This is no joke.  Here in South Florida there are these AWFUL AWFUL toads. They are called Bufo Marinus – Bufo for short. They have no predators, as they emit this poison that can kill them all – it also can kill cats, small dogs, and do harm to large dogs – even kill large dogs if they continue to chomp on them. The first time a Bufo came into my backyard, Baby and Pippin got it. They foamed at the mouth, and it’s horrible. Between trying to catch the toad and washing out their mouths, it was a frantic time.

I hauled them into the vets, and they told me that my dogs are big enough that if nothing happened by then – 30 minutes into it – they’d be OK. I had the toad in a plastic grocery bag, and plopped the thing on their counter. It was a thud! I asked them to look at it to make sure I was dealing with THE BUFO. The vet on call was not all too thrilled about doing that. She is a woman underneath her veterinarian-ness after all, and I didn’t blame her, but insisted. It was THE BUFO. As I drove out, I saw her walking out with it and throwing it into the trash.

The reason I’m telling you all this is that even though these things are THE MOST DISGUSTING and VILE LUMPS OF LARD, I still wanted to know how to euthanize them humanely. And it is the freezer. So most times now, I put those porker toads in a plastic bag, and shove them in the freezer – FOR 3 DAYS! They go into hibernation, then they die. If you take them out too early, they ressurect.   So, in fact, the freezer is a humane way to put a reptile over that Rainbow Bridge, but not a cat.

Why would I say that?  Because on Tracie Hotchner’s radio show, Cat Chat, three weeks ago, a cat owner called in and was in tears.  She had taken her cat (Smoke) into to a vet for a minor surgical procedure.  While the cat was recovering, a vet assistant decided it was a dead cat and put him in the freezer where he died!  The vet assistant was fired, but the woman, Nicki, is of course, just devastated!  So Tracie has set up a memorial fund, whereas, people can contribute to the Smoke fund and all money will go to FELINE OUTREACH which provides assistance to cat owners who need veterinary help or other feline-related assistance.

It’s not the fact that it was a cat or a dog that this happened to, but that someone’s beloved pet was killed in such a wicked fashion where it was supposedly in a trusted environment.  It would be of great support to Nicki to know people are caring enough to drop a dollar in the bucket.  That’s all it takes.  A mere dollar.  The donation can be made by clicking here and scrolling down the page a bit.  I did it last night, and it only takes a minute and a dollar.

Thank you for caring.

Helen