Our dog, Poppy (12.5 years), had been having fevers for the past ~4 weeks. Our local vet tried several treatments as the symptoms changed throughout that time. In the end, she was on prednisone to calm a mysterious infection. Christmas day and evening she appeared normal and happy.
She was let out about midnight on 12/26 as she was panting (she usually ran warm as a "winter" dog, as I called her -- possibly part Husky with an undercoat -- but the prednisone causes panting as well). We didn't see her for a while so my daughter went looking for her. She was lying up against the fence and couldn't seem to move (as dogs are known to do when possibly near the end?), so my daughter carried her inside.
I called our local vet who told me to call BEVS. They instructed us to bring her there immediately (about an hour away). My kids got her there at about 2:00 a.m. and I received a berating phone call because I'd been giving her prednisone for "so long." The person on the other end of the line spoke anxiously and angrily to me, and I believe it was the vet. Shouldn't she be calming me down, not making me feel guilty and alarmed? The estimate to diagnose her was $4,000 - $5,000, but they wouldn't do anything until we put down a 50% "deposit." My son paid with his debit card and left.
I received a call at 8:00 a.m. that there was all kinds of "free (?)" fluid around her lungs and the prednisone might be masking something in her liver. She spoke very fast with lots of information that, I guess, I was expected to understand. At that point, the prognosis was very poor, and I wanted our dog home so we could say goodbye in our own home. They told me she wouldn't survive the trip and it wouldn't be kind to drive her home just to euthanize her, to which I agreed. They told me we needed to get there as soon as possible if we wanted to say goodbye. We all got in the car, including our other dog, Bean, and we were there in an hour.
This is the part that makes me angriest. They knew she was declining quickly, but they had us waiting for about 20 minutes, first in the front waiting room and then in what I would call a "bereavement" room where they would bring her so we could say goodbye. While we were waiting for them to bring her to us, someone came to tell us that she was "degrading" quickly and they couldn't move her so we needed to hurry to see her in the oxygen chamber where she had been. By the time we got there, she had stopped breathing and there was no reaction on her face. Even though her heart was still beating, she was gone. THEY HAD US WAITING FOR 20 MINUTES THAT WE COULD HAVE SPENT WITH HER. They're the ones who told us how imperative it was for us to get there quickly, and then they made us wait, and we missed seeing her in her final minutes alive, albeit in very poor condition.
To add insult to injury, I received a message the next day from someone very soft spoken giving their condolences, but reminding me that there's an outstanding balance. She added that there was no hurry in replying. Well, if there was no hurry, why are they calling me for money the next day? They charged for euthanasia even though they told us she passed on her own.
Also, what they call a deposit is actually a down payment. I thought the deposit would be reversed once all treatment was complete and a payment plan or payment for the total bill was made.
BEVS should offer some kind of hospice service. They knew at 2:00 a.m. how poorly Poppy was doing and had a good sense what the prognosis was. It would have been an amazing option if they could have sent her home with some dog-dose of morphine (or something similar) so Poppy could be comfortable and we could be with her. (But that's not exactly the most profitable option for them.)
UPDATE: I went to pick up Poppy's ashes on January 3 and couldn't help airing my grievances to the receptionist. She seemed very empathetic and suggested I email the managers of the clinic. She told me to use the general email address as everyone in the organization sees all the emails that go there. As soon as I got home that day, I emailed them a revised version of the above information with some questions about billing. It is January 7, and I have not heard back from anyone.
This was not our first experience at a vet e.r. Years ago, in Massachusetts, we had to bring our constipated, overweight cat to the e.r. They gave her enemas and got her regular, but they wanted to do a colectomy to shorten her colon at the tune of $4,000. We asked if there were any treatment options at home, and they gave us a syringe. We had to give her water injections under her skin to rehydrate her and put canned pumpkin in her food to keep her regular. We ended up spending around $300, and this worked. She lost weight, stayed regular and lived another eight years.
Vets need to trust that pet parents can often treat their animals at home with proper guidance and necessary materials. read more