THIS VET BURNED/CAUSED THE WOUND IN THE PICTURES TO MY DOG--NO QUESTION. I AM THE DOG OWNER. THERE IS AN ANIMAL WHO SUFFERED. THIS INCIDENT WAS FEATURED BY ABC NEWS (link below).
https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/dog-suffers-severe-burns-after-being-neutered
My story and experience with this vet are as follows.
I had been bringing my dog to this vet for two years. Keep in mind this vet worked at a spay/neuter clinic for many years. I waited to get my dog neutered and when my dog was nearly 2, I brought him into companion pet care on February 21, 2019 to get neutered. He went in a healthy, happy dog and came out seriously injured with third and fourth-degree burns to at least 20% of his body (see pictures). He suffered from these burns for 10 days before we realized something was wrong with him. On March 3, I noticed the skin on my dog's back was raw and bleeding at which point I bought a razor and my 12-year-old and I clipped his fur and discovered large areas of bloodied/raw skin across his entire back. I immediately took him to another vet who suggested that my dog had been burned. My dog needed to be shaved to ascertain the extent and severity of the burns, and because he was in pain, needed to be sedated again. The new Vet warned me about the extent of the damage to my dog's back before they let me and my 14-year old see him. We were devastated devastated by what we saw: a bloody, raw wound that was about the size of a man's size 12 shoe across my dog's entire back. I called the vet who performed the neutering procedure and owns this practice, Ted Burghardt, and asked him if it was possible he burn my dog. After seeing pictures of the wound, he admitted responsibility for the burn and offered to pay for the March 3 emergency vet visit, but I had to ask him if he wanted to see my dog in person. Eventually he reimbursed me for the neuter, which was itemized, charging me for other procedures that were done while my dog was under his care and being burned. After that point, Burghardt basically took the position that he would take care of my dog's injury for free (i.e., he would not pay for another vet to treat him) while I made it clear I would be getting a second opinion because I no longer trusted him. I did let Burghardt treat my dog for a period afterwards. He was all over the place with a treatment plan, which only add it to my anxiety. While all of this is going on, my dog was literally a bloody mess, with a bleeding, exuding wound that would break your heart (see pictures). Tissue would come off and stick to the walls and furniture. I became clear that Davie's fur would never grow back and my dog would be permanently disfigured but not before several months of suffering and living with this wound. Burns are horrible and very prone to infection--the skin dies and the dead tissue had to be cut out of my dog, another full on surgery, which Burghardt wanted to perform. I took my dog elsewhere on March 14 for a consult about the procedure because he was constantly bleeding and unwell and needed it done sooner, and I was not comfortable letting Burghardt do it. I'm glad I did because I spoke with the surgeon Burghardt recommended and she suggested I take my dog to a specialty hospital because the wound was so big and complicated. On March 15 the new vet was able to close the wound after cutting out the dead skin. My dog ended up with over 40 staples in his back and incision that was over 24 inches long. He also had a drain in the wound, which my 12-year-old had to help me empty twice a day. When I told Burghardt I'd write a poor Yelp review, I received a call from his malpractice insurance company who tried to force me to send them a final invoice and sign a confidentiality agreement so that I couldn't leave any reviews. This is all while the wound had not yet healed. They also told me they'd assign Burghardt a defense attorney if I tried to take this to small claims court and also assign him an attorney if I try to report the incident to the vet medical board. All of this is over $1500 and change, which is nothing to these people. I cannot imagine the pain my dog experienced, and can't stress the emotional toll this has taken on me and my kids. It's something that will stay with me and haunt me for the rest of my life read more