With this command, anyone planning to advocate for poor Dobby
instantly stepped down. All the while, his heartbeat grew fainter, and he
continued to vomit a foamy pile of blood every fifteen minutes. Dr. Ellis
had every available hand working on his case; it was mostly because the
clinic was due to be closed in an hour.
“We’re going to run some tests and stabilize him for now. If
he makes it through the night, we can continue with more treatments
tomorrow. That is, unless you’d like to put him down now.” Dr. Ellis
mapped out her entire medical plan, overflowing with optimism while
gracefully sneaking in the latter suggestion to the clients, a family of four
with a red-faced, anxious father, a tired-faced, distraught mother, a palefaced, young girl, and a blank-faced, baby boy.
“Do you believe that he will make it through the night, Dr. Ellis?”
The distraught mother finally dared to ask the question on everyone’s
mind.
“I honestly do. Once we control his vomiting, the other injuries
will be simple to treat.” She reassured the family and allowed them to say
goodnight to Dobby.
Anyone with eyes could have seen that Dobby was not going
to make it through the night. Even with my novice knowledge, I knew
that vomiting blood was an indication of internal bleeding, and if left
untreated, Dobby would die in only a few, short hours. This would be an
excruciating and inhumane death, and it is unethical to not treat a dog
with obvious bleeding; if he didn’t get the bleeding fixed and a transfusion
soon, it would happen.
After closing, once everyone had left, while I was taking care of
Dobby’s billing, I realized what was going on. I noticed the treatments
that he received were some of the most expensive that we offered.
Laser therapy (a pain management treatment for bones and joints) was
performed on him that day, but his broken bones weren’t scheduled to
be set until the following day. I didn’t want to believe someone could
be so cruel or greedy, but I finally saw what Dr. Ellis was doing; she was
manipulating the family from putting down Dobby, so she could perform
–and charge the family for—more treatments.
I went in to work the following day to an empty, clean cage where
the most charming and unfortunate animal had once laid his poor head.
Jerry confirmed to me, with his blue, tender eyes overwhelmed with
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