This cat will not live in your family

Veterinarians secretly save animals when the owners demand to euthanize them. For what?

In 2019, Bagrat Agazhanova, a lawyer and zoo defender Anna Razinova, complained to the veterinarian from Chelyabinsk Bagrata Agazhanova. In her statement, she wrote that Agazhanov violates the contract with customers of the veterinary clinic: she does not euthanize animals, as the hosts want that, but secretly heals them and finds them a new house. This is not the only one who does this - in Russia there are many veterinarians who refuse to make an animal euthanasia, even when their owners ask for this. "Cold" tells several such stories.

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They wanted to put a cat in 2016 when they could not find the owners for her - the only one out of the entire litter. “They brought a kitten in a carry, signed an agreement and fled,” recalls the veterinarian Bagrat Agazhanov. Then he was an assistant to the doctor, and he got the whole “dirty work” - including euthanasia.

Agazhanov recalls how he opened the carrier and saw there a very beautiful gray kitten, three or four months: “I am typing a syringe with anesthesia, and it starts to lick my fingers.”

He invited the doctor not to euthanize the cat. “She laughed, says:“ Well, you will not sleep this, but what will you do? ” I said I would take it home. “And others?” “I will also take it, I will attach friends,” recalls Agazhanov. “The doctor looked at me like that, they say, well, still young, outline, but agreed.”

After work, Agazhanov bought food, tray, filler, toys and took the cat to himself-now, seven years later, Sofa still lives with him. It can often be seen on an instagram of a veterinarian, to which more than 67 thousand people are signed. There, Agazhanov teaches to care for animals, answers readers' questions. He also tells how he saves animals, which the owners decided to put to sleep in order to get rid of them.

Always warm and always soft

The parents of Bagrat Agazhanov also worked as veterinarians, so he began to help animals in childhood, even when he lived in the village of Oktyabrsky Chelyabinsk Region. True, without enthusiasm. “I myself wanted to become a cook,” says Agazhanov. - But dad said: “You will bring a diploma of a veterinarian, and then we’ll talk.” After couples at the veterinary academy, Agazhanov went to work as a cook and continued to dream of his own restaurant.

The plans changed in 2013, after the students of the Academy were taken on an excursion to a new private veterinary clinic. “I am from the village, I only had an idea about the work of a rural veterinarian: cows, goats, manure, swearing milkmaids, thumping techniques,” recalls Agazhanov. - I did not want to work like that. But when I saw a private clinic, attitude towards people, equipment, cool animals, he said to himself: “I want to open my clinic.”

After his studies, Agazhanov moved to Chelyabinsk and got a job as an assistant veterinarian at the Umka clinic. At work, one could study and gain experience, but the salary, according to Agazhanov, was only eight thousand rubles a month - this was barely enough for food, but not for rented housing. Parents also did not have the opportunity to help. Then he settled in the crematorium at the clinic.

“They gave me a simple surgical set so that I learn to operate, hold a tool in my hands, sew,” recalls Agazhanov. - And so I lived there, burned the corpses. When he found out some new type of seam, he practiced it on “drugs”-the so-called corpses of animals. I like to talk about this topic like this - I always had warm and always was soft. Well, this is a joke. "

According to the veterinarian, this experience helped him “get to his feet”: “For a very short time in eight months, I became a operating veterinarian. Typically, three to four years of practice is required. ”

In the second year of Agazhanov’s work, a cat was brought to the clinic with an acute urine delay and sand in the urethra due to urolithiasis. According to him, the owners did not want to engage in animals: the treatment was difficult and was expensive, so they decided to put it. “They left, and I immediately operated on it, there was a long recovery period, droppers,” recalls Bagrat. “Then they added, he still lives.” The cat, according to Agazhanov, was named toothless-because of the resemblance to the cartoon character "How to tame a dragon."

She's just old

According to the law, the owner cannot sleep a healthy animal. The decision on euthanasia is made after diagnosis, if the pet stops eating, loses weight and interest in life, experiences pain that cannot be relieved. There is a special checklist according to which it is determined whether the time has come to euthanize the pet.

The veterinarians, with whom the “cold” spoke, claim that they always say this and refuse assignment if its criteria are not observed.

“The man came, brought the dog to euthanasia, she was 10 years old,” recalls Lidia Kulikova ( surname changed ), a veterinarian from Krasnodar. - We begin to draw up documents, but I look at the dog and understand that it is absolutely normal. I ask why they want to euthanize the animal, maybe she is sick, somehow suffers. To which the man replied that she was just old. We started to swear. The man shouted that he would go and throw the dog under the wheels of the car and I would be responsible for it. ” Lydia refused to a man, and he left, slamming the door.

