Anna - Bailey's Story. 17th September 2009. Treatment Received at a Veterinary Clinic, Worcester.

On Thursday 17th September 2009, I took my 10 month old Labrador Bailey to our local vet in Worcester.  I told him of my concerns with Bailey. I mentioned that his belly was swollen. and that for a while his urine was quite orange and his bowel movements hadn't been right, and he was also shaking his head as if he was saying 'yes', these head shakes were lasting for about 15 to 20 minutes.

The vet looked inside his ear and told me that Bailey was shaking his head because he had an ear infection.  He also said that he was suffering from conjunctivitus.  He prescribed Prednisolone, Noroclav, Surolan and Maxitrol eye drops.  He told me that I should bring Bailey back in a weeks time for a check up.  He said Bailey's stomach was 'normal' but he did not mention the problem regarding his urine or bowel movements. Unfortunately, Bailey wasn't shaking his head at this time.

I took Bailey home and within half an hour I was traveling back to the vet.  The head-shaking started again, I had given him the tablets, he was normal except for the head twitch.  I knew that he would not shake his head once at the vets so I managed to record it on video via my mobile phone.  When I showed the vet the footage he said, 'this is a good video, this is an epileptic fit'.  I burst into tears, I asked him questions such as, 'will my dog swallow his tongue and die?'  His response was 'oh for Christ's sake, of course he won't!'  The vet gave me 7 days worth of phenobarbitone. he told me to book an appointment for a weeks time, he would check his ears and also take a blood sample to check for epilepsy.  I did as instructed and started Bailey on the course of tablets immediately.

On Saturday I took Bailey for a 2nd opinion with another vet. I explained the symptoms to this vet and he said that he would take a blood sample, but all of the symptoms indicated that Bailey was suffering from a 'Liver shunt'.  I showed this vet the tablets that Bailey had been prescribed previously for 'epilepsy', conjunctivitus and the ear infection.

His blood sample came result came back an hour later and proved his suspicions, Bailey was suffering from a liver Shunt and not epilepsy as suggested by the initial vet.  He did have a minor ear infection.

The vet then told me that Bailey should cease the medication that he was on immediately.  It should never have been prescribed due to the fact that the anti-fit drugs were making his condition worse because his liver was unable to cope with then medication.  Unfortunately there was nothing that we could do about the drugs that were already in his system.

The Liver shunt would be easy to control through diet, but we would need to wait for the medication to leave his system first.  I was told to take him home, keep him comfortable.  An appointment was made for the Monday.

Bailey's condition progressively worsened, and later that evening he lost his eyesight.  I rang the vet on Sunday morning and was told to bring him in immediately. After the consult I was told that Bailey's body was unable to cope with his liver problem due to the tablets in his system.  He said that I had two choices, which were to either put him to sleep or, try to flush his system via the aid of a drip.  I choose the latter.  

I kept in touch with the vet through the day for updates on his condition.  At 18:30 pm I was told that there had been no improvement and that I should prepare myself for the worse.

On monday morning I was advised that Bailey had not recovered and was now in a coma.  He told me that his liver had failed and it would only be a matter of time before his other organs failed too.  Bailey died in my arms.

I asked this vet a straight question that day, 'would my dog be alive now if the first vet had done tests and not put him on the medication?'  His answer was 'yes'.

I arranged a meeting with the first vet to establish why he did not test Bailey for the drug that ultimately killed him. I received no response. I reminded him that he wanted me to to attend in a week's time to undergo a blood test, which he denied. I then asked him to pull up the notes on his PC where it clearly stated that a follow up blood test was required. I then advised him that he hadn't mentioned anything about Bailey's other symptoms which included his welling stomach and passing motions. Again, he failed to reply.

I lodged a complaint with the RCVS and obtained a copy of Bailey's notes. This version made no mention of the diagnosis of epilepsy or the prescription for anti-fitting medication. I sent this to the RCVS so that they could compare them to the complete version which demonstrated that this key information had been removed.

I received the response of the first vet via the RCVS and was heartbroken and his apparent failure to provide a full and truthful account at what had occurred. I pointed out to the RCVS that I had spoken with the manufacturer of the medication who had confirmed that it should not be prescribed without first undertaking blood and liver function tests as it as it can cause liver failure if liver damage is already present. I also advised them that the medication was prescribed to Bailey without a label on the packaging.

