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Edited on Tue Oct-28-03 06:13 PM by trof
to the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medicine Examiners?
I filed it today.
Concerns the neglect/maltreatment of our dog by a vet clinic/boarding kennel.
It's kind of long.
on edit: OK, just for bunnyj and meti57b.
The rest of you troglodytes can take a hike.
;-)
ASBVME COMPLAINT FORM 10/28/03
I sought the advice of Dr. Albert Corte, Jr. when I found he was the nearby (Daphne) recent past president of the ASBVME. He was very kind and helpful and encouraged me to contact you.
Nasha is our 12+ year old female, spayed German Shepherd. We have had a German Shepherd for most of our 34 years of marriage. We are not novices in the proper care of animal companions as I think you will see from the information provided below.
Our regular veterinarian is Dr. David R. Dykes here in Foley. (address/phone#)
He has provided excellent care for Nasha for almost 10 years and is very familiar with her ailments and condition.
Nasha’s daily meds: 1/2 of a 100mg Deramaxx daily upon arising, for her arthritisIn her morning meal she gets a multi-vitamin.
In her evening meal she gets another multi-vitamin, approximately 1 Tbsp. Synovi-MSM for her joints, and 1/2 tablet of phenylpropanolamine for her age-related incontinence.
We have various other meds for ailments that crop up from time to time. Topical sprays and ointments for skin rashes and ear infections, etc. All of her meds are kept in one clear plastic box with an airtight lid. The box goes wherever she goes. On a trip with us, to the veterinarian for boarding, anywhere she will be spending the night. Each medication is clearly labeled as to what condition it treats, amount of dosage, and how often it is to be administered.
Nasha has a problem digesting canned dog food, so my wife prepares a special diet for her, baked and skinned chicken thighs, chopped and mixed in with her regular dry kibble. On this diet she has no problem with regurgitation or diarrhea. When we have to board her, she goes with the med box and enough cooked frozen chicken to last her until we return. All of the above items are packed in a larger plastic box. We have boarded her with Dr. Dykes several times with no problems. She “grieves” for us for a couple of days and doesn’t eat much, but then snaps out of it and does just fine. Granted, she is a geriatric dog, but every time we have picked her up from Dr. Dykes she has, at least, been in no worse shape that when we dropped her off. I know that this is a lot of rather “involved” information, but please contrast it to our most recent boarding experience.
Some friends in our neighborhood have three rescued dogs, aged Gordon Setters. They told us about a boarding kennel, Timber Run, which they use and which had very nice facilities, and (most important) really catered to older dogs, walking them every day, etc. We decide to give them a try. What we didn’t know was that the kennel had changed hands a few months before.
My wife made the arrangements and dropped Nasha off on Monday, August 11, 2003. Helen took a quilt for Nasha to lie on and a large plastic box containing her food dish, 4 boxes of frozen, cooked chicken, two cans of chicken (in case they ran out of the home-cooked), and her med box. She provided written instructions for feeding, including amount of chicken to be added to dry kibble, and which meds were given IN MEALS. On this card were also the name and phone number of Dr. Dykes and the phone number of our daughter in Boston, where we could be reached. Helen gave verbal instructions about the Deramaxx to the young woman on the reception desk. She seemed to be distracted by other clients checking in and told Helen “Don’t you worry, we’ll take good care of Nasha”. Helen again emphasized the importance of the Deramaxx and told her that all of the medications were in the plastic box with instructions. She was again told not to worry, they’d take care of everything.
We left the next morning on the two-day drive to Boston. We returned to Foley late afternoon on Tuesday, August 26, stopping by Rehm’s Animal Clinic at Timber Run in Loxley to retrieve Nasha. She had been there 16 days. The following is what we found.
Nasha was brought out to Helen by an attendant supporting Nasha’s rear end with a towel looped under her hindquarters. She was unable to walk. I managed to lift her into our van where she collapsed on the floor. I thought “well she’s getting old, but she’s really gone downhill in a short time“. We were tired after a long day’s drive and in a hurry to get home. Helen paid the bill by credit card. We got home and, still using a towel, managed to get her inside. On the way home, Helen related to me what had transpired while I was waiting in the car, keeping the air conditioner running. We have been married for 34 years and she has never lied to me. I trust her implicitly and have no reason to doubt her word.
When Nasha was brought out Helen said “What have they done to you? What happened to her?” Dr Toni L. Ellis, the veterinarian on duty, heard her and came running out of her office. “I called Dr. Dykes this morning because Nasha couldn‘t move around. He said Nasha was on Deramaxx. I wrote her a prescription for it.”
“She already HAS Deramaxx. It’s in the med box I told the girl about when I checked her in. She’s supposed to get it every morning as soon as she gets up.”
“You didn’t put it on her food chart.”
“The FOOD chart is for what she gets to eat and what meds go IN the food. I told the girl twice about the Deramaxx and she said she’d take care of it.”
“I try to get it over to them (staff?) to let me know about a problem as soon as it starts.
