I remember the first time that falling off a pedestal really hurt.  My then 12-year-old daughter’s girlfriend had choked on a pen cap.  I was telling my beautiful girl that her beautiful friend was about to be pulled off life-support, and I explained what that meant.  We had been to the hospital for a visit, so she had a concept of what was going on.  Her immediate reaction to me was “Call the doctors, Mom!  Tell them what to do! You’re smart!  You can tell them how to save her!”  Ouch.  Falling off that pedestal really hurt.

The one I fell off yesterday wasn’t much more fun.  My now 23-year-old daughter’s best friend’s dad called me (can you follow all that?)  Firefighter Mike told me that tragically, his daughter’s kitten died during a routine neutering.  He was looking for answers to help ease the family’s pain.  What did I know about the vet?  Is there an attorney that takes animal cases?  Big, strong Mike was looking to me, as a figure of knowledge and authority, to make things better.  I wish I could have.  This vet has a fantastic track record with us.  And while it is extremely rare, some cats have conditions that create complications in an otherwise routine surgery.  I do not have the capability of researching whether proper protocol was used, but I could give him some comfort in knowing he didn’t choose a “bad” vet.  He couldn’t have seen this coming.

My heart is with that kitten’s family today.  And at the same time, I am fully aware that there are bad companies out there doing bad things to people and we KNOW about them.  It is so important to look at a company’s track record on bbb.org before you do business with them.  And if you have a bad experience, file a complaint with the BBB so we have a record of it to share with other consumers.  Some pain is avoidable, some isn’t.  I heartily encourage you to use the BBB to avoid the avoidable.  And when it isn’t, when you fall off your pedestal, you can know you have some company down here.