Cross Breeds

AT What Point Could My Puppy Have Been Saved ?

Our Puppy Rocky Has Died Born November 24, 2007 Died May 26, 2008 6 months, 2 days old Our puppy choked on a bone Thursday but seemed o k then, Friday he definitely wasn't himself so we took him Saturday morning to Gilly Animal Clinic, Dr Gilley was gone and another vet was seen. She, don't know her name, did only a visual and manual exam, did NOT order nor suggest x rays , gave what she said was a shot for vitalmins and one for anti inflamatory, and sent us home with what was a dying puppy. Our puppy was very sick, and he acted very ill. He had a perferated diaphram, and had aspirated matter during his choking that went into his lungs causing labored breathing and pneumonia. WE knew none of this because x rays had not been taken when we took him to our vet on Saturday morning. IF THOSE X RAYS had been done and the diagnosis been made, he could have had surgery and probably have lived. He was a 6 month old , healthy, lively puppy. Instead, with this delay, His intestines went into his body cavity through the perferation in the diaphram. And he developed aspiration induced pneumonia. We were sent home with a dying puppy. When he continued to decline, I called Dr Gilley's again and was automatically transferred to an emergency clinic AEC ANIMAL EMERGENCY CLINIC 8429 sw 132 st in Pinecrest Florida 33156, right off u s 1. WE went there, the vet did x rays, several sets, and relieved the swollen stomach but failed to diagonosis the critical condition of our puppy and again we were sent home. THE VET SEEMED PUZZLED BY THE X RAYS and we later learned that these x rays were of such poor quality that they could not be used at the next ER clinic we went to, the vet there was unable to read them clearly. I saw myself how poor they were. Also, I had to use the bathroom at AEC and they were developing the x rays in the bathroom, the facility looked as primitive as their x rays were. That bill was almost $ 900 and we were again sent home with a dying puppy. We still didn't know . My friend who works with Friends Forever Dog Rescue came to my house and was horrified that we had gone to the AEC clinic at sw 132 st, she said that her group wouldn't use them nor go there anymore and referred me to Knowles Animal Clinic E R on Sunset Dr. I only wish to God I had known to go there first, my puppy would probably be alive, I believe that he would be alive today if I had known to go to Knowles E R. I want our vet Dr Gilley to know what a horrible place he is referring his patients to at AEC and to not send any body else to them. I saw myself the primitive x rays taken of my puppy compared to the sharp, clear and difinitive x rays taken at Knowles Clinic, I was sick to my stomach about it. If the vet had had the ability to diagnosis my puppy, he could not have done so from the poor , primitive quality of his x rays , the ones he took at AEC Clinic. My puppy was declining every hour, this vet gave him a shot for pain and he slept in my arms until the shot wore off and he started crying, and so did I, all the way to the clinic of Knowles Snapper Creek, just as soon as the woman from Friends Forever Dog Rescue told me about it. I went immediately to Knowles E R with the x rays and paperwork from the E R we had just left, with my sick dog. The x rays that has been done at AEC on sw 132 st were of such poor quality that the doctor had to take them again. When I saw the 2 sets of x rays up side by side I was shocked. The original x rays from AEC are a disgrace and very, very poor - no wonder the vet couldn't tell what was wrong with our puppy, if he had the ability to diagnosis this at all. The vet at Knowles suggested even before seeing our puppy, from hearing our description of his choking so violently , that choking had caused aspiration induced pneumonia, then when she saw the new x rays, she also saw the serious situation in the lower body of our puppy. She kept our puppy so they could try to help his breathing and stabilize him for probable surgery and he seemed to improve a little by 3 a m. One of the agents at Knowles told us that he was even barking at them, and that he was so cute and she laughed. I was so happy, thinking that my puppy would make it through all this. By morning he was very ill again and in a great deal of pain again. WE all, the family, returned to KNowles and the vet did more x rays with barium and identified the perferation of the diaphram