Cat Should Have Caught Her Tongue

(We have just had to put our cat to sleep after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and having seizures as a result of being unable to breathe well. Months later, we have decided to adopt another cat who we see on an adoption site, and we take her to get a full exam and work-up to make sure she’s healthy. We’ve been going to this vet practice for years because the whole staff is amazing. Today we’re seeing the owner’s daughter, who is a recent graduate and addition to the practice. I’m waiting with my cat in the exam room when I suddenly hear her loud voice from the back room.)

Doctor: “Who’s in there? Oh, my God! You know they just had their cat put to sleep like THREE MONTHS AGO? Can you believe she already GOT A NEW ONE? It’s like, oh, wow, I loved that cat so much; can’t wait to replace it!”

Assistant: “Well, she and her husband have been coming here for years. They take such good care of their pets. That’s one lucky cat they’ve adopted. They fought heart failure for a year and a half with the cat before that last one with us. I wish everyone did as much for their pets as they do.”

Doctor: *in a flippant, mocking tone* “Apparently they mean SO MUCH to them they can’t wait to pick out a new one!”

(A minute later she comes in all smiles and friendliness, apparently completely unaware I’ve overheard.)

Doctor: “And how are WE today? And who is this you have?”

Me: “Are you sure you don’t want to do the exam in the hallway?”

Doctor: “I’m sorry?”

Me: “I mean, these walls are so thin, you could communicate everything to me just fine from back there and I’d hear every word. And yeah, you’re right, you ARE sorry.”

(I was fuming, but speaking in a low, hard voice. The doctor went white as a sheet and started stammering before saying she had to “go check on something.” Unsurprisingly, she never came back, and instead a different doctor we’d seen before came in. When I told her what happened, she was immediately horrified and apologetic, and said the owner had already had to reprimand his daughter before about her “bedside manner.” We still go every year to take my cat for checkups and shots, and surprisingly, that doctor is still there, but whenever I see her, she always turns bright red and ducks into the back room. Hopefully she’s learned to be a bit more empathetic in the future… or at least how to keep her opinions to herself.)