According to veterinarians, most often they still bring inconspicuously sick animals to echoing. But there are other cases: for example, the animal can be cured, but there is no money for it. “The doctor makes an estimate for treatment costs, and, alas, not everyone is ready to cope with the voiced amounts. This is a common situation, ”says Alexander Gorelov ( surname changed ) from Moscow.

Also, according to Gorelova, sometimes animals that simply interfere with the owner are brought to euthanasia. For example, not -impressed, non -arranged cats and cats that die, or rodents interfering with sleep. “The most sad story is not raised a pet,” she says. “The animal is not guilty, but it is brought and demanded to put it.”

Sometimes the owners decide to euthanize animals due to the move, says Kulikov from Krasnodar. “I just came to work in a veterinary medicine, was an assistant to the veterinarian. We were brought to us to euthanize an absolutely healthy, pretty British cat, ”she recalls. “The owner, a young guy, said that he was moving to another city, he couldn’t take a cat with him, and conscience does not allow to throw it out into the street.”

Veterinarians clarify that doctors are not obliged to dissuade the owner from euthanasia and can simply refuse: the doctor helps the animal, and does not engage in the “psychological support” of a person. Nevertheless, doctors often offer discounts and try to help.

For example, if the owner is ready to abandon the pet, then an agreement on the gratuitous transfer of the animal is concluded between him and the veterinary clinic employee, after which the clinic is engaged in his execution. “We took the cat, and to this day he lives his happy fat life with the doctor of the veterinary clinic,” says Kulikova.

Photos of happy face

If the owner decided to leave the animal clinic, then it can live directly in it until they find new owners. Sick animals are kept separately in infectious hospitals. “[Animals] are kept in a hospital or directly in the Officer, rest with the staff,” says Alexander Gorelov from the Moscow veterinary clinic. “Cats are supported in a difficult shift - they sit on their knees, purr and warm.” If there are many visitors in the clinic, then the pets are temporarily sent to the aviary so that they do not run out into the street.

Clinic employees take many animals to themselves. “Cleaners, doctors, assistants - they have all the houses of all the pets that the former owners abandoned,” Gorelova confirms. - When I first came to work in a veterinary clinic as an assistant, I personally took the beautiful cat Busu home. She was 13 years old, she was brought to euthanasia. We did not know the reasons for the refusal. Of course, a week later we realized what was the matter. Busya went to the toilet both to the tray and to the closet, under the table, at the front door - wherever she wanted. We could not wean it, nevertheless she was 13 years old, but we learned to minimize the minuses of life with her and do not regret anything. ” Busya lived for another six years and died her death.

“My parents have a Amur dog,” says Agazhanov. -He was brought to euthanasia with a puppy: due to the adopted viral infection, he periodically had seizures of epilepsy. Since my specialization is neurology, I prescribed the necessary therapy, and now he lives with my parents. Convulsions [happen] once every six months, and before they were every day. ”

If the animals are attached to the new owners, employees of veterinary clinics often help: they advise dog handlers, give recommendations on the content, talk about the importance of sterilization and vaccination. New owners often visit the clinic from which pets took, so doctors can gently track their future fate.

“This is a fairly emotional moment, there is a binding here, you still feel responsible for helping to help,” explains Vetrich Lina Sergeeva ( surname changed ) from St. Petersburg. - I attached only two, but still I keep in touch with the new owners, I help them and I am very happy when they send me photos of these happy face. It warms the soul. " According to Lina, this contains "the moment of relief and the feeling of the fulfillment of the duty."

In most cases, the hosts agree to transfer animals to the clinic, but there are “principled owners”. “It is not clear why the owner insists on euthanasia when it is not needed,” Gorelova wonders. - We do not analyze the animals to donation, do not throw out into the street, do not put experiments. Refusing a pet in favor of the clinic is a free procedure, the owner does not lose anything, and the pet receives a chance for a full, happy life. ”

Alexandra believes that at this moment some owners experience something like jealousy: "With such no talk, everything is useless." Then, in order to save the animal, doctors may violate the contract.

The animal falls asleep

“The euthanus is carried out in two stages: first anesthesia, and then the drug that stops the heart is intravenous,” explains Vetrich Lina Sergeeva from St. Petersburg. “During the introduction to anesthesia, the animal may stop breathing activity for a while and may seem that the animal has already died.”

“That you can not euthanize, but immerse in anesthesia, one of my colleagues said,” recalls Agazhanov. “What time are you so well done, if there are anesthesia with owners, so that there are not even questions.”