also, but my puppy died when he was given the anastestic, his lungs just wouldn't breathe any more for him. He was crying in agony right up until he went under for his final sleep. And so were all of us in his family. Part of my heart died with my little dog. I had helped him into this world, and bottle fed him when his mom developed eclampsia when he wasn’t yet 3 weeks old, and never in my life have I loved a little creature like I love this puppy, Rocky. I would have done anything to save him, no cost was a factor nor a hesitation for us, we spent our mortgage money on his emergency care, hoping to save him and we are outraged to know now that we went to a primitive E R at AEC Animal Clinic and that he may still be alive if he had been X-rayed professionally and diagonosed then when he still had some strength left in his little body. It took another 24 hours for him to die because of this no-diagnosis and useless X rays, and a vet who didn’t know about the danger of aspiration induced pneumonia. Humans also can have this condition, it is not uncommon in the medical community . We can/t stop crying for our loss, I helped birth this little boy, helped his mother push this baby out into the world, and bottle fed him from when he was not 3 weeks old when his mother got a bacteria infection in her milk, and developed eclampsia. My heart is so heavy, I can hardly breath my self for his death, only 6 months old the day before he died. He had been a healthy and playful puppy, DO NOT GIVE YOUR DOG BONES OF ANY KIND AND D O N O T , D O N O T, TAKE YOUR ANIMALS TO THE AEC E R ANIMAL CLINIC ON SW 132 ST IN PINECREST. - AND KNOW THIS - that Dr Gilly's practice automatically transfers you to when you call after hours. It is a primitive facility without up to date diagnostic equipment. Also when I used the bathroom there, it looked un clean and didn't seem to me to be sanitary either and I don't meant just the bathroom that I used, although they developed the x rays in the bathroom. My dog might be alive if I had gone to Knowles Animal Hospital in the first place the way Friends Forever Dog Rescue does, or to the Hollywood Specialty Clinic off I 95, only 2 blocks to the East on Hollywood Blvd. I did not know of these animal facilities at the time and just went to the one that my call was transferred to when I called our vet's office, Dr Gilley. I didn't know about either Knowles nor about Hollywood Clinic until the woman of the dog rescue Friends Forever told me. I know that I did go to the bathroom while I was at the ER at sw 132 St in Pincrest and that they developed the x rays in the bath room because they told me that is what they were doing. I DO KNOW that the x rays they gave me at AEC E R on sw 132 St Pinecrest, were primitive in comparison to the ones taken at Knowles Clinic, I saw them myself., and I was told that the x rays had to be taken again because of the poor quality of the ones I brought in with me. - I know that my dog died because of ignorance and primitive x rays and not caring enough to check him thoroughly when we took him into Dr Gilleys in the first place in Naranja. If Dr Gilley had seen my dog, would he have ordered x rays ? a barium scan to know about internal damage ? Would he have suspected aspiration induced pneumonia from the description of the choking and condition of our puppy like the vet did at Dr Knowles ? I'll never know and my dog is dead. Make of this what you will, I CURSE that we didn't see Dr Gilley himself, I CURSE we went to the inferior primiitive AEC E R Animal Clinic on sw 132 st in Pinecrest, and that my poor little puppy suffered so much and died. Part of my heart has died with him. If ever I have any emergency of any kind with our pets, I know to go to Knowles E R on Sunset or directly to the Hollywood Clinic - if you care for your pet more than your money, so will you. I am going to give a copy of this to Dr Gilley as well as a copy of the paperwork and x rays and hope that he does not refer any more of his patients to that AEC E R. If there is anything else I can do, I plan to do it. SATURDAY MAY 31, 2008 When Rocky died at the Knowles Animal Hospital, we asked for the X rays when we left and we were told that they wanted to copy them first and that I could pick them up later after they had made the copies. I didn’t protest, I was too heart broken with grief at the loss of our puppy. I called every day after that until I finally went on this day to pick the X