Cat was quickly put down - The Park Record

Sounds like a sad set of circumstances. Seems like the big lesson to learn from the loss of this family pet is the importance to have ID on your pet at all times, especially if you choose to let it run loose. There is no leash law for cats and I know a lot of owners let them outdoors. It is a calculated risk - they could be hit by a car or attacked by a wild animal. A breakaway collar with a bell (to warn birds) is a great thing to have on your outdoor cat. A microchip properly registered is a must. Even for pets who stay inside, ID is very important. You never know when a bad set of circumstances will happen and the animal will end up outdoors out of your control. Without proper ID, the ultimate price is paid by the pet.

nice neighbor.

razmataz wrote:

nice neighbor.

The neighbor WAS nice. She took the cat to Animal Control rather than letting him fend for himself while likely in pain and vulnerable to attack from other animals.(Remember the cats in Park Meadows who were prey for wildlife when they were left outdoors?) Carnell admitted that the cat was sick, yet she left him outdoors at Promontory, where I am sure that there is a lot more wildlife than in Park Meadows. If you have a cat, you should probably keep it indoors. If you can't, then please show enough care to have the cat tagged and preferably with an implant. Putting an animal down is a heart-wrenching responsibility, even for those with training and professional judgment. It sounds to me more like Carnell abdicated her responsibilities as the cat's guardian - by letting it roam, but not having it tagged so it could be identified, and by not considering its medical condition before letting it outside. If she had really cared for this pet, she should have taken measure to ensure its safety. Her bad.

I sincerely hope that if Ms. Carnell is ever entrusted with another animal, she will demonstrate RESPONSIBLE pet ownership, and care for the animal by, at the VERY least, tagging or microchipping the animal. And to allow an elderly and visibly sick animal to roam as prey for larger animals is cruel and most certainly uninformed. Thank goodness for caring neighbors like the one who found the sick stray!!!

Amen to that!!! Pet owners like the one in the story give all of us the bad reputation of irresponsibility. Shame on her!

All pets need to have identication on them so this will not happen again. Secondly, the microchip must be registered and updated if your contact info changes. If you are a responsible pet owner, your pet depends on you to keep it safe.

And thank goodness that we have such wonderful resources around here. Park City IS an animal-friendly place - one of the reasons we moved here - and places like Furburbia will go out of their way to make sure that all domestic animals have the homes, attention, and care that they need. Our lives are IMMENSELY enriched by our furry companions. I do hope that Ms. Carnell appreciates the responsibility of guardianship, and that if and when she next adopts an animal companion she educates herself on her responsibilities - it takes time, it takes money, it takes patience and it takes caring - but WHAT a payoff!! The look of love and trust from your little furry friend is worth whatever it takes. Now I am going to go hug my dog, give him a biscuit, and rub his belly.

I'm sure that some of the owners' anger is guilt that there were steps she herself could have taken and SHOULD have taken that would have saved the life of her cat. If a rep from Friends of Animals Utah was at the shelter and also felt strongly that the cat was an ill stray, then there's no question about it. FOA and the Furburbia staff go to tremendous lengths to save every animal they can.

Animal Control has a responsibility to the health of the animals that it is trying to save. One sick animal will endanger the health of ALL the animals in the facility. Does the pet owner above want to pay for the vet on call or a quarantine room with the necessary staff? It would have been so much easier and more effective to tag her pet.

I wish all people who are harshly judging Ms. Carnell knew the full story. What happened to her cat was absolutely horrific. I personally know that she takes WONDERFUL care of her animals...Romeo was diagnosed with kidney failure, which is common in older cats. Ms. Carnell administered fluids to him in order to keep him feeling well, and she is going to school to learn to be a veterinary technician.

Romeo appeared thin because he is an older cat and because he had kidney disease. However, he was absolutely happy and healthy...he had a great appetite, and played like he was a kitten. The "kind" neighbor found him chasing mice in an empty lot right next door to Ms. Carnell's residence.

