One of our family dogs, Arrow, passed on Thursday August 7th. It was incredibly sudden; he was energetic and seemed perfectly fine just that morning. But by 10pm he was gone. We were all completely distraught, and my brother, who was Arrow’s primary owner, was working in Midland and wasn’t there at the time of his passing.
VCA Emergency Hospital was the closest place that was open at the time so this is where we took his body. I was apprehensive because of the bad reviews, but we went anyway, as there was nothing to be done for our boy at this point.
They were beyond compassionate.
We were all a mess, to say the least, and the woman up front was very calm and explained everything thoroughly, including any upcharges in any of the urns or keepsakes we chose so that we wouldn’t be surprised. She collected his paw prints for us, as well as a bit of his fur, and didn’t complain when we kept asking for more because Arrow had so many people that loved him so much. She was patient with us when we had trouble making decisions or if we needed a moment. When it was time to take him back, the whole staff, I counted about three people, all stood to the side as we all said goodbye. I can’t tell you how long we took, it was a bit of a blur, but I know it was a while. My mom had FaceTimed my brother so he could see him. The staff didn’t rush us, or even bother us during this time. That meant a lot. They were also gentle with him as they took him back.
The hospital was also able to put Arrow’s body on hold so that my brother could rush back from Midland and say goodbye to his boy properly. The same woman in the front gave us all the information, and even told us when she’d be working so that we’d see a familiar face.
When my brother arrived home, we went back to the hospital for our final goodbye. We weren’t able to make it when she was working, but the man on shift, who was also there that night we first brought Arrow, was incredibly kind and gave us all the time we needed. He didn’t bother us, and I could see the compassion on his face. Afterwards, we released the hold and they let my brother look over all the decisions we had made that night so he could be sure he agreed with the urn choice, etc. We picked up his ashes about a week later. They were packaged carefully, labeled with his name, breed, color, etc, which comforted my brother bc he had a fear he’d receive the wrong dog.
I can’t attest to how this hospital performs on a pet who is alive and sick, but I can say that they made this incredibly difficult time as smooth as they possibly could, and we are incredibly grateful. They treated and referred to Arrow as what he is, a member of our family and one of our babies.