I was informed that the first vet had sent a copy of the 'missing' label to the RCVS although this wasn't a true copy as it bore an incorrect date. He also provided incorrect dates of the visits to the surgery to the RCVS.

The RCVS subsequently informed that they would not be pursuing my case, although that had given advice to the vet regarding labelling of medication and completion of medical notes. I took this matter up with the RCVS complaints case manager and was advised that there is nothing more they could do.

I have lodged my letter of appeal which should be reviewed by the Chairman of the RCVS but has actually been passed back to the original case manager for review. I continue to wait for a response but based on what others have told me, I am not hopeful. 

 

 

 

 

This is the experience one owner had with their 10 year old Great Dane.

Treatment received at an out-of-hours emergency practice in Witham, Essex.

(Names and address supplied) 

About 4 years ago our 10-year-old Great Dane bitch fitted in the middle of the night. Upon phoning our vets we were told that, without informing us, they had outsourced their out of hours service to a franchise in another town. 

The out of hours franchise refused to come out, to put our bitch to sleep. Their final words to us when they could hear the bitch moaning and screaming in the background were "well call the RSPCA". 

We were forced to travel 40 minutes with a fitting 12 stone bitch, in great suffering, to the back streets of a town we did not know. 

I am a paraplegic and use a wheelchair and my wife has a very bad back. This incident happened at 3am. We live in a country lane and my wife had to walk to our nearest neighbour and together her and the 60 year old neighbour had to drag our fitting bitch 40 yards across a courtyard and lift her into the back of our van. 

Our vet told us that we `may` contravene The Animal Welfare Act because we were not in a position to get our animals to the vet in an emergency. As you can imagine, that really got our backs up. It is not only us, but there must be countless people who don`t have transport available 24/7, little old ladies whose pet might be sick and cannot get to the vet, especially at night and many other cases. 

Where is the responsibility of the vet to meet their customers requirements, animal and human? 

Our treatment when we eventually got to the practice was in our opinion awful. The vet was frightened of our Dane and took several minutes to find the vein to administer the lethal injection, so much so that my wife offered to do it herself, all this time our bitch was in agony. 

As you say, it is a long hard process complaining about these people and we only had limited success but I think that if enough people complain then they will have to do something. 

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Colin Hulls' experience. 

Treatment Received at an out-of-hours practice in Witham, Essex. 

We're deeply upset about the unnecessary loss of our Hattie, and want you to know about the catalogue of disasters that lead to our beautiful young Cavalier losing her life... 

We feel so bitter at the moment, and this is making her passing even more painful for us. We've written this all down in detail, because I'd like you all to be aware that this could happen to your beloved pet if they become sick 'after hours'

Hattie, (who was usually a good eater)  refused her dinner on Saturday evening, she was a bit quiet, but other than that not noticeably unwell. On Sunday morning after refusing breakfast I examined her very thoroughly,  and it was obvious to me that she had an open Pyometra. As Hattie belongs to Colin and is very much 'his girl',  he took her to the morning surgery at the Vet practice he uses for his Cavaliers.

Our fears of a Pyo were confirmed, but as they only have a morning surgery, Hattie was referred to an out-of-hours practice to see her through her surgery and after care.

Hubby Colin drove our little one on the hour long journey to the referral emergency clinic. 

The necessary 'emergency' surgery was EVENTUALLY carried out at this 'out-of-hours' practice all of 12 hours later. 

The surgery was delayed as they needed to 'rehydrate and stabilise' before they could operate. Even I know that with an acute pyometra you have very little time to save them, and by the evening as her condition deteriorated, I was begging them to remove her uterus, but they kept doing more and more tests as she got weaker and weaker, while saying 'she would have a better chance of sucessful surgery in the morning'. 

Eventually at 11 .45 pm Sunday night they did the surgery I believe that it should have been performed many hours earlier,  but by then it  was too late, and she never recovered. She died from acute septicemia 24 hours later

What I didn't know at the time was that they only have the building and facilities for weekends and overnight on week days from 8pm until 8am in the morning. The rest of the time it's a totally different Vet practice with a completely different name and staff ... none of the business is connected, they just use the same building and facilities.

This out of hours practice informed us that they prefer to clear their patients out of the building by 7.30am. As I waited at 7am on Monday morning for them to discharge Hattie, they bought out the poor dead animals to their distressed owners, not a pleasant thing to witness at anytime...my heart bled for their loss. 

They eventually brought Colin's  poorly little Cavalier out to me, I settled their bill in full. 

Hattie was still in a very unstable condition. They rigged up her IV drip-line inside my car, but I immediately pointed out that the drip wasn't running,  and that the cannula must be blocked. They said vet that Hattie would be OK for the hour long drive. She was on the passenger seat beside me, and her breathing was very laboured. I honestly thought she was going to die on the journey back to Colin's Vet practice in Raleigh. The roads were at a standstill because of commuter traffic, and Hattie was slowly slipping away.

Despite Colin's Vets wonderful efforts and dedication once receiving Hattie back into their care, She died of septic distress brought on by the delayed Pyo surgery and suspected Peritonitis. We are distraught at her unnecessary death... 

We need justice in her memory to help us come to terms with the loss of our lovely girl. We keep looking at her 12.3/4 year old mother who is still as fit and agile as any five year old, and her father, an  'Int. Champion' bred by us who is still Cardiology clear at 9.

At the out of hours vet they wouldn't even accept Hattie as a patient until Colin paid £350 'deposit'  Then they wouldn't release her into my care until I paid in full the fee for her overnight spay surgery. The final bill was £1,783. 18p.... and although we are OAP's with Colin in his 70's,  the bill was paid in full.

 

Hattie

 

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 Jo's Story

Treatment received in a veterinary practice, Benfleet, Essex

Bodie 

Bodie's story is not overly dramatic but it was still mis-diagnosis by a vet that cost my beautiful boy his life and meant that he died in agony in the back of my van on the side of the road. 

I had been out for the evening but when I came home Bodie's stomach was hugely swollen, with the tell tale 'drum-like' sound, he was pacing around, trying unsuccessfully to be sick, his gums were pale and he was obviously uncomfortable.  I had to rely on a friend to take me to the emergency vet and as I had only recently moved to the area they suggested we take him to the local vet.  So we carefully lifted Bodie in to the car and off we went.

The vet was so young and when I told him that I thought Bodie had bloat he asked me what I meant.  This immediately set alarm bells ringing for me and I explained that I felt he had GDV and that I felt that Bodie had all the symptoms, the vet then asked me if Bodie was usually that fat!  I tried to stay calm and explained that no, he most definitely did not usually look like that and that if he tapped his abdomen he could hear that it was gas not flab.  He listened to Bodie's heart, took his temperature and checked his gums and then gave him an injection and told me that it should make him more comfortable.  I was unhappy with this but at the end of the day they are the vet, I had told him what I though was wrong with Bodie and he was making me feel like a panicky pet owner.  My friend also reassured me that the vet would know best and that if he didn't feel Bodie should be kept in then he was probably right.

Whilst the vet was typing up the notes on the computer he asked me again what I thought was wrong with Bodie, he obviously hadn't heard of a Weimaraner because I had to spell it for him 3 times.  At this time I had lived with Weimaraners for over 12 years and seen bloat before.  I knew what bloat was, what it looked like, I had had a dog bloat before, my own vet had always kept her in overnight but I thought maybe this young vet knew something more, maybe treatments had changed.  So I reluctantly took Bodie home.

Bodie lay on his bed and I watched him for ages but to my sorrow I fell asleep, Bodie never made a single noise, never moved from his bed, when I woke up I knew immediately that I was losing him.  He was cold to the touch, barely responsive and he wouldn't get up.  He just looked at me with pain filled eyes.  I called the vet and tried to get to a closer surgery, the traffic reports had already said that the island was gridlocked because of an accident, he told me that I had to try and get to the surgery I had visited the previous night as there was no one at the other surgery for another hour.

I managed to get Bodie into my van but I couldn't get to the vet, the traffic was horrendous.  Bodie died in agony in the back of my van on the side of the road, I was with him, holding him and watched him go.  I cannot forgive myself for not going with my instincts as I knew the vet was wrong, I cannot forgive myself for falling asleep and I cannot forgive myself for letting my dog die in such pain.

This young vet had made no diagnosis of Bodie, I had.  The vet had given him only a pain killing injection and I do not feel he even knew what bloat or GDV was.  I should have complained but I was so caught up in my own grief and self-reproach that I never followed it up.  I only hope that this vet never made the same mistake and that no one else had to watch their dog die as I did.  The sound of Bodies cries will haunt me forever.

 

 

Bodie

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Michelle's story

Treatment received in an out-of-ours practice.

December 15th 2007

Arwen, my three year old Dogue de Bordeaux, had a scuffle with one of my male dogs. She ripped her ear and needed to have stitches. It was late Saturday afternoon so I had to go to the local emergency out-of-hours practice.

The vet admitted Arwen and told me that he would monitor her for a few hours before he commenced with the procedure to repair her ear. She went with him happily enough and I told her I would see her later and gave her a kiss on the head.

In the early hours of the 16th I received a phone call from the vet telling me he had to remove some of the ear, she might not win any dog shows but she was fine.  He was yet to bring her round from the anesthetic.

I received another phone call ten minutes later; he was calling to advise me that Arwen didn't recover from the anesthetic.  I was in shock, my dog went into their practice to have her injured ear repaired, and the next minute I'm being told that she's gone. It was at this point he asked me if I wanted to have her body cremated, on the spur of the moment I said yes, as I said, I was in shock.

After the initial shock had subsided I telephoned the practice, and asked the vet 'how much anesthetic was used? I was genuinely confused, Arwen had been under a general anesthetic before, and there had never been any issue.  His response was "oh the normal amount you would give a dog that size".  

A few days later I got the invoice for the operation. £996.00 payable immediately. The invoice showed that he had charged me less than the cost of the actual quantity of anesthetic used. When I asked why?  He told me "as a good will-gesture I have not charged you for the full amount". I believe he was covering up the real amount he had used, and as her body immediately cremated I could never prove my suspicions.

 

Arwen

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Robert's story. Boyce a 4-year-old St Bernard

Treatment received in a veterinary hospital, Southend, Essex.

Tuesday 12^th August 2008

Boyce was admitted into a Southend Veterinary Hospital on the 12^th August at 08:30am for an x-ray on his right front leg, he had ongoing problems with his foot so the vet advised me that it would be preferable for an x-ray to be performed, as an x-ray would assist them with a diagnosis. 

To enable them to x-ray he would need to be sedated, so in accordance with normal veterinary protocol he had nothing to eat or drink prior to his appointment.

Like many dogs, Boyce was not keen on the vet, he had never bitten any one nor had he ever shown any real aggression, but he did growl if a sensitive area, such as his sore foot was touched, due to this fact Boyce was admitted into their care wearing a basket muzzle.

I was told that the vet would see Boyce first thing and he would be ready for collection later that morning - I was told 'no later than midday'.

I called the veterinary practice at 11:40am to see how he was and to arrange his collection.   They told me that he was not ready to be picked up yet, but she assured me that he was okay, and I would be contacted shortly.  What I didn't realise was that Boyce hadn't even been seen yet, if I had of known I would have picked him up and re-booked for another day.

At 14:15 I received a phone call from the veterinary practice.  At 13:30 pm Boyce had suffered a heart attack and died. 

From statements I later received it stowed that Boyce was uncomfortable during his hospitalisation, At 11:30 a staff member starting her shift asked a colleague what was wrong with him they said ' he had been like that for a while now'.

It was the height of summer; he was a large dog with a heavy coat.  He had been in a kennel for 5 hours with a muzzle on, he was offered no water, and at no point did they remove his muzzle, therefore restricting his ability to cool down naturally through panting.

I went in to see Boyce immediately after the phone call informing me he had died, I was in shock and I was distraught.  It was at this point that the Veterinary Surgeon in charge of Boyce's care that day asked me what I wanted to do with his body.  I agreed to have his body cremated.  I assumed due to the fact he died suddenly with no real reason behind it, a postmortem would be carried out.  When my partner called the following day to ask about the results of the post-mortem we were surprised to learn that his body had already been cremated.

When we questioned their care of Boyce that day they informed us that we need to put all requests in writing.

I proceeded with my complaint internally and via the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.  I was told that they could find no evidence of any wrongdoing.  The only criticism the RCVS had was that in hindsight, they should have offered us a postmortem.

I believe that they had a duty-of-care to me as the owner - I should have been notified of Boyce's increasingly stressed condition and I should have been given the choice to either proceed with his hospitalisation or pick him up and re-book for another day.

I later received a letter from their HR manger querying 'why had I moved my mother's dog to another practice?'

Need I say any more?

 

Boyce

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Sian's story - Billy - Great Dane

Treatment received at an out of hours emergency veterinary practice in South wales.

