A sad but true tale

[Anonymous]

forwarded with permission

Dear all,
We’re deeply upset about the unnecessary loss of our Hattie, and I want
you to know about the catalogue of disasters that lead to my Cavalier
losing her life… We feel so bitter at the moment, and this is making
her passing even more painful. I’ve written this all down in detail,
because I’ll be reporting the entire event to the BVA, but I’d like you
all to be aware that this could happen to your beloved pet if they
become sick ‘after hours’… so please read on so that you can protect
the loved ones in your lives from suffering the same or a similar fait
in the care of after hours emergency vet practices.
Hattie refused her evening meal on Saturday evening, she was a bit
quiet, but not noticeably unwell. At 2 in the morning the other girls
who sleep in the lounge with her alerted us that something was wrong. We
investigated and found Hattie was quite disorientated, and when I
examined her it was obvious to me that she had an open Pyometra.
I knew my regular vet was contracted to attend a horse show in his
professional capacity 300 miles away, so there was no way he could get
out of attending that event…. but I rushed her over for him to assess
before he left to fulfil his previous commitment. After he’d seen Hattie
at 3am Sunday morning our fears of a Pyo were confirmed, so he had to
refer her to another vet practice who would see her through her surgery,
and after care… or so we thought…
I was running a ‘Health & Welfare’ day on Sunday as some of you will
know, so hubby Colin took over at that point and drove our little one on
the hour long journey to the referral emergency clinic in Witham. The
necessary ’emergency’ surgery was EVENTUALLY carried out at this
‘out-of-hours’ practise all of 13 hours later, and the care she got was
appalling. What I didn’t know at the time was that this ‘place of
excellence’ only have the building and facilities for weekends and
overnight week days from 8pm at night 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 but will not care for
each-others patients. They delayed surgery after receiving Hattie early
on Sunday morning … saying she needed to be ‘rehydrated and
stabilised’ before they could operate. Even I know that with an advanced
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. Eventually at 11 .45 pm Sunday night they did just that, but by
then it was too late, and she never recovered. She died in my arms at my
Vets from acute septicaemia 24 hours later, her little body no longer
able to cope, although we were willing and praying for her to stay with us.
This practise in Witham has to clear all patients out of the building by
7.30am…. regardless of how sick they are. It’s outrageous. 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. Huge bills were
being paid for these poor animals who didn’t make it through the night.
….
They eventually brought my poorly little Cavalier out to me, but only
after I settled their massive bill in full… ( see attachment) My
Hattie was still comatosed and in a very unstable condition…

. so they carried her straight out and rigged up her IV drip-line inside
my car, I pointed out immediately that the drip wasn’t running and that
the cannula must be blocked, but the vet just said Hattie would be OK
for the hour long drive. Her breathing was laboured and I thought she
was going to die on the journey back to the Critical Care Unit at my Vet
practice. Despite all my 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 the resulting Peritonitis.
I’m distraught at her unnecessary death… All the out of hours vets
were interested in was MONEY, and heads are going to roll over this
unnecessary loss of my lovely girl…
I keep looking at her 12.3/4 year old mother ( my Klancy) who is still
as fit and agile as any five year old, and her father ‘Int. Ch. Telvara
Incognito’ who at 9 is still Cardiology clear, but their beautiful
daughter is dead thanks to this catalogue of malpractice and lack of
veterinary care. At the Witham practice they wouldn’t even look at
Hattie until Colin paid £350…. then they wouldn’t release her into my
care until I paid in full the fee for her overnight spay surgery. This
few hours in their ‘care’ came to £1,783. 18p….
Be warned… they serve 25 practices in Essex as ’emergency cover’ so
make sure you note the name. They also have ‘outlets’ all over the
country. This isn’t about money … I lost my beautiful gentle girl
because of their incompetence. A dear friend has found a link to sign a
petition against this Veterinary Group, and if you feel you’d like to
make a stand about this situation that will apply to many of us who
occasionally need night assistance , please sign it.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vets-now-poor-out-of-hours-veterinary-servic\
e.html
<http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vets-now-poor-out-of-hours-veterinary-servi\
ce.html>

Thanks for listening, RIP my baby…. we WILL get justice for you….
Veronica.

[vinya12]

this is a very sad story. I hate vets who care more about money than our pets :boooo:

[vinya12]

the links dont work

[deebee]

val that is horrific.  its not even that this woman chose the wrong practice. in fact she did, he knew the working hours and the ‘chuck out’ time. i sincerley hope that her vet changes the out of hours cover. 

what worries me on a personal note is that it is my area. this is another question to ask a vet practice before i commit to them.

as vinya said, the link doesnt work.

[SuzAndTheDiva]

how awful, tragic and uneccessary – i truly hope something good comes out of this  :'(

[.dodger.]

this is awful 😮 poor girlie :'(  can this be cross posted Val?

[Anonymous]

To be honest i’m not sure that petitioning is the right direction to take this in yet. Surely this should be reported to whichever bodies oversee this practice as a case of gross negligence first, that way it goes to the highest level so that this practice is thoroughly investigated for not treating something so serious as an emergency – then if all else fails go down the petitioning route.

