A man brought a rabbit into the clinic today.  He said he found it a week ago
in a gutter, unable to move.  He's been keeping it in his garage and giving
it food but it's unable to to use its hind legs at all.  It's covered in its
own feces and its skin is scalded by its urine.  He wants us to fix it.  He
wants to keep it as a pet.  I start cursing him in my head.  What does he
think he's doing?  What kind of life would that be for the rabbit?  It's a
wild animal.  "He's just so tame and good natured," the guy says.  That's
because he terrified and in pain.  He's not good natured, he's petrified. 

I take the rabbit downstairs for an x-ray.  We share radiology with the dog
and cat emergency clinic.  In the treatment area a tech is putting a beagle
into a body bag.  It's a skeleton.  "What happened?"  I ask.  "He wasn't fed
for a month."  He's a purebred dog.  Someone just decided to let him die a
slow and painful death because they couldn't be bothered to feed him.

I x-ray the rabbit and sure enough, his back is broken.  His spine has a 1cm
shift in it about halfway down.  There's no way he's ever going to recover.
The doctor talks to the man who brought him in.  They decide the humane thing
to do is to euthanize him.  The man wants to be there when it happens.  He
stands over the tiny rabbit, sobbing quietly and whispering to the rabbit. "I'll
see you in heaven," he says.  "I feel so stupid.  I only had him a week."  He
just wanted to do the right thing.

I feel guilty for doubting him in the beginning and seeing the dead dog shocked
me into realizing how judgemental I am.  In our quest to feel good about 
ourselves we sometimes forget we have to do what is best for those we are trying
to help.