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[scooper]

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My boy Bert, English Springer Spaniel, had to go to the vet for an x-ray and blood tests due to being uncomfortable around his back legs / hips. When I picked him up they went through the results of the x-rays which show he has arthritis and spondylosis in his spine. Not good, but with good pain management we should be able to keep him comfortable - he's only 7.5 years old.

My problem is that the vet also told me that he must have had some sort of reaction to the pre-med or anaesthetic they used and that he had quite bad diarrhoea - we discussed how to manage this. I put him in the car and took him home. As soon as I got him home and out of the car he couldn't hold himself anymore and went on the pavement - it was bright red blood water!! This was terrifying - I called the vet immediately only to be told this is quite normal!! Didn't seem normal to me at all. All of Thursday night he was oozing out bright red water - looked just like a blood bath in my kitchen. Took him back Friday morning and they confirmed that he had an intestinal haemorrhage. Took him home again but by the evening I could see he was going downhill really quickly. He hadn't eaten or had a drink since Wednesday evening - and my worry was that he would dehydrate very quickly. Took him back again and they put him on a fast rate drip. Got him home Saturday morning and he has now turned a corner and is very slowly on the mend. He is in so much pain, cannot even out his back leg on the ground but I'm unable to give him any painkillers because of the reaction to the anaesthetic. I've got antibiotics to give him and a gut drug but he keeps screaming everytime I put them in his mouth, so I guess they have also hurt his mouth somehow when they had a tube in his throat.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this - your dog goes to the vet quite healthy, just for some x-rays and ends up nearly fatal. The vet hasn't charged me for any work since the x-ray - is this because they know they have messed up - they are not admitting anything to me.

Thanks for any advise you can give me or how I should take this forward.

 

[goldenbear2013]

Oh my goodness your boy boy! and poor you! the stress and worry you must be in under must be incredible!

Sending big hugs to you and Bert!

I have never experienced anything like this myself, but if you feel that your vet has messed up and done something wrong to your poor boy then perhaps request a formal investigation?

Maybe even change vets; someone who your friends can recommend if you are no longer comfortable with the vet you have now?

I'm so sorry that I cannot give you any decent advice I just hope that your boy gets better quickly and he is back to his normal happy self soon!

Please keep us posted!

Sophie x

 

[eingana]

Oh, poor Bert! You must have been terrified for him, poor love.

I've known a whole selection of both cats and dogs who have had reactions to an assortment of anaesthetic and sedative drugs, leading to everything from sickness to losing a leg to death as a consequence. As far as I'm aware, the reactions are rare and unpredictable (both in whether they happen and in what happens as a result of the reaction) and the only way to reduce the chances of reactions would be to carry information on reactions down through blood lines with knowledge of, for instance, whether a pup's father, grandfather or mother reacted to a drug, which drug and what happened. Even that wouldn't be foolproof because some reactions may not be genetically linked and even with those that are, a family history has to start somewhere.

If Bert has had a reaction to the anaesthetic then for most animals there really is no way to predict it and so that part of the story doesn't sound suspicious to me, and the vet not billing you for anything that has happened while in their care is also something that is pretty common. After all, they will have told you how much the anaesthetic and x-rays cost, so anything after that is something that the vet will often take on as their own cost.

As for the management of the situation and Bert's poor guts, that sounds really very unsatisfactory to me. How any vet could send home an animal with that sort of symptom and no management for it or a way to rehydrate them I have no idea. I can tell you that after a long intubation I had a very sore throat for a week afterwards, but there's always the potential for either throat damage or Bert panicking when people are coming near his mouth because of how dreadful he felt when he was stoned from the anaesthetic but also having the reaction and presumably the vet would have been holding on to him at that point.

I'm afraid I'd get the gut medicine down him no matter how hard it was and no matter what you have to mix with it (grind up the pills, mix with yoghurt and get them in a medicine syringe if necessary). If the painkiller that they have given you is Metacam, I know that this tastes nice (it tastes of honey- Molly loves it) and it doesn't sting in the mouth so if it's Bert panicking there's a time to calmly sit with him and bribe him to take them with whatever is his favourite thing in the world.

I hope that Bert is on the mend and back to his old self quickly. I can imagine how little trust you must have with your current vet, and in your position I think I'd book an appointment to go and discuss his care with the vet you saw in the presence of the practice manager (but not Bert) to raise your concerns about this, and see where you go from there.

 

[scooper]

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm a bit calmer now and Bert is well on the mend, we now have to sort out his pain management for the problems he has with his hips and spine.

I think the idea of making an appointment, without Bert, to discuss what happened is a good idea and I will organise this immediately. I really don't want to change Vets as I know he will have to go through an x-ray and blood tests again - something I really don't want to put him through again - and it's also very expensive!! I found a way of getting him to have his tablets - hiding them in some wet food as this is all he could eat - never used wet food before - but he loved it.

I will keep you updated of his return to being the healthy, happy boy I love.

Thanks. Su.

 

[Parly]

Oh no poor lad!!

 

[Raven oaktree]

Bert.JPGThank you so much for your replies. I'm a bit calmer now and Bert is well on the mend, we now have to sort out his pain management for the problems he has with his hips and spine.

I think the idea of making an appointment, without Bert, to discuss what happened is a good idea and I will organise this immediately. I really don't want to change Vets as I know he will have to go through an x-ray and blood tests again - something I really don't want to put him through again - and it's also very expensive!! I found a way of getting him to have his tablets - hiding them in some wet food as this is all he could eat - never used wet food before - but he loved it.

I will keep you updated of his return to being the healthy, happy boy I love.

Thanks. Su.

thank goodness he is on the mend, i hope this continues. If you decided to change vet you wouldnt need more trays and tests etc as your new vet would request the files from your old vet so if thats all thats stopping you changing vets, dont let that worry you x