They killed my dog.
My 10 year old greyhound passed away in the early morning of Thursday. A week prior to that we went on a long awaited and needed trip to visit relatives. Money was tight so after debating what to do with our cat and dog we decided against dragging them across country in the car and place them with someone affordable. This place was recommended by a couple of pet owners in the community and we went with it. We thought, boarding facility and vets in one place, sounds great for our aging doggy.
Next day, while we were on the road we received a call from them saying that he had diarrhea and would not eat. We say this is somewhat normal for a stressed greyhound and please entice him with some wet food mixed with kibble, add some water to it, even cat wet food. They say they want to do blood work and we say no need. Try what we say first and keep us updated.
Fast forward a week, no ring from them so we are calm and confident that all is well. We are even planning to pick the animals up earlier than planned, 4 hours remaining till we get home. Another call from them saying that my dog is throwing up bile and continuing to have diarrhea, that he has not eaten anything this whole time and that he cannot walk and we hear clear relief in their voice when we tell them we are coming home and are planning to pick him up right away. My husband guns it and shortens our drive by almost 30 minutes repeating that we need to hurry because he does not think the dog will make it. I am still oblivious and hopeful...
We get to the place and they start acting all weird, the receptionist avoids eye contact and says that someone is going to come talk to us. That someone comes and with a soft smile shows us the picture of our dog lying on a pad full of bile. We want to see him and then there is probably good 20 minutes of confusion where we just stand there in the foyer, thinking they would let us to him. The lady comes out and with much sterner look says, "I am told you would not pay before you see him? You need to pay first". At this point I was not even able to be taken care of. The receptionists would run around avoiding us, either by walking inside to take care of someone else or being on the phone. And we are being treated like some thieves that would take off running without paying. I cannot even tell you how angry I was that that was their first concern. We pay, they let us see him and he is probably good 15 lbs lighter and barely hanging on. We want to grab him and they say their staff will carry him out the back door. Of course, why would they frighten their clients with emaciated dog's remains that is dying on THEIR watch.
We get home and immediately call our vet that specializes in greyhounds and they tell us that he is beyond the point of return. That we can try to force some water and baby food in him and maybe there is a miracle in waiting. He continues to throw up and have diarrhea and would not eat or drink. My husband feeling more and more enraged by the clinic, calls and demands a refund. In 45 minutes we find out that we are horrible pet owners, that we need to take him to the ER, that we apparently refused care for him and that they did all they could to feed him. They claimed to have called us and left us a message a few days after the first call but we did not have any messages on either of our phones. When asked what they tried to do they said they blended his dry food and they clearly did not do what we asked. All I want to do is scream and hold them accountable. My husband accused the lady on the phone of knowing nothing about greyhounds to which she said she owned one, even a racer just like ours, they raced in California. Well, it must be one f*ing old dog because racing in Cali was banned in 1939.
My husband had her admit on record that they cared more about keeping their money than taking care of my animal. He asked her to say yes or no. And she said yes. She said yes and my dog died that night. read more