Talk about a "Black Friday."

What is it about the holidays that always brings out the worst in people? And the worst circumstances? I feel like I have spent the entire week-end recovering from working the day after Thanksgiving.

First on the docket was an extremely cute little dog who vomited up food that his owner hadn't fed him, and collapsed shortly thereafter. He spent the night and following day hooked up to an IV, being pumped full of fluids and medications in an effort to save his life. The apparent victim of a deliberate poisoning, he died 24 hours later, much to the heartbreak of his family.

How could anyone be so cruel as to do that to another persons animal? Or any animal at all? And if this kind of cruelty is shown towards an innocent animal, what would they do to a person???

Throughout the the day, which saw its fair share of emergencies in the form of a puppy's broken leg, a cat in heart failure, a tumor-ridden dog laboring to breathe, etc. etc. and ON AND ON, the little poisoned dog was struggling to hold onto life. It was this case that pulled at my heart the hardest. No one could have kept the cat from eventual heart failure, or stopped the tumor dog's body from growing cancer, but the poisoning case was totally unnecessary. When an animals' life is ended prematurely due to illness, it is a heartbreaking thing, but it is also a part of life and the natural order of things. It's something that you just have to accept when choosing a career with animals. Or any medical career for that matter. But when a young, healthy and obviously beloved animal (or person) is taken due to cruelty, it is almost more than I can take.

And to the poisoner- I hope that you are caught one day and punished for your crime, before you are able to inflict this kind of pain on anyone else. Or worse, decide that torturing animals is not enough.

It really sickens me.

I'll try to post something a little happier tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving!