May 2010 - My dog & I just had a horrible experience at Avenue Animal Hospital, with vet James P. Wahl. He performed surgery on my Borzoi Eva for pyometra & she ended up having her leg amputated, the leg he placed the IV in. The IV was kept in her leg for nearly 24 hours at his insistence, even though I asked that he take it out. I visited her after the surgery for pyometra. She was lying in a cage & had the IV line wrapped and stretched tight around the back of her neck. I showed him & asked that he take out the IV. He told me she must have just done that & it was nothing to worry about. He insisted on keeping her overnite with the IV in. I should have followed my instincts because I was very concerned she would get the line stretched again or try to take it out AND NOBODY IS THERE AT NIGHT TO CHECK THE ANIMALS. They charged me $64 for hospitalization with nobody there. I took her home the next morning and her leg swelled up a few days later. I called 3 days in a row before he would see her. He told me repeatedly he was not concerned because she was on antibiotics and swelling was normal. The third day when it began to bleed the girl who answered the phone said bring her in. His first response was that it wasnt so bad, and made me feel like I was overly concerned. I had asked every time I called if we could switch to a stronger antibiotic. That is exactly what he did on the third day of swelling. He prescribed clavamox. I was very concerned because her paw felt cold compared to the rest of her leg. He told me the top part of her leg was warmer because of infection. He used a thermometer that would not get a read on her leg after he used it to check the temperature in her behind. The next day I called because the swelling was not going down, they told me to give the antibiotics a few days to kick in. Then on a wednesday when he is not in but a staff member was, I called because all the skin had come off of her paw from the "wrist" joint down. Muscle was exposed, it was horrifying. Receptionist Lisa told me he is never in on wednesday & that he is in meetings all day. I said PLEASE call him, she said she couldnt guarantee she could get in contact with him. I got a call 5 minutes later and she told me my dog was probably just licking it too much, did I have an elizabethan collar, and to put bactine on it! I said I am not putting bactine on exposed muscle! The next morning I brought her in and he STILL TOLD ME IT WASNT THAT BAD. He gave me a medicine that was supposed to get red blood cells active and he gave her a laser treatment FREE OF CHARGE that is supposed to stimulate cell activity as well. We did the laser treatment 3 days in a row. On the the third day, one of her toes had turned to mush and I could see bone. He told me she might lose that toe but that he had saved legs worse than this. That was a saturday. He also told me that if it didnt improve on its own over the weekend then we were talking amputation. I blame myself for not taking her somewhere else sooner but the minute he said amputation I found another vet. I was not going to let him put another IV into my dog, let alone perform surgery. During our many visits to Dr. Wahl, I noticed that his hands were VERY SHAKY, ofcourse I didnt notice it until after he performed the surgery for pyometra. I dont know what is exactly going on, but I think anyone with shaky hands should not be doing surgeries anymore. His lack of concern when the leg swelled up, bled at various points, lost circulation, skin came off, toe disintegrated was perhaps worse than the initial mistake. Monday morning 7 a.m. I took her to another vet. By that time the muscle had dried up and looked like meat you left out in the sun. I could see more bone. The new vet and his staff were shocked and said swelling after surgery is always a MAJOR CONCERN. They brought her into surgery to remove her leg. I wanted to see what Dr. Wahl would say. I called and asked how much the amputation surgery usually was, and would he give me a discount. He called me back to say he would do it for 1/2 his normal price. To me this means he felt responsible but he would not admit it. I asked if he could just give me a discount on the $600 I just spent on the first surgery because I took her elsewhere. There was silence on the line. He then told me no because the first surgery had nothing to do with the leg amputation. I said Really? Dont you think it was a result of the first surgery? He said he couldnt be sure why and that he thought the infection from her uterus (pyometra) had moved into her leg. The 2nd vets staff said they couldnt be 100% sure, but they thought the tape was too tight on the IV & cut off circulation. I think it was that or the amount of time he left the IV in, that my dog could have moved the needle overnite or when I saw her, or shaky hands putting it in. The lack of concern still astounds me. DON'T LET HIM OPERATE ON YOUR PET. His cheery attitude fooled me, dont let it happen to U read more