As soon as Ms. Carnell discovered that Romeo was missing, she IMMEDIATELY contacted the shelters. Nobody at the Summit County Animal Shelter returned her call, and they euthanized Romeo about 30 minutes after they had taken him in. By law, unless an animal is severely ill or suffering, which Romeo was not, a shelter is supposed to hold the animal for a minimum of 24 hours.

This was a tragic set of circumstances. It is absolutely ridiculous for a shelter to NOT have an isolation ward, and this was a terrible tragedy. I hope that Summit County animal shelter takes a long hard look at their euthanasia policy so that this never happens again.

it was a CAT! i mean come on!

It was indeed tragic, and could have been avoided entirely if the owner had microchipped her animal! Will they be teaching that in vet tech school??

stupid article wrote:

it was a CAT! i mean come on!

okay, clearly you have never loved a cat or a dog before. I feel sorry for you.

"caringpetowner" you can't seem to get your story straight. You said that Romeo had kidney failure, but also that he was "absolutely ... healthy"??? According to you, Romeo was not "severely ill" - even with kidney failure!!!- but a qualified veterinarian thought otherwise. How do you know where he was found and what he was doing? There is no excuse for having let an old, thin cat with kidney failure outside without any identification. This would never have happened if Ms. Carnell had been responsible enough to have had her cat tagged and microchipped. It is NOT the Summit County Animal Shelter who needs to take a look at their actions. This is entirely, absolutely, 100% Ms. Carnell's fault. And I AM a true animal lover - that is, someone who cares enough about companion animals to make sure they are properly safeguarded. I hope that whatever veterinary assistant school she is attending learns about this and either gives her the counseling that she clearly NEEDS, or bounces her from the program. I would never trust her with my animals.

PC Taxpayer wrote:

"caringpetowner" you can't seem to get your story straight. You said that Romeo had kidney failure, but also that he was "absolutely ... healthy"??? According to you, Romeo was not "severely ill" - even with kidney failure!!!- but a qualified veterinarian thought otherwise. How do you know where he was found and what he was doing? There is no excuse for having let an old, thin cat with kidney failure outside without any identification. This would never have happened if Ms. Carnell had been responsible enough to have had her cat tagged and microchipped. It is NOT the Summit County Animal Shelter who needs to take a look at their actions. This is entirely, absolutely, 100% Ms. Carnell's fault. And I AM a true animal lover - that is, someone who cares enough about companion animals to make sure they are properly safeguarded. I hope that whatever veterinary assistant school she is attending learns about this and either gives her the counseling that she clearly NEEDS, or bounces her from the program. I would never trust her with my animals.

I am Ms. Carnell's husband; and it amuses me that you post this comment without understanding the entire story. Before you pass judgment, you should think about casting the first stone.

We volunteer and have given substantial donations to animal shelters throughout the US. Wyndy is going to school because we've saved animals including dogs, cats etc over the last 15 years of our marriage and she believes in giving back. In fact, Romeo is one of three cats we've adopted from animal shelters who are non-euthanizing shelters. To add, our children don't take birthday gifts-they take donations.... to give to the animal shelter!

She is attending school because of her love from Romeo. Before you judge, recognize this woman is raising two children, is active in all aspects of the community and has been providing sub Q treatments twice a week for 16 months. I am an executive for a Medical Device company and trust me......based on your reason I would hope that you don't end up in the hospital with a tear duct problem unable to speak. Based on your rationale, the doctor should shoot you. Are you "micro chipped"? Becasue micro chipping is a recent standard of care-not a standard 14 years ago.. The issue at hand is the animal "shelter" euthanized an animal within 20 minutes of receipt. My wife had a scanned picture and phone number at 4:30 the next morning posted throughout the neighborhood. We live on 10,000 acres with 40 neighbors. The Cat did not appear from the "wild". This was not an aggressive OR sick animal.