I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way but people seem to start petitions straight away over so many things these days & i am just not sure in this case it will actually do anything because you can’t really petition in order to force changes in an organization and make someone accountable for thier failings without first going through the internal procedures with the authorities that are responsible for making sure these practices comply with the rules they are governed by.

If everything else fails then of course launch a petition, but surely that should be a last resort rather than an instantaneous reaction to get justice?

[Anonymous]

Yes Laura free to cross post
Mark the reason for the petition IS so that it goes to the governing body, RCVM this is not a silly pet owner this is a respected breeder there are over 500 sigs already and only a small amount of people have heard about this the owner was going to greive alone but then thought this needs something done about it, I fully agree with her.
People living in big cities do not have this problem as much as folks in small towns/villages they (just change vets) others like me have to travle a long way to a good vet modern vets are not going into the profession because they like animals they are in it for the MONEY they are among the most highly paid professionals there are now.
Pet insurance has made most put on silly hats and the rest just make up numbers as they go, this is truly tragic and has made breeders on another list fighting angery I just thought I would post it and hoped you would not stay in your safe world with your one dog yet again debateing the pros and cons of a petition it’s not the only thing that is happening but if enough names landed on the RCVM mat they will take action
Val
This link worked for me
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vets-now-poor-out-of-hours-veterinary-service.html

[Anonymous]

Not entirely sure how to take your response Val. You seem to be making assumptions. Nobody said it was a silly pet owner or that anyone was staying in thier safe world with your one dog yet again debateing the pros and cons of a petition. I just asked simple questions because it wasn’t made clear enough to us ‘silly’ pet owners.

That’s actually quite insulting considering most of us here (who are being asked to sign the petition) are ‘Silly’ pet owners, not to mention a tad patronizing.

I’m actually a little offended at the holier than thou tone to your reply & the notion of ‘silly’ pet owners in much the same way you’d probably be offended at me suggesting most breeders had thier noses up thier backsides. Maybe if you had given us the facts in the first place we wouldn’t need to question what to most ‘silly’ pet owners is just another petition.

I still don’t see why a petition is needed in order to persue an official complaint of gross negligence with the RCVM, unless of course they are refusing in any way to acknowledge any responsibility whatsoever for the situation. Is that the case then? Obviously there’s a lot more to this that we are aware of.

[dogloverwoooo!]

I totaly agree with the petition, the more people behind the petition the more likey the RCVM will be to take notice. My old vets had a similar scheme with meant my criticaly ill dog had to be moved a long way between practices at 7am in the back of a car attached to a drip. Luckily he pulled through, but like this shows, many others arnt so lucky  :-\

[Anonymous]

I am not taking this off topic Mark but you have said the same thing on other topics and yes I said silly owners but the point is this lady IS a breeder most of you on here have been brought kicking a bit into the 21 century where vets are not doG some still think they are this dog was owned by someone that knew the ropes inside out  and still fell foul.
As for you being offended then tough I had aready thought you would knock the petition as you have done before, some I agree with most of the goverment ones I have to think to myself do they work are they read but at the end of the day if all it takes is a bit of time why worry, you never know it may help if this had happened to you maybe you would think differently, this lady had already sent in a formal complaint and her vet is changing his policy and we the stupid breeders are making this publicly aware to the RCVM and hopefully to the general public.
You would be amazed how many people have come forward not knowing who provides the out of hours cover for their vet look at doglovers post did she for a min think her dog would be subject to that standard of care did my Layla deserve the lack of care she got with a practice that said it had out of outs cover did this dog deserve to die when the owner knew what the problem was and a spay would have saved her life I think not
Val
Val

[quote author=Mark. link=topic=12894.msg248252#msg248252 date=1225467497]
Not entirely sure how to take your response Val. You seem to be making assumptions. Nobody said it was a silly pet owner or that anyone was staying in thier safe world with your one dog yet again debateing the pros and cons of a petition. I just asked simple questions because it wasn’t made clear enough to us ‘silly’ pet owners.

That’s actually quite insulting considering most of us here (who are being asked to sign the petition) are ‘Silly’ pet owners, not to mention a tad patronizing.

I’m actually a little offended at the holier than thou tone to your reply & the notion of ‘silly’ pet owners in much the same way you’d probably be offended at me suggesting most breeders had thier noses up thier backsides. Maybe if you had given us the facts in the first place we wouldn’t need to question what to most ‘silly’ pet owners is just another petition.

I still don’t see why a petition is needed in order to persue an official complaint of gross negligence with the RCVM, unless of course they are refusing in any way to acknowledge any responsibility whatsoever for the situation. Is that the case then? Obviously there’s a lot more to this that we are aware of.
[/quote]

[deebee]

all i know is that i didnt know that vets did this.
call me naive, but i presumed that they were all equiped to cover themselves. their adverts brag about their facilities afterall.
its akin to the gps opting out of after hours care.

[*Lassie*]

Signing takes a minute, it may help it may not as I tend to be an optimist I have signed it 😉

[*Lassie*]

Perhaps our Dog magazine lady would like to put the story in her mag,  >:D

[Anonymous]

Thanls Lassie every one may help them take a bit of notice of us that pay their wages

[quote author=*Lassie* link=topic=12894.msg248325#msg248325 date=1225484278]
Signing takes a minute, it may help it may not as I tend to be an optimist I have signed it 😉
[/quote]

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