Dear all,
I've just joined this forum and am making my first post now because I need some fellow dog owners' advice on a serious problem. I think that my current vet practice's negligence or malpractice (I'm not sure exactly what the right term is) has twice caused unneccessary suffering to my dogs, on one occasion almost costing one her life. Obviously I'm about to change vets, and I would value advice on that question, and I'd also value advice on what I should do about my current vet's performance.
My current issue concerns my 12-year old Tibetan Spaniel, Jack. Picture attached - I'm sure I don't need to add any detail about how much I love my old boy. He's been on medication for a while to keep a skin condition under control, and recently our vets changed him from Prednisolone to Atopica. A few days after the change he started showing signs of extreme pain, so we took him back to the vet. He'd seemed particularly sensitive to being touched around the mouth and jaw, so I suggested to the vet that he might have a toothache. The vet checked his mouth out thoroughly, concluded that he had no toothache, and hypothethised that Jack was reacting badly to the changed medication. He told us to stop the Atopica and see if he improved. Two days later he had not improved, so we took him back to the vet. This time the vet (a different one) checked him more thoroughly, and concluded that he had a recurrence of a previous spinal problem (a slipped disc, essentially) and prescribed painkillers. What this meant was that the first vet, through not trying carefully enough to establish the source of Jack's pain, needlessly left him in unmedicated pain for two further days. At any age, let alone 12, this is not something a dog should suffer. The second thing that concerns us about the current issue is that the second vet, while apparently being more careful and thorough in her diagnosis, made a simple clinical error in her prescription. In notes she copied to us she specified 6 drops of Metacam, while the label on the drug specified 12 drops. We were lucky enough to notice the disparity and check before administering the drug, but that sort of error could result in a dog being given a double dose of medication which could, with some drugs, have serious effects. Happily, with a better diagnosis and the right dose of medication, Jack is looking better tonight than he has for several days, but we're not happy at what we've had to go through to get to this point.
The previous issue, which concerns us more now that we've had a problem with Jack, concerns our younger Australian Terrier, Freia. She had a long history of illnesses, usually diagnosed and treated as urinary tract infections with a course of antibiotics. What she actually had, which was never detected by our vets, was a much more serious liver condition. (a hepatic shunt, for the experts) Because she and Jack were on a relatively bland diet (Z/D) because of Jack's skin condition, the full extent of her illness was never apparent. It only came to the surface when she spent some time at Hanrob while we were overseas, and was fed a normal dog food - we'd only specified the Z/D for Jack. This caused her liver condition to show its full effect. I vividly remember speaking to the vet (from London) and being told that she'd gone blind, she couldn't stand, was having problems breathing and 'might not make it through the night'. They thought she'd had a stroke, or had a brain tumour. We cancelled the rest of our holiday plans (including a dinner reservation at Noma) and caught the next flight home, not sure whether our dog would still be alive when we got back. We fully expected that we were returning only so that we could be there when she was euthenased, if she hadn't already died. Fortunately our vet had transferred he to SASH while we were in flight. At SASH they stabilised her, diagnosed her illness correctly, and then operated successfully. $10k of travel costs and $10k of SASH bills later we had our dog back, healthier than ever, with no question at all in our minds that every dollar was well spent in achieving that outcome. However, we wondered at the time whether our vets had ever thought carefully enough about what was actually making Freia ill so often, and our experience now with Jack heightens our concern about how Freia was treated.
So I have two questions on which I'd appreciate fellow dog owners advice.
First, is there a procedure I should follow about what I feel is inadequate professional care for my dogs? I just don't think that the vets' performance has been acceptable, and I don't think that just letting it go and changing to another vet is enough.
Second, I need some recommendations on a good vet. We live in the inner west (Darlington), but don't mind travelling a bit for a good vet.
In advance, thanks for your thoughts.
