Monday's morning talker is a bizarre but very sad story out of Gardner, Massachusetts, where a cat was scheduled for a flea bath, but ended up getting euthanized.
Colleen Conlon arranged for her two cats to have a flea bath after she noticed fleas were bothering her "sensitive" dog.
Her son brought them, one at a time, to nearby Broadway Animal Hospital, where Dr. Muhammed Malik had assured his mother a flea bath was the best treatment. The son dropped off the first cat, eight-year old Lady, filled out the papers handed to him, and left with the cat carrier to pick up the other cat, Little Bit. Then this happened:
But when Mr. Conlon returned with the second cat and said he'd take Lady home if she was finished with her bath, the vet surprised him when he asked, "You want the bodies?"
"At first he thought it was some cruel joke," Ms. Conlon said, but the veterinarian told her son he'd signed the papers.
It turns out that the papers Conlon's son filled out were somehow mixed up, and he ended up signing papers authorizing Lady's euthanasia.
Conlon filed a complaint with the attorney general's office and has plans to talk with the state Board of Registration.
Records show Dr. Malik was placed on probation by the state in 2005 as the result of treatment he provided for an injured dog in 2002. He did not comply with the standards in place, according to the state's website, and had to attend 25 hours of continuing education in radiology and orthopedics before his license was reinstated.
His current license expires in February 2013. A message left with a man who answered the clinic's emergency number did not yield a return call from Dr. Malik.
We're asking Facebook fans this morning if there should be some sort of consequences for the vet's office or on Dr. Malik himself?