“There was a story when an adult serious uncle led with a cat's son to euthanasia,” continues Agazhanov. - The son looked 12 years old, he begged his father not to euthanize the cat, who tore off the curtains and the sofa. The cat was one and a half to two years, castrated and healthy. The father was some kind of insane, signed the contract and went out when he saw that the cat was already under anesthesia. Then I quietly said to his son: “I will not euthanize the cat, but he will no longer live in your family.”

The boy later asked about the well -being of the cat more than once, and Agazhanov sent him photos. “He wrote to me that one day he will become a veterinarian and will not have to euthanize animals either,” says Agazhanov.

In total, Bagrat Agazhanov, according to him, saved more than 20 animals from euthanasia, but attached more than 100. - For one simple reason - I had a situation when, in a conversation, the owner agreed not to euthanize the pet and left. On the same day, he came to ease at another clinic where my friends worked. I concluded that he is already in a state of stress, because he understands that he is committing an offense and, in principle, does not do well, therefore, if he came to me so that I will sleep the pet, I will not dissuade him. We introduce anesthesia, the animal falls asleep, we say, “all”. Many owners sign the abandonment of the body of the animal and do not want to attend euthanasia. ”

At first, Agazhanov distributed animals to his friends, but when there were a lot of saved, he decided to talk about them on his Instagram and quickly gained subscribers. Soon they wrote about him in regional media .

Why can others, but you don't want?

In 2019, one of the subscribers sent Agazhanov a link to the post, which said that they wrote a statement to the prosecutor's office. At first, Bagrat did not attach any importance to this, but his mother soon called him. “I say that it’s not in the know what is about, I will finalize the shift and I will figure out what is going on there,” he recalls. “As a result, my mother spread so much that she was called an ambulance.”

The applicant was the St. Petersburg zoo defender and a lawyer for legal issues of pets Anna Razinova. She asked to verify the legality of the veterinarian actions and conduct an audit on the fact of illegal assignment of animals, as well as poor quality provision of services.

A day later, Agazhanov began to call journalists. In social networks, the hashtag #Bagrathymystoba was launched, the director of the large Moscow circus, Edgard Zapashny and deputy Vladimir Burmatov, who at that time headed the State Duma Committee, spoke with the support of the veterinarian. Burmatov even called Agazhanov:

“We just talked about why I am doing this,” the veterinarian recalls the conversation. - I say, how do I put a dog, a cat, a kitten. I can't. And he asks: “Why do others can, but you don’t want?”

Five days later, Razinova took the application. “In principle, I achieved this. The topic reached the authorities, agreed with me that in Bagrat’s actions there are violations that any actions should not even violate the law with the most good intentions, ” wrote Razinova in social networks. The zoo defender did not answer the questions of the "cold".

In an interview, Agazhanov spoke about his dream - a veterinary clinic, after which the investor contacted him. Together they have already opened two private clinics - in Moscow and Chelyabinsk.

Donor named Amur

In his clinic, Agazhanov did not work long. “We did not agree on management,” Agazhanov explains.

At that time, he fell into depression. “It burned so that with the word“ veterinary medicine ”, I fell into hysteria, began to cry and did not behave very adequately,” he recalls the beginning of 2021.

The return to veterinary medicine was random. “I lived in the village, with my parents. Roughly speaking, I throw manure, and then my mother, also a veterinarian, brought a dog with pyroplasmosis - the tick bit, ”recalls Agazhanov. “And if the tick was bitten in the village, then this, roughly speaking, is all on the rainbow to the dog.”

At the request of his mother, he gave the dog first aid and diagnosed: erythropenia, a reduced amount of blood red blood cells. “She was lying and could not get up,” the veterinarian continues, “I told the owner that the dog urgently needs transfusion, otherwise she would die. The owner said that he did not have the opportunity to take the dog to the city and there was no money, he wanted to put it to sleep. I suggested that the blood transfusion myself. He looked at me with surprised eyes-in the village, people are not poured for people, but I gathered the dog. ”

Agazhanov reassured the owner, wrote him a list of purchases in a pharmacy and prepared a donor-the Amur once saved by him. After the transfusion, the neighbor’s dog got up, began to eat and drink, wag its tail. “And honestly, I received such an emotional charge, and the owner was very grateful, told everyone what a cool specialist I was, that it motivated me,” recalls Agazhanov. “I slowly began to consult, receptions.”

In October 2022, the veterinarian arrived in Moscow. He took with him a "small pink suitcase of his wife, a saucepan and a set of visiting veterinary service." Now Bagrat is trained with a neurologist and plans to work in a large veterinary clinic.

Despite the fact that many of Agazhanov’s colleagues left the country because of the war, he himself wants to stay in Moscow. “Not because I love everything that is happening in the country, but rather because so many good brains have left,” he explains, “maybe it will sound somehow pathetic, but how will I leave animals in this situation?”