We recently transferred to a veterinary practice closer to home. This was based on the fact that in an emergency we would be able to reach them sooner.  Since our previous veterinary practice conducted their own out of hour clinic we assumed all veterinary practices did the same. This is not the case, some use external companies to provide this care.  Unfortunately when an emergency situation arose we found that we had to travel further to get to the clinic than our previous veterinary practice.

Billy, our Great Dane was fed at 16:00 pm and by 20:00 pm we recognised the symptoms of bloat. We have already lost two Danes to bloat so we knew that time was of the essence. We phoned the vets and an answer machine gave us another number for the emergency centre approximately 20 miles away. We telephoned the emergency veterinary practice and explained the situation. My husband arrived with Billy at 21:00 pm.

This is where I believe they failed in their duty of care to us and to Billy.  Bob had taken with him a chequebook, unfortunately he did not take the cheque guarantee card. They refused to take our cheque. It took approximately 25 minutes to organise payment, all the while Billy was suffering, he was in a lot of pain and his chances of even surviving the operation were decreasing.

My question is 'how long would they have let him suffer if we couldn't have raised the £500 deposit that night?'

Once they had the payment they admitted Billy, they asked us to contact them later to get an update on his progress. We finally had confirmation that Billy's operation had concluded at 01:15 am.  My question is, 'how long was it before they actually commenced the operation, or if it was delayed, how long for?'

We were told at 6 am that Billy had been transferred by a pet ambulance to a local surgery.  They advised us that he will need to be kept in for 24-48 hours for monitoring. By 9.30am this local surgery wanted us to pick him up because they said that 'he would be more relaxed at home'. 

When Bob arrived to collect him, the veterinary staff asked  him to remove the drips from Billy. Bob held Billy and insisted that they remove them as they had the veterinary skills necessary.

Billy was discharged from the veterinary practice, what I didn't realise at the time was that they had sent him away with no antibiotics The Practice Manager from the out of hour practice contacted us to query payment, when she mentioned the antibiotics, I advised her that Billy was not given any.  She seemed surprised to say the very least. 

I know we're lucky to still have Billy, yet I believe other dogs may lose their lives because of treatment (or lack of treatment) like this, and I firmly believe that Billy endured more pain than was necessary that night.

 

 

Billy  

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Marc's story - Grace 7 month old Weimaraner.

Treatment received at an out-of-hours Veterinary Practice in Witham, Essex

In September 2007 ,"Grace" our 7 month old long-haired Weimaraner pup was taken extremely ill. After a couple of visits to our local vet in Essex, a foreign object was discovered in her abdomen. After discussions and investigations the best alternative was to operate. On the evening of the Wednesday that week, the surgeon phoned me with the news that a large pebble had been extracted. Damage had been done to her intestine and a 14 inch section had been removed and rejoined successfully. The surgeon was in contact with us morning and evening with updates, and encouraging news on Grace's recovery. She came home on Friday evening with various medications and instructions on what to do, one of which was the symptoms to look for in case of infection. These accurate descriptions aided us with our concerns on the Saturday morning .Grace manifested the symptoms of infection to the operation. My partner ,Tricia, took her back to the surgery , and was advised to take her straight to a specialist out-of-hours surgery in Essex . This is where the main focus of the story takes place. The "Vet" on duty, and I use the term lightly, added to the panic to the pup and Tricia. She consulted the internet and books to make a judgement on what to do. The attitude was one of, "not much we can "and "she probably won't make it", which sent Tricia into panic. She phoned me, as I was now at home, in tears, mumbling the vet's views. She told me to speak to the vet. She again seemed again unsure of the condition, and resigned us to the fact that Grace would probably die. She advised me that Grace would have to come in and have the 12 inch wound left open for 3 days or so while the infection was sorted out. She asked me "what do you think?" I replied," you're the ----------vet, you supposed to tell me!" There was an underlaying theme of the financing of any treatment, as we were not insured. Now, I can understand that, but surely this should not be the primary consideration when treating an animal? The money as far as we were concerned was irrelevant; we do OK in life, and would have paid any money to get our beautiful pup well again. The exchanges ended in a more angry stance from ourselves, as we could not believe the vet's attitude, apparent lack of knowledge and reluctance to help. The young vet advised us to go RCVS at Potters Bar.