Before you post another note; you should recognize she doesn't need the money, nor does she want attention. She wants a change to the procedure so that your cat isn't "mistakenly" murdered.. Before you insult her intelligence or her integrity, you should question the article as represented. In fact, ask this question; if the cat had been chipped and looked sick what would have happened 5 minutes before closing? The judgment wasn't based on identification; it was based on the perceived sickness by non-veterinarian trained personnel.

If you need further clarification, I would help you understand-the laws are very specific in this area. If you feel otherwise, identify yourself with your opinion. Perhaps you can help change the laws once you are more educated. My wife could be of assistance, she completed her BA 18 years ago, went back to school recently and is a 3.7 GPA currently.

Signed,

Also a PC Taxpayer

Mr. Carnell

The shelter is not to blame. If Romeo was chipped, he would have been back home that night. The shelter WOULD have made sure of that.

Dear "Also": are you serious? Blah-blah-blah- doesn't explain why the cat had NO identification or why it was outside in the first place. So your wife has a "BS"??(Like no one else in Park City does!!) Sounds like you MAJORED in "BS". And what in the world does her "current GPA" have to do with anything? What does raising two children have to do with it? If the cat was, as you claim, not sick, then why did it need sub Q treatment? You are just throwing anything including the kitchen sink at this in a ridiculous effort to convince readers that you and your wife were not at fault for your negligence in not taking better care of your cat. It is time for you to shut up, feel remorse, and resolve to be more responsible in the future. There is no need to change shelter laws, only to educate jerks like you.

Wow! PC Taxpayer what is your deal? How do you get so full of hate that you habitually comment (286 posts) on news articles in such a mean and spiteful manner? Was it a bad childhood? Does the significant other knock you around? Is your manhood too small? Whatever it is dude, get some treatment and leave everyone else alone.

Come on, folks. The fact is that the family suffered a loss, preventable perhaps, but a loss nevertheless. Yes, a tag and collar (which are not a 'recent standard of care', by the way) or an up-to-date microchip would have identified their apparently ill animal at the shelter and prevented the whole situation. Let's hope they learn from their mistakes, but in the meantime, respect their understandable grief.
Now all together...SPAY/NEUTER/TAG/CHI P

John Reilly wrote:

Wow! PC Taxpayer what is your deal? How do you get so full of hate that you habitually comment (286 posts) on news articles in such a mean and spiteful manner? Was it a bad childhood? Does the significant other knock you around? Is your manhood too small? Whatever it is dude, get some treatment and leave everyone else alone.

Yeah, right - my support of Cameron Gallagher and his "Dont Speed" signs, of the loving lesbian kissing couple, of the local bike park, etc., etc. were just FILLED with hate. And who are you, from "United States"?? Care to be more specific? I live here, I work here, I vote here, I pay taxes here, I have my family here, and I have an opinion on what goes on around here. So I will compare my number of comments with yours any day. You raise your head in defense of people who, while they are understandably grieved by the loss of their cat, tried to publicly blame the Summit County Animal Shelter - a wonderful service organization - for their own negligence, by using whatever influence they have on the Park Record to have this STUPID story printed. They made bad decisions from the beginning - letting an old, sick cat outside, not tagging the cat, not supervising the cat, getting this ridiculous and defamatory story printed, then defending themselves with comments about their GPA, "BS degree", the pressures of raising TWO children (do they know they are in Utah, where parents of 2 children are considered underachievers?), and then signing themselves "Also PC Taxpayers" when, in fact, as residents of the infamous Promontory they are NOT Park City taxpayers (just one more in their litany if misrepresentations.) THEY got this story printed, THEY accused the Summit County Animal Shelter of negligence, and now they - and apparently you, whoever you may be - are complaining because the light is being shone on the the people who are truly to blame for this. Just because they were stupid enough to buy a lot in Promontory doesn't mean they automatically get sympathy no matter what else they do.