This is a sad, sad story, true, long but worth reading if you intend to bring any of your loved pets to this place.
We were going to South Wilton Vet group for a couple of years and thought all was great. One of our dogs, Teddy Bear, a soft coated wheaten terrier, who was about 2 years of age, was being walked outside of the house, and fell on top of Teddy. Teddy mauled my husband, which required me to rush out and help my husband. Ambulance was necessary as the bites were many and deep. We even had a Quarantine Order from the local police. When we told our Vet about this, they never suggested that we bring Teddy in for a work up as he was the sweetest and loving dog you could imagine. Totally out of character. We advised the Vet that any type of noise was setting him off. I also advised the Vet that when I ran out to help my husband and grabbed the leash, that Teddy's head was spinning from left to right.
About a week later, Teddy attacked one of my sons twice for unknown reasons! Thank God he is 22 years old and was able to hold Teddy down. Still bitten but thank God no hospitalization. We were totally baffled.
I had to call the Vet for help, and they agreed to give Teddy an anti-anxiety medicine. However, they never suggested for us to bring him in. They thought this was just behavioral. Then the Tuesday before New Years Eve as I was coming home from the Vet for one of our other dogs, Teddy attached another of my sons, who is 19. Ambulance, police and Quarantine Order again. I called the Vet frantic as to what in the world was going on. Finally, they suggested that we bring him in for a blood work up on the 30th of December. On New Years Eve we were advised that he had hypothyroidism and wanted to send the testing out for more detailed analysis. We waited and the result was that he had hypothyroidism. However, the Vet advised that as Teddy was on anti-anxiety meds, that we had to have him off it for 5 days and run the tests again!. Why did they not think of this in the first place. 5 days later, the results were in, Teddy's numbers were not even registering. His T4 level which should have been between 0.8 - 3.5 was less than a 0.5, this was just one of the tests. How sad. I did research on this and sent literature to the Vet about "rage syndrome" which is associated with hypothyroidism. Why did I have to research this? They should have known about this issue, where Teddy was attacking without warning, no barking, nothing to prepare us for this. They put Teddy on meds and told us to wait about 120 hours before it would take effect.
On 1/15 I called the vet again as the medical literature indicated that a tumor could be causing the hypothyroidism and whether they ever took x-rays or an ultrasound. The answer was that they never did these diagnostic tests, and that we should schedule an appointment in three weeks to see if they got the right dosage. If not , try again. I asked, aren't you just putting a "bandage" on the problem without knowing the cause???
On 1/19, my husband went to walk Teddy outside and stepped on some ice on the step, and made a "gasp" sound. This was enough of a sound for Teddy to turn around and attack my husband again. Unreal. My husband is such a wonderful , laid back person from California. My son ran out to help as did a contractor who was here. I end up having to run out to help and was able to control Teddy.While my husband was being driven away in an ambulance AGAIN!!! I called to speak with our Vet. She was out and was asked to call me back. When she called me back, she gave me the names of a few centers who might take Teddy, all said no due to the biting history. I called back to speak with her and she was with a client. I was told she would call me back. Another 15 minutes went by, and still no returned phone call. I called again, and told she was busy. I explained that this was an emergency situation and that we had to speak with her as I needed to rush to the hospital to seek how my husband was and that I needed to get Teddy out of the house and he had to be put down. I asked to speak with any Vet at the place. Then Jillian Spielman, the Practice Manager got on the phone and said that " you can't bring him here you will put all of us in danger". Was she kidding????? The attack was over, Teddy was in a kennel, and calm as if nothing had happened. This was just like the prior events. Our vet there knew the history. I had to call another Vet, N.A.H. for help. Fortunately, they agreed that the situation was grave and urgent. I had to have Teddy put down for the safety of our family, friends, and neighbors. This vet groups fell far too short on understanding the seriousness of the situation, failed to understand the medical conditions and failed to help us. We are traumatized over this, heartbroken and devastated that we lost a member of our family. Teddy Bear will be missed, but we know he must have been very sick. My husband has had over 10 set of stitches! read more