ABU DHABI // All animal lovers dread the words “put them to sleep” from a vet – but experts say pet owners should always seek a second opinion to see if that is true.
Hamad Al Ghanem, founder and owner of the Salukis of Arabia Club, said regardless of a pet’s age or disability they should have a chance to live.
“People need to understand that once you take the responsibility of owning a pet, it’s a lifetime commitment,” he said.
“Like people, animals will get older, they might get sick and some may have disabilities, but that is not to say that we should take the decision of putting them down lightly.”
Mr Al Ghanem, who owns about 80 dogs, said that one of his salukis, Laeba, 13, recently had to have hip surgery – a move one doctor said would not be practical because of the severity of her injury and age.
“The first doctor recommended we put her to sleep because she was an older dog, but that was not an option for me,” he said.
“I am thankful that I went to another doctor who agreed to do the surgery, although it was challenging.”
Dr Ahmad Jakish, of Abu Dhabi’s British Veterinary Clinic, said the procedure on Laeba was very challenging because of a luxated hip, which means the femur had come out of its socket and was stuck in the wrong position.
“This happens often in dogs when they get a traumatic injury,” Dr Jakish said. “It’s usually easy to repair but Laeba had been like this for three years because it was initially misdiagnosed.
“After being in that position for three years, the muscles contract so strongly that it’s almost impossible to bring them back to normal position.
“Even in surgery, it was very challenging to take it out of the place and put it back in the right place, because the bone had fused in the wrong place with so much scar tissue.”
Laeba had been walking with a limp ever since her condition was misdiagnosed. But after recently slipping on the tiles, she could not longer walk at all.
Dr Jakish agreed that it was important for pet owners to always get a second opinion, adding that a saluki, on average, lives about 15 years but there are some cases of them living to 23.
“People should not take one veterinarian’s word, and when it’s an orthopaedic problem then you have to go to an orthopaedic specialist,” he said. “Because it was misdiagnosed, the problem became really bad.
“A pet owner must definitely take more than one opinion before taking a decision to put down an animal.”
Mr Al Ghanem said that if a pet had a 1 per cent chance of living, it was a risk he was willing to take.
“Laeba now is still in recovery but she is back to her old, grumpy self and I am very happy that we went with the surgery,” he said.
Mr Al Ghanem said he also had a blind dog, Qanas, and a three-legged hound, Jarian.
“Both are living happily on the farm. Qanas is completely blind but walks around the farm without bumping into anything, while Jerry, who lost his right front leg when he was a puppy, is a great hunter.
“I would never give up on one of my dogs or put them down because they have a disability.”
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae
