A couple people have learned the hard way that mixing dogs and their jobs isn’t necessarily a good idea.
1) A Peterborough (Ontario) Regional Health Centre employee has been disciplined for performing an ultrasound on a pregnant dog in the hospital’s emergency department. This raised various concerns, including:
- medical equipment being used while people were waiting in the ER (no one had any tests delayed because of this)
- inappropriate use of hospital equipment
- infection control concerns
No one mentioned the whole aspect of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. This is a pretty minor issue here with a non-invasive technique done by (presumably) the pet’s owner and with no money changing hands. It’s not like a human medical ultrasound technician performing and interpreting ultrasounds on pets and charging for the service, which would be illegal in the province of Ontario.
If you want an ultrasound done on your dog, go to a veterinarian. If you want to take a dog to a hospital, do so as part of an organized hospital visitation program.
2) I’ve heard a lot of stories about strange things done with pets, but this morning’s Toronto Star had a new one for me. It was an article about a dog that received communion last week at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Toronto. It was apparently a spontaneous act meant to make a new member feel welcome, but giving communion to a dog isn’t exactly following church rules, and at least one churchgoer was offended by what he considered an affront to this sacred ritual. (I also doubt the reverend washed her hands after feeding the dog the communion wafer.)
A complaint was filed by a man who has since left the church. However, the bishop of York-Scarborough took a rather balanced approach. “Unless there is any further evidence that she is giving communion to animals, the matter is closed… we are after all, in the forgiveness and repair business,” he said.