Woman upset at disposal fee for dead cat

Lancashire Evening Post ^ | Mar 6 2010 | Chris Visser

[Daffynition]

A Good Samaritan who took a dead cat to the vet was left angry after being asked to pay a "disposal" fee. Deepdale trainee solicitor Sara-Jayne Pritt, of Isherwood Street, found the animal lying on the side of the pavement in nearby Skeffington Road on Thursday, February 25.

But instead of ignoring the cat's corpse, she picked it up and followed advice to take it to the nearest vet.

Because she was working, the 25-year-old asked her sister Gemma Pritt and dad David Pritt to take the cat to Vets4Pets in Moor Lane.

But she says that after the vet discovered the animal was not microchipped and the owner could not be located, he demanded a disposal fee of £12 from her family, which was later reduced to £5, with the vet insisting the pair take the dead animal home with them if it was not paid.

Mr Pritt paid the fee but his solicitor daughter wrote a letter to Vets4Pets complaining at the charge.

She wrote: "For my family to involve themselves in such an honourable deed to find themselves being asked for a £5 disposal fee when the cat did not belong to us is disgraceful – but to be told that if she didn't pay the fee she would have to take the dead cat away with her is absolutely disgusting.

"It is not surprising that people walk on by and leave suffering and deceased animals by the roadside if they think they are going to be accountable for the fee and the charge involved."

She told the Evening Post: "I was so angry. I was really shocked with what happened and find it disgusting. I should not be charged for being a Good Samaritan and taking the animal to the vet."

Miss Pritt, who owns six cats herself, was also shocked that no-one in Deepdale had reacted to the deceased cat sooner.

She said: "The cat was stiff – it had been there for a long time. People had walked by it and were walking in the road.

"When I was stood there with the cat, crying my eyes out – and it wasn't even my cat – people didn't even acknowledge me."

She was given advice to take the cat to the vet by a surgeon who operated on one of her own cats, who was also found lying in Skeffington Road after being hit by a car last year.

Miss Pritt called the surgeon, who used to work at the Vets4Pets surgery, about the dead cat and he advised her to take it to his former surgery so the animal could be identified, if it was microchipped, and disposed of safely.

A Preston Council spokesman said she could have called the authority to have the animal removed for free.

He said: "If the council receives a call about a dead animal on the highway the street cleansing team will deal with this as part of their work.

"So yes, if she had called us it would have been removed at no cost to her."

Despite repeated attempts to contact them, Vets4Pets were unavailable for comment.

[philetus]

A friend sent me this:

People in Kankakee County , Illinois have a warped sense of humor.

It must be something in the coal-infused water.

This is the pull off at SR 17 and Hopkins Park Rd.

A deer was hit there.

The couch was dumped there previously.

Day two the deer was on the couch.

Day three the end table and lamp showed up.

Day four the TV and TV stand showed up.

The Trooper had to call IL DOT because of all the people stopping to take pictures. The cardboard caption in front of the deer on the couch

reads, "Sorry Hunters.

Obama ruined healthcare. We can't afford to have injured hunters on our conscience,

so I'm staying home!

Sorry,

the Deer."

[mdmathis6]

The thing that stood out about that statement was that the woman was accutely aware during her “grief” that folks weren’t “acknowledging” her. It wasn’t even her cat. She lives with six cats. She makes her daughter take the cat to the vet she doesn’t do it herself.

The lady is a moonbat suffering from Munchausen’s or narcissism. I have no pity for her.

The true Samaritan said to the inkeeper...”Take care of this person and if there is any more charge for his keep, I’ll pay the remainder on my return”

The lady would have had more respect from me if they had just paid the money...(the vet only charged her 5 pounds or about 10 dollars) and kept her mouth shut to the press!

[mdmathis6]

What was the last thing that went thru the dead cat’s mind?

The front right wheel!

[tophat9000]

Reads like an old Monty Python bit....(but nowadays most all things in this world do)

[Daffynition]

Burying the Cat

Burying the Cat

 

---

About the Sketch:

This sketch not only appeared in the Flying Circus TV Show - Episode 27. It was also preformed on their album 'Monty Python's Previous Record' under the title of 'Putting Budgies Down'.

---

The cast:

MRS. CONCLUSION

Graham Chapman

MRS. PREMISE

John Cleese

---

The sketch:

Mrs. Conclusion : Hullo, Mrs. Premise.

Mrs. Premise : Hullo, Mrs. Conclusion.

Conclusion: Busy Day?

Premise: Busy? I just spent four hours burying the cat.

Conclusion: *Four hours* to bury a cat?

Premise: Yes - it wouldn't keep still.

Conclusion: Oh - it wasn't dead, then?

Premise: No, no - but it's not at all well, so as we were going to be on the safe side.

Conclusion: Quite right - you don't want to come back from Sorrento to a dead cat. It'd be so anticlimactic. Yes, kill it now, that's what I say. We're going to have to have our budgie put down.

Premise: Really - is it very old?

Conclusion: No, we just don't like it. We're going to take it to the vet tomorrow.

Premise: Tell me, how do they put budgies down, then?

Conclusion: Well, it's funny you should ask that, because I've just been reading a great big book about how to put your budgie down, and apparently you can either hit them with the book, or you can shoot them just there, just above the beak.

Premise: Just there? Well, well, well. 'Course, Mrs Essence flushed hers down the loo.

Conclusion: No, you shouldn't do that - no, that's dangerous. They *breed* in the *sewers*!

 

[Daffynition]

HAHAHA!

Shoulda dressed it in a button-down!

[vetvetdoug]

I guess the veterinarians should take up the slack monetarily for all of the irresponsible pet owners that let their animals run loose and get killed on the roads. The vets have to pay for the disposal of the dead animals, why shouldn't the public? Veterinarians are private businessmen and have to make payments for taxes, payroll and overhead. Vets are not free government healthcare and do not get subsidized by the Federal government. This so called good Samaritan took one cat to a vet, think about this happening several times a day and the costs. There are many good hearted veterinarians that are bankrupt because they subsidized the irresponsible public.

[dangerdoc]

Is there a shovel ban?

[Dexter Morgan]

In the U.K.? Probably.

[Daffynition]

As usual Doug, you are the voice of reason. Socialism is a one way street, no matter which side of the pond.

[isom35]

as Diana Rigg said “No turn unstoned”.

[oweddle]

ok I’m new here so I hope I’m replying correctly. Also, I know this is a very old post and nobody will probably read this, but I have to get this off my chest...
You were upset about a cat disposal fee. That’s great you want to be a good citizen and want to do the right thing. And you expect a vet to not “take advantage” of situations like that and make money off of it. However, you have to think of it from their point of view. ...it’s a dead cat. Bury it! Just because they are in a certain profession doesn’t mean they should be responsible for all the charity work that people bring in.
When a person dies, are there not funeral costs?
Things in this world cost money. Even burying our own deceased.
If you really wanted to be a good person then you would dispose of the cat yourself and not bring it to someone else to do that for you and expect it to be out of the kindness of their heart.
Just think about it from their point of view is all I’m saying.
Thank you,
Oliver Weddle

[RichInOC]

Okay, what’s the problem? Disposal fees for dead people are a lot more than that.

[Professional Engineer]

She wasted perfectly good coyote chow.