LETTER:After-hours vet

If your pet gets sick after hours in this area, you are probably going to be out of luck for treatment.

My 12-year old Shih Tzu appeared to be non-responsive earlier this year.

She laid still and would not move or even acknowledge my attempts to get a reaction from her.

I called my vet around 8 p.m. or so and got a recorded referral to out-of-area vets.

I spent over two hours on the phone calling veterinary after-hours treatment facilities.

Many were closed for the night, but I was able to find a few that were open.

These varied in location from as far away as Seattle to the east, to Bremerton and other points to the south.

Of these contacts, no one was able to provide any services to my animal, although several took historical health information of my dog before advising that they were unable to help.

Fortunately, by morning she had snapped out of it and appeared OK, although I did keep a close watch on her for the day.

This area needs to develop an on-call system so that if someone has an animal in distress, some kind of assessment and treatment can be provided.

If you do find a facility available, you are looking at up to a two-hour trip with a distressed animal.

Not a trip I look forward to.

Gary R. Swenson

Port Angeles