Vet Rant

[Shaolin]

I'm so frustrated...

I took Gigi to the vet this morning to have her spayed. When we got there, the tech who did the intake was obviously not happy with her job. We sat down and went over the questionare. By the end, I felt like I was speaking Watutsi. The tech made me feel like I was the worst pet owner in the world. I got scolded because I'm not putting a chip in her, but they use chips that are associated with one Lost Pet service and all of the other animals we have are under someone else. I know it's silly, but I want them all under the same service. She gets her chip in two weeks.

Then I get scolded because she just came out of heat. We've been playing the 'schedule the spay' game for two months now. She seems to go into heat every 14-21 days, but it wasn't regular. Three different times she went into heat the night before surgery. She went out of heat and we scheduled it as quickly as we could. As the tech said, "Well, she could die because she's just out of heat. You should've spayed her sooner."

The best part came last. When we spayed Bailey, we kept her in a medium sized dog kennel. We put thick plastic sheeting around the top sides of the kennel to keep her from climbing and Vick's rub around her incision to keep her from licking. They glued her shut. We kept her in there for 10 days per the recommendation of the vet. We took her for her post op appointment and they said she was fine. We let her out of the kennel and the next night, she started howling like something was trying to kill her. Hubby picked her up and felt something go warm against his hand. He turned her over and the bottom half of her incision tore open and a ton of bloody pus poured out.

I'm a Paramedic by trade and I've smelled very dead things. This was worse. I had also just had back surgery, so I was in no shape to go anywhere. Hubby crated her and rushed her off to the E-Vet. 1500$ and emergency surgery later...the E-Vet said that it didn't look like the glue held long enough and it probably started to open just the tiniest bit, which brought on the infection and it kinda ate its way out...

So, I asked the tech to make sure that it was written into the chart that we wanted her stitched up. The tech argued with me for twenty minutes. I put my foot down and told her that, if she didn't double document that I wanted stitches, I was taking Gigi home. She wrote it down on the chart and we went on our way.

Today at around 4, they called to say she got out of surgery and she was doing fine. The surgeon and I talked for a few minutes and she mentioned that she was snuggled up with her wubbie and she should be ready to go home tomorrow. I asked her about scheduling the follow up for stitch removal and the surgeon says this: "Well, I saw that note, but I didn't want to do the stitches. Glue is fine."

I had a cow on the spot. I am furious! I begged and pleaded for stitches. This vet isn't an E-Vet. If Gigi has an issue, I have to take her two counties over for care. I don't have a lot of choices when it comes to vet care; one office refuses to see 'dangerous breeds', the other office isn't a very sanitary place, and I have the vet we use, who we absolutely love outside of their surgeons. The E-Vet has normal clinic hours, but their prices are outrageous-300$ for a standard visit, not including anything they do to the animal. An e-visit is 500$ off the top.

I can't believe that they refused to do something that we asked. As a healthcare provider, I'm used to respecting the patients' wishes and when the patient can't make their own decisions, the family's decision. My cat can't speak English, so I am making them for her. I wish the surgeon would have talked to me first about not doing stitches. The practice is familiar with what happened to Bailey.

The poor girl hasn't been right since; ten days in the kennel post-op, then not even 24 hours out of it before she went right back in for another ten days. We tried to pet her, to do gentle snuggles, even let her out to walk around the bathroom, but it did something to her...after day 5, she would run to the corner of the bathroom and start shaking and howling. If you went near her, she would deficate everywhere out of fear. She is now hyper-skittish and is afraid of everything. Even me shifting on the couch as she walks past sends her scurrying. We had her on Prozac and Valium, but now she's just on Valium as needed if we know we are having a get together or just more people in the house than us.

I don't want the same thing happening to my Gigi. Gi is such a cuddlebug; she's a velcro-kitty! Everywhere I go, she goes. It's like having a GSD in a 5lb package. I'm so worried about her...

Thanks for letting me rant. Sorry it was so long.

[mandiah89]

Im confussed is Gigi a dog and you had a cat spayed before that had the "glue issue"?

[Shaolin]

Gigi is a cat. Bailey is also a cat. Only pup I have now is Finn.

[Shade]

Honestly I think that is awful. What's done is done unfortunately . But if you really feel strongly I don't see why you couldn't consult a lawyer or the veterinary board and report it

All of my animals were stitched, I don't trust glue either with active animals.

[Gharrissc]

If you had a request then it should have been granted.

[Shaolin]

The surgeon who did the original spay no longer works there. After the original incident, they reimbursed us for the E-Visit by providing follow-up care for Bailey until we reach 1500$. They apologized profusely. They said they had problems with the surgeon before, but this was the final straw of sorts.

They take very good care of all of our other animals, heck, Dr. F our normal vet, made a house call when Finn cut his pad and Hubby was out with our only car at the time. She came to the house with no hesitation and stitched him up on the kitchen table.

I'm not mad with the entire practice, just with the surgeon who took it upon herself to not do something she was asked to do.

[msvette2u]

FWIW, we've done hundreds of dogs and most have glue. It's SO much easier. I always forget to remove the stitches although we do it ourselves here, because so many of our vets use glue.

The glue only holds the outer skin together.
The inner muscle layers are held with stitches, not glue.

[Liesje]

The way I see it, if the tech knew the vet was going to stitch (which it sounds like since she was so reluctant to write it) she should have had the vet come talk to you about it. I don't think the vet is obligated to change their procedure, but then you would have known up front and could have gone somewhere else. I'm scheduling a procedure for one of my dogs right now and am asking questions directly to the vet. I'm also picking a specific vet (the practice I use has about 6) because I know he is very thorough and will answer my voicemails and talk to me directly (not through office staff) even if I have to wait for him to finish appointments and get on the phone. I find out which vets do what and pick the one that does it the way I want, but I wouldn't trust one of the other ones to take my advice...if that makes sense? I can't tell them how to do their job, but I can pick the one that does the job the way I want.

[selzer]

I'd be furious too. You have had a serious issue with glue. Personally, I would prefer to allow a wound to drain if necessary. with stitches that can happen. With glue, it does not seem like it can. So you had an issue, so you had a preference that they change the procedure, if they were not going to do that, they should have told you before they cut on your cat. They did not. I would probably find a new vet. That is total disrespect of you. I understand that you are only angry with the surgeon and maybe the tech, but sometimes the only thing that opens people's eyes to the problems that their practice has is people walking.

[Shaolin]

Originally Posted by Liesje

The way I see it, if the tech knew the vet was going to stitch (which it sounds like since she was so reluctant to write it) she should have had the vet come talk to you about it. I don't think the vet is obligated to change their procedure, but then you would have known up front and could have gone somewhere else. I'm scheduling a procedure for one of my dogs right now and am asking questions directly to the vet. I'm also picking a specific vet (the practice I use has about 6) because I know he is very thorough and will answer my voicemails and talk to me directly (not through office staff) even if I have to wait for him to finish appointments and get on the phone. I find out which vets do what and pick the one that does it the way I want, but I wouldn't trust one of the other ones to take my advice...if that makes sense? I can't tell them how to do their job, but I can pick the one that does the job the way I want.

The original surgeon had no issues with doing stitches. For whatever reason, she got worked on by a different vet. I understand completely what you are saying. There are two vets in the office we love. For whatever reason, one is better with Finn and the other does better with the cats. We don't see anyone else in the office.

@msvette2u: I didn't mind the glue before Bailey. Heck, I can name four places on my own body where surgical glue was used. I think that I just got freaked because of such a bad experience. We'll know soon enough if this is going to work. I pick her up in the morning.