the morality of a broken jaw

newticus · 01-21-06, 11:28 PM

I work at a pet store in the reptile dept. We sold these people a uromastyx which they killed, we replaced it with a new one as our warrenty dictates. They then dropped this one on its face breaking its lower jaw. It is such a bad break that there is now a gap between the the two pieces. My pet store does not provide vet visits for reptiles. My mangager told us to put it in the freezer to kill it. The manager of the bird dept. couldn't do it and offered to nurse it back to health (at this time we didn't know the extent of the damage) So it had been under a heat emitter and has been receiveing watery baby mash and purree lettus for the last 5-6 days. It is now VERY skinny, it urinates daily and it can open it's mouth but i don't know if it can ever heal due to the distence between the bones. I guess my morality question is should we have kept it alive to slowly starve or have frozen it to death when it was first brought to us? The next one is should we now put it in the freezer since healing seems remote? The pet store won't even take it to the vet to put it to sleep humanly.

Ch3m1cal_x · 01-22-06, 09:21 AM

Well, in my opinion you should take it to the vet yourself with your own money and see if it will be ok, plus i assume the vet can put it down more humainly if that is the only option remaining

alexandsnakes · 01-22-06, 09:52 AM

Freezing is by no means humane - you are conscious and in pain for quite some time as ice crystals form in flesh... I mean think how painful it can be to go play in the snow for a couple of hours when your mittens get wet.
Euthanising it at a vet's is going to be quite cheap if you and your coworker chipped in it would probably be in the ballpark of $15-20 each. Even the SPCA would be cheap... an option would be to dump it off at the SPCA anonymously, or say it was brought into your store in that condition (the better method might be to call the SPCA and tell them your boss is trying to force you into tormenting the animal more, but then the whole "job" thing and whether or not you have it may be an issue)
Anyway, trying to keep that animal alive without medical care (or even painkillers) is not necessarily a bad thing - not by any means the route I would've taken but working in the pet industry you must see how many animals are hurt badly and recover to live functional lives with few apparent consequences.
Freezing the uro, on the other hand, is inhumane and you should not do it, moral consequences aside there may be legal ones if anyone finds out. Find an alternate method to kill him. Even CO2 would be kinder, though it's not as ideal as a barbituate overdose.
Good luck. I wouldn't want to be in this situation.

Phoenix · 01-27-06, 05:41 PM

So what has ended up happening? Can you let us know?

newticus · 01-30-06, 10:10 PM

So far the Uro is still alive. She she got really skinny, and i wasn't hopeful that she would last much longer. I stumbled upon a website about reptile dehydration. So i started giving the uro subcataneous (sp?) fluids to help rehydrate her. That is water injected just under the skin. That was the turning point. We still hand feed her, but she eats like a pig. A few ppl said they saw her actually eat some of the finch seed we have in her cage. Heck she's probabbly fatter than our non broken uros. I am personally still concerned as she has a head tilt. She will always keep her head curled to one side, i'm not even sure she can turn it any other way. I haven't re examined her jaw to see how it's doing, but she can move her jaw. So that is her status for now. I'll post more when more happens.

Leolord · 02-06-06, 10:52 PM

That is in no way humane to freez a uro that may by the smallest chance make it through. I think you should also try mixing in some calcium powder with it to add extra calcium and speed it up.Try to take it under your arm and help it try to get some X-rays every now and then. Try to add a lot of formulas to it (a lot of calcium mostly). And treat it with TLC. Remember miracles can happen if you believe!!!

--Matt--:thumbsup:

Rhonda · 02-14-06, 10:10 PM

That is so sad!!!! What species of uromastyx is she? Also after the customer mistreated a second uromastyx did the manager refuse to give them another one? Just curious. Keep us posted on her condition. Poor little thing!

amercnwmn · 02-15-06, 09:35 AM

That sounds like a really bad deal..
I definitely would take it to the vet...or local humane Society...However I am in similar shoes with 2 Boas I rescued because I couldnt find anyone to contact regarding neglect of a reptile in my area...So now we are starting our own rescue center..
I would also anonymously go over my manager's head (i mean, after all, this guy is A PET STORE MANAGER!) and tell them that the STORE could be reported for inhumane treatment of animals in need of vet care..I bet if the customers of this store knew of the "no vet" policy, they would boycott the store.
Good Luck and keep us updated....
Also, if you cant take it to the vet, let me know...I will take it off your hands and see about getting it taken care of..even if I have to buy it from the store..

stevienr · 02-27-06, 02:25 PM

Ok, when I read this, it made me want to cry! I personally think you should go over your manager's head and report him/her! They should be fired for something like this!

Any updates on how she's doing?

I really hope your store didn't sell these people any more animals of ANY kind!!! They are obviously VERY poor owners!!

Hope she's doing well!!!

newticus · 02-28-06, 12:53 PM

This may sound calouse but going over heads is not an option if i want to keep my job, rightly or wrongly. My reptiles need feeding too, so a job I will keep. As for me personally taking it to the vet, unfortunately I am not made of money, or I wouldn't bother working, or at least not there.
The Uro is still alive, or at least was when I last saw it. Our store manager was tired of the staff spending time feeding it and wanted it gone. It now has a home with a previous employee, as to wheather he will spend enough time to really look after it i don't know, it wasn't my decision to let him have it.
Leolord, there is a difference between keeping it alive because you want to even though it is suffering terribly (with no sign of releif) and releasing it from it's bad situation. As for keeping it under my arm, and getting it occational x-rays,,, well my arm isn't going to do much good, and x-rays cost LOTS of money.
It is a Nigerian Uromastyx, and the customer got full store credit.

This has been a crappy situation which I hope I never have to relive.