As more people opt to keep family pets, particularly cats and dogs, the number of practicing veterinary surgeons in the country has correspondingly increased with some vets displaying an honest affection for their patients and others, it seems, not caring for anything except profit.

With this scenario in mind, pet lovers can, quite unknowingly, subject their pets to unnecessary courses of medication and even, this has been known, uncalled for, expensive operations all in the name of money. The problem is though, how to tell the difference between a genuine Dr Doolittle and his/her money grubbing counterpart.

“My cat needed to be spayed,” said a lady in Karachi. “It was wrong for her to keep on having litters when it was next to impossible to find suitable homes for her kittens. Not having had any previous experience in this field I asked around for the address of a good vet and was given a couple of options. I finally settled on a lady vet in a good area of the city as she also had boarding facilities in which my precious cat could be nursed for a few days after her operation.”

On arrival at the vet’s clinic, the lady immediately noticed a questionable standard of hygiene but decided to proceed anyway and leave her cat there for treatment.

“When I went back the next day to see how she was getting along I was horrified to find that, even though she had been given food, the young boys attending the boarding section had completely failed to give her, or any other of the animals there, any drinking water. The weather was terribly hot and humid and all the animals were suffering. I made them provide my cat with water and asked why they hadn’t given water to all of the pets, only to be told that if they gave water the animals made a mess by spilling it which made more work. I was horrified by this. I visited my cat daily over the next few days until I could bring her home and, because the boys knew I was coming, she had water but the other poor animals didn’t.

“The day I went to bring my cat home, after her stitches had been removed, I was stunned to find her missing from the premises. It seems these young boys had not fastened her cage properly and she had run away out of the open door. I spent the next hour wandering around the area calling for her, picturing all manner of horrible things in my mind; she could have been run over for instance, or possibly attacked my other cats or dogs and not be able to fight back in her weakened condition. The vet herself seemed quite unconcerned about losing my cat, just saying that she would phone if they found it. I was heartbroken as my cat is like a child to me and I love her so much.”

A dog owner in Islamabad underwent a similar experience as did yet another in Lahore whose pedigreed German Shepherd was spirited away from a veterinary clinic never to be seen again and, in none of these cases, did the vet in charge show any sign of remorse let alone understanding.

There are, of course, vets who adore their charges too: who talk to them, are not afraid of touching them, playing with them and showering them with the care and affection they deserve… real Dr Doolittle’s in fact and, even if their premises are a little wide of the mark, these are the type of vet’s people instinctively know they can trust with their pets well being.

So, if you keep a pet, any kind of pet, don’t just take someone’s words for it that a particular vet is ‘good’, see them in action for yourself and only then take a decision as to whether they are suitable human beings to tend to your pet’s requirements. After all is said and done, taking on a pet is taking responsibility for another one of God’s creatures and only the very best will do.