An owner who brings his sick pet to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society to have it put down can expect to sign both a euthanasia request and a surrender form.

The shelter's staff will conduct a medical and behavioral evaluation, which can take several days. Based on the findings, the shelter's veterinarian will determine the animal's fate.

"We tell them [the owners] that it is our call, and our call alone," said Mary Martin, the shelter's director.

"If we can treat [the animals] and get them back to their owners, we will," Martin added. But there is no guarantee. And that, Martin said, is made clear at the outset.

This issue arose recently in an Albuquerque case involving a woman who said she signed a form at a veterinarian's office (and paid a fee) allowing her 1-year-old Chihuahua to be euthanized after it was injured in an attack by another dog. An employee of the clinic apparently turned the dog over to a rescue group, and it was adopted by another family. The details of the case are still unclear, although the woman has indicated that she had no idea her dog, Lola, might be given away.

If that is correct, it was "unethical" for the clinic to accept money for putting the dog to sleep and not performing the service, Martin said.

A spokeswoman for the New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine said Wednesday that no complaint has been filed in the case, even though she was expecting one.

Violations of the Veterinary Practice Act are referred to an investigator, who then makes a recommendation to the full board on whether the veterinarian should be disciplined. Executive Director Frances Sowers said the board receives about 15 complaints a year, but only about 1 in 4 is determined to be a violation.

The issue of euthanasia is sometimes difficult for veterinarians, who pledge to do no harm.

Murt Byrne of the Eldorado Animal Clinic, who is the head of the New Mexico Veterinary Medical Association, said he rarely questions a request to euthanize a pet. "I always feel the owner knows best," he said, and "99 percent of the time, it's a dog who's ready."

That said, if the animal has a behavioral problem and seems otherwise healthy, and young enough, Byrne often will offer to help the owner find a new home for it.

Like many veterinarians, he has clients who are faced with the decision to put their animals down because they can't afford the cost of care. If a dog can be sufficiently rehabilitated to live a healthy life, vets say they often will do the work for free. Some also have funds from animal-loving clients that they can tap.

Byrne said he had one such case involving an intact male dog hit by a car and suffering from a leg fracture. He operated on the animal a half-dozen times, neutered it and returned the pet to the family, even though the owner did not immediately pay for the treatment.

"In this particular case," Byrne said, "there were kids involved, and they were crazy about the dog."

But saying you're going to do one thing and doing another is "not right," Byrne said. "If somebody brings an animal in for a specific procedure, you perform that as agreed or make [other] arrangements with the owner."

Bob Gruda, another local veterinarian at Gruda Veterinary Hospital, said he feared the Lola case would result in the unnecessary death of animals because vets will be afraid to save otherwise healthy animals their owners have turned over for euthanasia.

In his clinic, he says, there is no gray area. Owners know they are surrendering their pet, which could end up in some other home, as long as it can be successfully rehabilitated.

Caring for animals whose owners can't pay the vet's bills is a big issue for people in his profession.

"In Santa Fe, it's tough. A lot of clients don't have enough money for care. What do you do with a person in the clinic whose dog is sick with parvo or cancer and he says, 'I don't have the money to fix this dog.' What's the vet supposed to do? Are we going to lower our fee, take a chance [the owner will pay eventually]? It's brutal what we have to do to make a living."

Gruda added that, "Vets all over are doing free work because they don't like putting things to sleep." On the other hand, "If I just did free work and gave the dog back, that's all I'd be doing."

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.