Wine and the Veterinarian
I'd been set up. Looking at Scott, I could see he felt set-up as well. With a shot and some ointment, Sophie was ready to go when Scott asked if I'd like to get together for a glass of wine.
"I suppose it is what Sarah intended us to do in the first place," he said, scrunching up his shoulders. "It would be nice to talk to someone who has wine knowledge and appreciation."
We agreed to meet at a wine bar in downtown Seattle the following evening. After the initial meeting, I knew Scott was not my romantic type, but I was very curious about his work, his interest in wine and his life experiences.
Prior to opening his own clinic, Scott worked as the veterinarian for a Humane Society shelter in a larger Northwest city. The experience shocked him and rattled his dedication to healing sick animals.
"It surprised me how so many people could be so irresponsible about owning a pet," he confided over a glass of wine. "Their dog or their cat would have a litter and they had no qualms about dumping the animals at the Humane Society.
"They'd have the nerve to tell their kids that we would find great homes for the babies. We were so overwhelmed with unwanted animals that we would destroy at least half of the animals. Sometimes more."
The concept of destroying healthy animals went against Scott's grain and training. He said he didn't know how to reconcile his skills to save animals with the practice of destroying unwanted pets and litters.
For the two years he worked as the shelter vet, Scott developed a practice of saying a short prayer over each animal he had to destroy.
"I didn't know what else to do," he said quietly. "I had to find some way of coping with what the shelter needed to do. We lacked enough money and space for all the animals."
With each animal, Scott would say, "God help this animal on its journey," before putting the animal "to sleep" with an injection. It was a practice he quit doing when he opened his own clinic.
"I will find homes for healthy animals or keep them myself," he said sheepishly, adding that he had 12 dogs and 14 cats on his four-acre home north of Seattle.
Most of his friends owned pets that showed up at Scott's clinic. He began to notice that a few friends were reluctant to take
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