Tricia came home in a panic, some 20 miles, picked me up and we rushed 30+ miles to the RCVS . The surgery was luckily very quiet at 3 p.m. on a Saturday. They took Grace immediately behind the scenes for an hour or so. We had 2 consultations with 2 very nice, sympathetic, concerned and professional young surgeons. They point out the gravity of the situation and time was of the essence. We were asked what was our financial situation, as the treatment might be up to £4,000. We didn't care what the cost might be, and asked them to do their best. Within minutes Grace was back in surgery to do the same procedure she originally had. The failure of the re-joining of the intestine was no fault of the 1^st surgeon, it is a complex operation. We left RCVS that evening, with the promise of a phone call at 9.30 p.m. with an update. At 9.30 p.m. on the dot a very nice French young man called with the news that Grace had survived, was already on her feet, had a drink and was amusing the nursing staff! To our relief, albeit early days, she was OK. He said he would call at 10a.m Sunday, which again he did. He explained in full what had gone on, what was happening now and what might happen over the next few days. His calm reassurance gave us confidence that all would be well. The young French surgeon, called me morning and evening with updates, laughing and joking, and telling us stories of how everyone there had fallen in love with our Grace.

We were asked to visit on Wednesday afternoon, and may be able to take Grace home, if all the monitoring and readings were fine. We had a complete de-brief by the surgeon and his nursing staff when we arrived. We paid the bill, £3,400, and were escorted to the car, with Grace by a very attentive, genuine and caring junior nurse.

Our original vets were very good in the original stages, and we don't blame them in anyway for the outcome. They clearly advised us that the infection was likely, due to the area of the operation. So it was no real surprise.

The Emergency Vet, however, was nothing more than pathetic. To leave a very young, inexperienced person in charge, when the word "emergency" says that there may be complex or difficult situation to deal with. It is outrageous that we, the public are asked to pay for such a poor, unorganised and potentially critical service. It is difficult to express in words my anger over this, so called "Veterinary Surgery "At no point did this person realise that we might have an emotional attachment to our beautiful pup. The level of experience and qualification was questionable or non existent.

RCVS are exemplary in every way, their service is not cheap, but is probably the very best!

Grace has recently celebrated her second birthday, and has grown into the lovely animal she is today, with heartfelt thanks to that young French surgeon and his team. 

Thank you.

Total paid for Grace's treatment £4500

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Our Quiller

Treatment received in a veterinary practice in Rayleigh, Essex

He was 3years old and on the Saturday morning he was a little bit sick but, he looked poorly & all he wanted to do was to lay down, only getting up slowly to go to the toilet which, was unusual for him so, we phoned the vets & explained to them what was going on & was advised that he probably had a tummy upset & that we should starve him for twelve hours to give his tummy time to settle & an appointment was made for him too be seen early on Monday. 

I had him down to the Vets early Monday morning so that we were there when they opened as he had started to pass blood in his urine & whilst I was checking him all over I found a lump in his groin.

It seemed to take ages until we were called into see the vet & then it was a locum someone we had never seen before. I started to explain about what had been happening with Quiller & his symptoms & the lump that I had found & his passing of blood, she carried out all the checks on him & said that he was suffering from colitis & that he would need a course of antibiotics & an anti-Inflammatory injection. 

We came home feeling a little relieved that is was only colitis & that he would get better.  Later that day we rang the Vets again as he seemed to be passing more blood than before but, were told that he had only just started his medication & that it would take a few days for us to see an improvement.

The Vets were closed over the Christmas period, we phoned again & spoke to an out of hours surgery & was given the same advice as earlier in the day so we just sat with him day & night until the vets opened again.

As soon as the Vets opened I was there but this time I took a jar of his urine, which by now was all blood! When I showed this to the vets (same one) she said, "If he is losing that much blood he will be dead by Monday".

She then said he must have been poisoned & had he eaten chocolate or slug pellet?, I said no to which she replied "You must know how this has happened"? (I could not believe that this was being said to me) I was really angry & upset, as I felt let down by the vet whom we had put our trust in.

I replied that there was no way had he could have been poisoned & what was they going to do to help him & she just repeated that he would be dead soon. I said that, there must be something that can be done for him and after a lot of discussion it was agreed that he would be transferred to a critical care unit.

We took him there straight there and a few minutes after our arrival he was being examined again by another vet who straight away after feeling the lump that I had shown the previous vet said that he has a twisted spleen & that he would have to be operated on straight away he was also concerned that he had lost a lot of blood & was very weak & explained he was going to give him a blood transfusion first & that he would do everything that he could for him.

