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Changing vets


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Bonza has had a severe and hard to diagnose limp (front left) for a couple of months now.  X-rays inconclusive, but don't suggest osteosarcoma. Cartophen and Meloxicam don't help much. On my 3rd and most recent vet visit the vet gave her a couple jabs of a painkiller,which I thought she told me was codeine. She told me that it would make her drowsy. It damn near killed her.  Poor girl. I found her the next morning lying outdoors with dew all over her.  At first I thought she was dead cause she was unresponsive and her breathing was hard to detect and she felt cold.  When she did awaken, I assumed something associated with the limp was killing her. 

It turns out she was given the maximum recommended dose of a synthetic opiods called Vetergesic...commonly used for post operative pain relief. The warnings that go with the stuff are dire.  I am furious at the vets for 1) prescribing it at all... it's active for less than 24 hours so what's the point; 2) going for maximum dose; and 3) only telling me that it might make her drowsy. 

Mostly I'm just venting.  I'm changing vets and getting a second opinion on the limp. Does anyone think there's any point in laying out my reasons for doing so to the practice manager? 

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If you can stay calm while laying out your reasons, by all means let the practice manager know how you feel about the treatment given to your girl.

 

Then maybe at another vet, get another set of xrays of the entire leg, shoulder to paw to rule out anything/everything possible. If inconclusive, maybe a specialist consult and other tests may be the go to get to the bottom of what's going on, and getting a positive treatment plan for it.

 

So sorry you and Bonza are in this position... hang in there, OK?

 

T.

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9 hours ago, sandgrubber said:

Does anyone think there's any point in laying out my reasons for doing so to the practice manager? 

yes..laying out reasons in point form and calmly. Definitely! That was almost disastrous..and must have been absolutely the scariest time  :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Follow up.  I took Bonza to a vet in a different practice.  No conclusive diagnosis.  He says the x-rays don't rule out osteosarcoma.

On the off chance that some sort of infection was involved, he gave me a 21 day course of clavulox.  Bonza seems to be getting better, very gradually.  At least she's more cheerful and putting a little weight on the foot.

I've decided it's better to wait until this is more resolved to write to the practice manager of the first vet.

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I wouldn’t wait, @sandgrubber.  How many animals has that vet put at risk since Bonza, I wonder.  Of course, the practice manager will defend her to the hilt, they all do.  But we have to try.  At the very least, the mistreatment of Bonza might be discussed at a staff meeting and other vets alerted to be more rigorous in their dispensing of drugs.  
 

So horrible and frightening.  
 

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