. I will be writing a blog about her when I can.

Deb

Mabel Mae, our Maybee Baby, closed her eyes and went to sleep while I held her and whispered into her ear things that she already knew....that we loved her, that she was a very good dog, that she was smart and strong and as stubborn as hell, but she could stop fighting now, she deserved to be at peace. Maybee was ready to go. The sedative alone was nearly enough to stop her heart from beating.

Our little despot has left us. She was happy here, where nothing was asked of her, and her every demand was met by one of her servants. At almost 18, that's how it should be.

We'll miss you Mabel. You were absolutely one of a kind. You answered to nobody. You were loved and respected, and nobody will ever take your place.

You were a very, very good dog.

laura

What a sad beginning Mable Mae had..but what a lucky girl to have landed at Saints and then the icing on the cake to find her forever home with such an awesome family as you guys. Our thoughts are with you..go in peace little one knowing you were LOVED.

Mo

Will be thinking of you all today, (((((hugs))))) to Mable , what a great little dog she is & she will be remembered by many . Take care of your hearts

lynne

i am so sorry, chris and deb i think she must have just gone around the time i came to saints but i do remember her and she was a sweet little girl. i am glad she got to spend her last journey of life with you. she was indeed a lucky little girl.