OMG! I can't believe this happened!

I have been helping a lady trap a feral she has been feeding so that he could be neutered, treated for a small flesh wound on his tail, and vaccinated. She didn't want to use a trap, so she has worked real hard to get him to come to her, and go into a carrier on his own terms.

Last night the cat went into the carrier (after a bit of tuna) and this morning she took the cat to the vet to be neutered. Here's where the nightmare begins.

The "vet assistant" took the cat out of the carrier while the kennel door was open. The cat became frightened (well, duh!), got loose, and ran out the open door into the woods. What kind of idiot would take a feral cat out of a cage WHILE THE DOOR TO THE OUTSIDE WAS OPEN!?

To say the least, the lady who has been caring for the cat is panicked and sick about this. The vet's office is several miles away from her home, so there is no way that this poor mostly feral cat is ever going to make it back to her house. She feels especially bad because she worked so hard to win his trust, and now this happened.

Sorry for the rant, but I am so very angry I needed to blow off some steam.

That is terrible! I would be crushed. You would expect a vet tech to know better!!! I'd expect ANYONE to have more common sense, actually. That poor cat will never want to trust a human again!

Poor kitty! I would be furious too...where was that person's brain?

I don't know if it would be any help to her, but the www.catsinthebag.org site has special info for finding lost feral cats.

Poor kitty!

That is really hard to be believe!! Sometimes you wonder what people are thinking. I can not imagine them ever having a door open to the outside when examing any pet feral or not. Even many pet cats will try to run if there being picked up by a stranger.
I sure hope he can be found again some how.

Can they setup a trap in the area to hopefully catch it again? I would sue it's the vet tech's fault it got away and I would not let that just pass. If they do get it I would ask to get the exam for free.

The vet tech must be a moron. That poor scared kitty and that poor woman!

My sister in laws cat escaped outside the vets office once, she live at least five miles from there, but after she was home a few hours, the kitty came prancing across the yard. Keep your fingers crossed!

When the Good Lord was handing out brains, this woman must have thought He said Trains and she missed her ride. That poor kitty- I hope they are trying to trap the cat again.

Mush for brains! What a dolt! Poor scared beastie!

Originally Posted by hissy

When the Good Lord was handing out brains, this woman must have thought He said Trains and she missed her ride.

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Thanks for the laugh....I needed something to make me feel better after haring what happened to this poor cat!

We have set up a humane trap with some good stinky kippered herring inside and we have sent out an e-mail alert to almost 1000 Humane Society members, many of whom live in the general viscinity of the vet office I will look at the link tuxedokitties gave and pass on any new ideas to the lady.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

If I were the vet tech, I'd be out there patrolling this very night because I wouldn't be able to sleep.....This is so tragic! But we here at TCS are hoping & praying that this poor kitty gets found & brought in soon!

We were at the vet surgery once, and my Mum was holding the cat. The vet nurse said, I'll take him. Mum said, No, I'll hold him, he gets really scared. Vet nurse insisted, and my Mum said Ok but make sure you hold him tight. So of course she totally ignored my Mum and the cat went running around the walls (literally!) and knocked everything in the surgery over! Mum tried to tell her....Nurse obviously thought she knew better (Little did she know that my Mum used to BE a vet nurse and knew exactly how to handle her own cat!)

I hope you find the poor thing soon. Sometimes people think with their backsides.

Oh dear, that sucks!

My ex-girlfriend though it would be a funny joke to pull my chair out from under me as I went to sit down 3 weeks post pelvic ring and hip fractures.

Some people just don't think.

oh my goodness, those injuries sound so serious. hope you're all better now! It's definitely not funny to pull chairs out, hurt spines can be a big deal.

Hope to hear some good news about that poor feral feline... Stupid vet tech. How did he/she get that job in the first place since she's that careless?!

The cat is definitely nearby so they need to set a trap in a quiet area near the door that was open. They'll get him.

I obviously can't vouch for the intelligence or lack thereof of a vet assistant I've never met, but I can say that the very same thing happened to some people I know - and these people are very experienced and plenty smart. Even smart, experienced people do dumb things sometimes.

Oh I`m so sorry.....that was really a dumb thing to do.
Do`nt lose heart though....the cat may return to you.
Years ago , a friend and her hubby bought a new home, to find that the previous owners had left their cat....it would sit on thier front porch and rush into the house everytime the door was opened, climb up on a piece of furniture and start grooming as if had lived there all it`s life. (They claimed it was`nt their cat...RIGHT!)
Anyhow, my friend was`nt a "Cat Lover" so was looking for a home for it....soooo, to make a long story short (if possible for me)...we said we`d take the kitty.
She brought it out to us, but once she got out of the car with the cat in her arms...when it got a look at our Aussie it jumped out of her arms and took off and ran up a huge tree. (aparently didnt know Lady would NOT have hurt him)
We could not coax the cat out of the tree, even with the dog being in the house. The next morning the cat was gone....2 weeks later it reappeared on my friends front porch again...skinny but fine.
The cat had traveled over 10 miles to get home!!!
My frined decided to keep the cat after all and had him for several years before he passed over the rainbow. (And she loved him so much that she has had a few others over the years)

Originally Posted by hissy

When the Good Lord was handing out brains, this woman must have thought He said Trains and she missed her ride.

That poor kitty- I hope they are trying to trap the cat again.

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Whoa! The vet tech certainly did a stupid thing, but let's not attack her as BEING stupid! We have all done very dumb things in our lives. It is very bad that this had to happen, and being angry with the tech is completely OK, but do not assault her intelligence overall! Oh dear! I would only hope that she is very upset about this as well.
I have had a couple tame kitties escape from me at the vet, and it was MY fault. That does not make me an idiot!

I just don't know if such verbal abuse is warranted for a mistake like this. I mean, its not like the tech threw the cat out the door on purpose! Yeah, she did something dumb. But it is not our place to judge how smart she is or how God blessed her with intelligence!

You reap what you sow, people! Would you want somebody talking like this about you behind your back, even if you did make a grievous error? Think about it...

Originally Posted by blueberrybeth

Whoa! The vet tech certainly did a stupid thing, but let's not attack her as BEING stupid! We have all done very dumb things in our lives. It is very bad that this had to happen, and being angry with the tech is completely OK, but do not assault her intelligence overall! Oh dear! I would only hope that she is very upset about this as well.
I have had a couple tame kitties escape from me at the vet, and it was MY fault. That does not make me an idiot!

I just don't know if such verbal abuse is warranted for a mistake like this. I mean, its not like the tech threw the cat out the door on purpose! Yeah, she did something dumb. But it is not our place to judge how smart she is or how God blessed her with intelligence!

You reap what you sow, people! Would you want somebody talking like this about you behind your back, even if you did make a grievous error? Think about it...

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Ok, so maybe she's not a moron. Maybe she is. Right, everyone makes mistakes. Her position as a vet assistant should require that she take certian precautions. Her negligence has caused a cat to get away. Its just that I empathize a lot more with the woman who brought the cat in than the careless employee who let him out!