It was awful leaving him there & watching him walk away with the vet.

Later that day we received a phone call saying that he had, had the operation & that he had been out for a little walk & a wee & that we was to ring back in the morning to seen how he was but, 6am in the morning we received a call from them saying that he had gone into a coma & that if we wanted to say goodbye to him we had better get up there fast.

We were told that he had too many blood clots & that if he had only been sent there a few days before then the chances were that he would have made a full recovery.

We lost a very dear companion & friend that day,

The cost of all his treatment was over £3000.

 

 

Our Quiller  

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Hi Sarah

It took me a little while to read Ted's entire story fully as couldn't stop my tears and although we didn't go through all you did not all was as we would have liked.

When the vet arrived Dave spoke to him outside to tell him that Gracie wasn't keen on strange men but was under control and just to pretend she wasn't there as she was in the same room as Dylan and he did this brilliantly, He then proceeded to administer the injection which took 3 needles and wasn't easy due to Dylan's veins not being to good after having previously had a wobblers op and been on drips and so on.

As you can see this all went as smoothly as could really.

Now the spoiler.

The day Dylan had to go to sleep the vet had arrived with a little tiny vet nurse even though we had told them he weighed 15 stone. He also came in his own car, which was an estate, but the boot was full.

As Dylan was so big Dave had to help the vet carry him out of the house on a blanket and as they crossed the doorway the vet then started to ask Dave how he would be paying the bill. This was while Dave was Carrying Dylan. When Dave said this had already been arranged prior to his calling he then started to go on about company policy and the bill was to be settled there and then.

At this point the vet nurse could see how stressed we were getting and interrupted saying that we could call her later.

Then because the boot of his car was full Dylan was bundled into the back seat, rather undignified.

When Dave had called the vets originally the arrangement was that we would pay for the cremation and ashes returned and the GDAS would be paying the rest.

They would invoice us at the end of the month for our part.

The next morning while Dave was driving to Kent (unavoidable) they rang him asking for monies for Dylan's cremation for if not they would be unable to keep Dylan and would possibly not get individual cremation.

Anyway to try cut it short they then rang me but didn't say that Dave had said he would call them back later when not driving. At this point I rang Joy at the GDAS but unfortunately she was out feeding the dogs and had to leave a message. As I was in total panic at this point and wanted to sort this straight away I called a friend who was good enough to come to the vets with me and pay them.

Joy did call me back when got my message and said to she would have helped.

Hi Sarah

I noticed you have a section for positive stories well here's one for Dylan.

March last year with the help of The Great Dane Adoption Society Dylan went to New Market where it was confirmed that he was suffering with Wobblers Syndrome.

They also found he had arthritis and possible problems with his joints that would hinder his recovery and did we want to go a head to which we obviously answered yes.

After such a big operation a dog can be in hospital for anything up to a possible 8wks but not Dylan.

Within 24hrs he was trying to stand but was obviously not allowed.

5 days later he was going outs for little walks and then just 10 days after his operation he was back home.

A month later and he was back to walks on the field with his best friend Gracie

This was all really remarkable as the operation its self lasted 7 hours and meant chiseling away at the spine in the neck area.

He also had to be taken to the equestrian centre there to be weighed (15st), 2 tables had to be put together for him to lay on and calipers used for foals and small ponies were used.

Dylan was such a big boy

The vets and everyone who looked after Dylan were brilliant and took real good care of him and thanks to all involved he had 10 more fun filled months with us.

 

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Mrs Bolton's Story

Jack Daniels - Fox Terrier - 2 years old. Treatment received in a veterinary hospital in Southend, Essex.

 2 years ago Jack went into a veterinary hospital for an operation to remove a testicle that had ascended into the abdomen. 

Apparently the testicle was difficult to visualize and many attempts were made to find it.  Eventually the veterinary surgeon performing the operation took hold of what he thought was the testicle and cut into it.  What he had actually done was cut out the prostrate.  Jack Daniels died of blood poisoning as a direct result of this clinical error.

The veterinary surgeon came to my house apologized for the mistake and even offered me another dog.  I received a bunch of flowers and was told that I did not have to pay the outstanding bill for his treatment.

I approached the RCVS and was told that they were not able to help me, and that if I wanted to sue I would need to do it personally via the small claims court. 

Jack Daniels