Kittenasia.

Another life-event in Ingwavuma this evening. The running club (now just me and Deyo) was cut short when we came across a tiny grey kitten on the road outside the hospital. It was obviously in a lot of distress and limping. A closer examination revealed a worm-infested wound on it's right back leg. Much to the amusement of the watching Zulus we scooped it up in my t-shirt and brought it back to the hospital.
We realised that without any vets around the wound meant a prolonged and painful death. Even with vets, it would probably have been at least an amputation and then a disabled kitten dependent upon people who leave in 6 months time. After some discussion we felt that the kindest thing would be to put it out of it's misery and so we gave it a lethal dose of im ketamine. Obviously putting animals down is something that even animal-loving Brits are aware of the need for, I've just never personally done it.
I also couldn't help but draw some parallels to some of our work here where we give patients life-prolonging treatment that makes them dependent upon the health care system which may also not be around forever (money and staff deplete as it is).