rays up and the copy of the situation. I was given the X rays that had been taken at AEC that I had brought in and the paper report on Rocky but I was told that the Xrays taken at Knowles had vanished. That they had to be misplaced somehow, I was assurred that they were not distroyed and that they would be found and given to me. The vet, a Dr McNair was there, she was going to operate on Rocky when he passed away, and she had taken X Rays also, and asked if O K to use a barium to help identify whether or not there was a preferation and where it was if so, before she did the surgery . We said yes of course and now those X rays are also missing. Dr McNair did tell me that it was not the diaphram but the esophagus that had been preferated. Again, I was crying and didn’t think to ask how she determined this, was it from the now missing X rays ? This information seemed to me to be the definitive answer that had been missing until this point. I did a few hours research and made a few calls to vets and it is possible that Rocky damaged his esophagus when he choked. but no bone was ever identified in his system in any of the X rays. If our puppy had been given bariulm and had X rays on that Saturday morning, and if they had been read correctly, and diagnosed as a preferation of the esophagus, Rocky at that point had a good chance to live. There is only a 10 % mortality in this case but if left untreated over 24 hours that mortality probability goes up to 85 % . If there had been a chance for Rocky to survive this, it was lost when we went to the AEC Animal Clinic and the cloudy , primitive x rays were taken that I have enclosed. Why didn’t that vet tell us that he could not diagnose nor treat our puppy at that point and send us to the specialty clinic in Hollywood immediately ? Instead, he ran a tube down Rocky’s esophagus into the stomach and I believe this caused the fatal injury to our puppy. This vet gave him a shot for pain and we left with our dying puppy , not knowing that he was dying, having no definitive answer nor diagnosis, after paying the $ 850 for uleless X rays . I was going to send the X rays taken at the Snapper Creek Knowles Animal Clinic also but they are missing, somehow, I am told. I don’t believe our puppy Rocky had to die like this. Someone needs to be held accountable for Rocky’s painful last days and for our tears and suffering , his human family. REGINA ROSA 9240 SOUTHWEST 165 ST MIAMI, PALMETTO BAY VILLAGE FLORIDA 33157 There are Only Two Ways to Do Everything, The Right Way, or Over Again. courtesy of the UNITED STATES ARMY Next in Importance to Freedom and Justice is Popular Education , Without Which Neither Freedom Nor Justice Can Be Permanently Maintained James A Garfield

Public Comments

1. :((((( I'm sooooo sorry for your loss.... Dr.Cheap should have paid more attention to your needs. i wonder if he has heard of costumer satisfaction.... cheers..... :(
2. Oh my goodness...I am so sorry for your loss and the horrible experience you had. There are so many vets (as there are so many doctors) that should not be practicing. I understand what you are going through...I've delt with vets that had told me that my cat's lump on her ear was nothing...and come to find out that it was a malignant tumor. Luckily she was saved in time. I would hope that the vet and ER clinic that misdiagnosed your puppies problems and ultimately sent him to an untimely death would help you with the expenses. If they were a proper clinic...they would. I hope you feel better soon. It will be very difficult for quite some time...but I'm sure you know...that time does ease the pain. RIP little Rocky!
3. I agree there are alot of vets who shouldn't be practicing... I took my guinea pig to a vet and he put it down without asking my permission he said he "helped it aong" So sorry for your loss....
4. I am so sorry for your loss. You did all you could, the problem was that the vets let you down. Shockingly over and over. The vet must listen to the owner, we know our pet and they don't. You are heartbroken and feeling guilty. None of us ever get over the loss of our beloved pets but we will see them again at the Rainbow Bridge. Absolutely file complaints and absolutely ask for a refund. If they refuse go to Small Claims Court. Do exactly what you did here. Tell everyone about their lack of knowledge and their hand in your loss. You couldn't have saved your puppy but you can save the next one. We all cry with you.