I only learned about it this morning. I called Dr. Dykes as soon as I knew there was a problem. You should have put it on her food chart.”
Dr Ellis then looked in Nasha's med box, and there was the Deramaxx.
That is Helen’s best memory of the conversation. According to Dr. Ellis, Nasha had been given her first dose of Deramaxx in 15 days that morning, following her (first and only) call earlier that day to Dr. Dykes.
When we got home I eventually got Nasha moving around (more or less) under her own power. I guess the Deramaxx had started to kick in. How much damage was done by the two weeks when she was deprived of it? Did she lie there on a concrete floor in her own urine for two weeks? Was she fed her special diet? I wish she could talk, but she can't, so we’ll never know. I took her out in the back yard and got a little urination, but no bowel movement. A bowel movement is usually the first thing she does when she gets home. We fed her the normal evening meal and she literally wolfed it down. This is way out of character for her. She has always been fairly ambivalent about food, but usually, eventually cleans her dish. Sometimes not. She appeared to be ravenous. We fixed her another dish. That too disappeared in short order. This dog is starved. We did not want to overload her tummy, so just put down a bowl of plain dry food. She ate a little (very unusual) and then went to bed. No evening bowel movement, again very unusual.
We had noticed a wet spot on her left hip the evening we got her home, but they had bathed her just before we picked her up so we thought she hadn’t completely dried out. The next morning the skin started to slough off revealing the grossest, bedsore-type, open wound I have ever seen (photos enclosed). She has never had anything like this. She again wolfed down her breakfast. In the yard to urinate, but still no bowel movement. We put her in the car and took her to Dr. Dykes. His first comment was “What happened to her?” We weighed her, and she had lost 6 lbs. since her last visit there, dropping from 72 lbs. to 66 lbs. He cut away some more of the necrotic flesh from her hip and told us it would get worse before it got better. Might take stitches later. We got some ointment to spray into the open wound several time a day to help it heal and keep infection down. Eventually it did close up. It took two months. Two months of pain and suffering for Nasha. Two months of daily washing out the drainage stains from her bedding. Two months of carpet cleaning when she decided to flop down off of her bedding. I am told it takes several days of lying on a hard surface (concrete) to develop this kind of sore. What happened to the quilt we sent with her? Did she even have access to it? Believe me, given a choice between a hard and a soft surface, Nasha picks the soft one every time. The quilt was not returned to us at pick up.
After seeing Dr. Dykes, we realized the extent of neglect that Nasha had suffered. Helen called Dr. Ellis to register our dissatisfaction with Nasha's treatment. Again, Dr. Ellis inferred that the fault was ours for not listing the Deramaxx on Nasha's food "menu". She expressed no regret nor did she apologize. I wrote a letter to Discover Charge requesting them not to pay the charge from Rhem. I explained that we had not received the service that we had contracted for and gave them the same basic details that I have outlined here. I sent a copy of the letter to Rehm Animal Clinic. I received no response from them.
About one month later I received a telephone call one evening from a Dr. Rhem in Mobile. He inquired as to Nasha's health. I'm afraid I was not gentle with him. Even then, he admitted no responsibility and offered no apology.
A few days ago I received a letter from Discover Card telling me that, based on information provided by the merchant, the charge appeared to be valid. They enclosed a copy of a letter written by Dr. Ellis to them (copy enclosed). I am not a DVM, but it appears to me to be an obfuscation filled with veterinary medical jargon. She questions the prescription of Deramax as being appropriate. Nasha has been taking it for over 6 months and it has been a Godsend for her. She lists several conditions that Nasha "may suffer from". One call to Dr. Dykes would have answered any of these questions.
On her third day home, Nasha finally had a bowel movement. Obviously, there had been nothing in this dog’s gut to process and expel. What happened to the food lovingly prepared by Helen? Did Nasha get any of it? Or did she get only dry food dumped in a dish? I wish she could tell us, but she can’t. Unfortunately, this beautiful animal must depend on the kindness of us humans for sustenance. Of the four containers of food, only one empty container was returned to us when we picked her up. The two cans of chicken were missing. Whether Nasha consumed them or not, I have no idea. Maybe it was someone’s lunch.
In summary, we left an aging but fairly healthy animal at Timber Run and picked up a physical wreck 15 days later. Now, almost 2 1/2 months later, she's almost back to her old self. The bedsore is almost completely closed. She's moving around better, following us from room to room and going out into her back yard unassisted. It has been a long, slow process.
It is unconscionable to me that an animal could suffer such neglect and cruelty at an accredited animal clinic and boarding kennel. At no time did Rehm admit to any responsibility. Even worse, they were accusatory and inferred that we were at fault for Nasha's deplorable condition. We adopted Nasha as a two-year-old when her previous family could no longer care for her. During the nearly 10 years she has been with us we have provided her with a lot of love and the very best care available.
To the best of my knowledge, the information in this complaint is true and complete.
Signature: __________________________________________ Date: ___________________
.,
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