Wednesday 4/22/2105: Morning we woke up and Ava was acting a little odd in that she was not as active as normal. She had a slight vaginal discharge and at this point did appear dehydrated. She refused food again, however she was still running around the house jumping on window sills and all. We called and got a 9:45 Appointment with Heartland Animal Hospital.
Once there a vet tech began asking us when her last heat was, which was approximately 2 weeks prior to the visit. He was feeling around for any regularities and when asked if there was anything wrong he said “Probably just an infection” so he got the doctor and she told us we needed to do an emergency spay. They took Avas temperature which returned normal.
My wife questioned the use of antibiotics and was told they could not help her.
They assured us they had never had an issue with a spay of this nature and never once gave us alternative choices nor suggested any other course.
She seemed confident that a spay was the only way to help her and that there would be no issue. She stated flat out there had never been one. We filled out the forms and were told not to bother with blood work by the vet tech. He stated “Don't bother, it's going to be high anyways”. We were not presented with any information in regards to her being in danger of dying. No indication that there was any chance of the surgery not being successful. If we had been told that there was a chance of her not surviving the surgery, we would have seeked out a second opinion. The Vets over confidence in a situation that she was not experienced enough to handle took our options for second opinions or alternate treatment out.
So we left Ava in their care at approximately 10:35 AM
12:41 PM my wife called to check on Ava , they had not brought her in for surgery and said they were behind schedule.
1:10 PM we received a call fro 863 465 7387 and were told her uterus ruptured. But that she had made it through surgery but would be critical. We rushed out of the house to head to see her. This was less then 30 Minutes after they said she was not in surgery yet.
1:36 PM We were on our way to the vet when we were called and told that Ava did not survive being stitched up.......
Once at the vet we asked if we could see ava and the vet tech carried her out in a towel. We kissed and hugged her after uncovering her head.
The doctor came in and immediately told us she did not know how Ava was alive when she came in. She was not only alive when she came in, she was acting normal aside from not eating, she was active. She had been jumping in windows, playing with the laser dot, using the scratching post. We have a picture of Ava from the night before, and though pictures can not show everything, she did not look like a cat on her deathbed. I believe the Vet was not experienced enough to handle this procedure and used our Ava as a practice. I would like to know how many Pyometra cases she has handled successfully in her career. Once again, there is no way that Ava was in a condition that would indicate that she would be surprised she was alive when she got there. If this was the case why was the vet so cocky about the success of the surgery, why were we not given options, a success rate.
I contend that Ava was not as sick as she tried to imply AFTER she passed away. I am sure that if proper procedure had been followed and recommended practice, then either A) Ava would still be alive or B) we would have been told of the risk and made an educated decision based on that.
To quote a source on the recommended procedure.
“Pyometra is a medical emergency that requires rapid intervention to prevent overwhelming infection and death. For most pets, preoperative stabilization and resuscitation are first and foremost. After appropriate stabilization, ovariohysterectomy (spay) is the therapy of choice. The results of this therapy are generally a rapid recovery with minimal risk of recurrence. Ovariohysterectomy also negates the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer and future unwanted pregnancy. “
Note that it states “ preoperative stabilization and resuscitation are first and foremost. After appropriate stabilization”
The time frame that it took for them to perform surgery to the time of death negates this as a logical course that they followed. I would like to know exactly what Preop preparations where taken.
I would like to know why in her short 4 years as a vet had she been working at 4 different vets.
She uncovered ava fully and started to point and move her explaining things.... I told her to cover her as I found this to be quite disrespectful and rude.
We choose to have her cremated and selected an urn, as we were paying the receptionist told us we got a “50%” discount on the spay..... yes exact words 50% like she was a towel on sale. Like they had a special on killing cats.
Every document I have read seems to show that 30 minutes for surgery of this nature is not really adequate, there was no charge on iv's, they did not try to stabilize her first and seriously, in 30 minutes how much EFFORT could they have made. They also had no record of Ava's weight.......
Research also shows that a standard spay would take 15 – 20 minutes.
So how much precaution was taken due to her having pyometra as they stated she did.
Ava had a broken leg years ago. We paid over 3k to have it repaired . The name and location of the vet that handled this surgery is below.
Veterinary Emergency & Surgery
170 NH-125
Brentwood, New Hampshire
4/30/2015
Just picked up Avas cremation from Heartland Animal Hospital.
We requested her records that were on the shelf behind the receptionist. She opened the folder and it was clear only one paragraph was on the page. The copy machine was next to her and she excused herself to get us a copy. She went out back and 4 minutes later returned to make the copy on the machine at her desk, with added information on the record.
They recorded her weight at 6lbs
The recommended dosage of this drug for her weight is .276 they gave her almost twice the amount
The vitals aside from the temperature were also added at the same time as the new paragraph was. This can be noted by the added text being discolored and lighter then the original text.
Heartland Animal Hospital Reviews
Wednesday 4/22/2105: Morning we woke up and Ava was acting a little odd in that she was not as active as normal. She had a slight vaginal discharge and at this point did appear dehydrated. She refused food again, however she was still running around the house jumping on window sills and all. We called and got a 9:45 Appointment with Heartland Animal Hospital.
Once there a vet tech began asking us when her last heat was, which was approximately 2 weeks prior to the visit. He was feeling around for any regularities and when asked if there was anything wrong he said “Probably just an infection” so he got the doctor and she told us we needed to do an emergency spay. They took Avas temperature which returned normal.
My wife questioned the use of antibiotics and was told they could not help her.
They assured us they had never had an issue with a spay of this nature and never once gave us alternative choices nor suggested any other course.
She seemed confident that a spay was the only way to help her and that there would be no issue. She stated flat out there had never been one. We filled out the forms and were told not to bother with blood work by the vet tech. He stated “Don't bother, it's going to be high anyways”. We were not presented with any information in regards to her being in danger of dying. No indication that there was any chance of the surgery not being successful. If we had been told that there was a chance of her not surviving the surgery, we would have seeked out a second opinion. The Vets over confidence in a situation that she was not experienced enough to handle took our options for second opinions or alternate treatment out.
So we left Ava in their care at approximately 10:35 AM
12:41 PM my wife called to check on Ava , they had not brought her in for surgery and said they were behind schedule.
1:10 PM we received a call fro 863 465 7387 and were told her uterus ruptured. But that she had made it through surgery but would be critical. We rushed out of the house to head to see her. This was less then 30 Minutes after they said she was not in surgery yet.
1:36 PM We were on our way to the vet when we were called and told that Ava did not survive being stitched up.......
Once at the vet we asked if we could see ava and the vet tech carried her out in a towel. We kissed and hugged her after uncovering her head.
The doctor came in and immediately told us she did not know how Ava was alive when she came in. She was not only alive when she came in, she was acting normal aside from not eating, she was active. She had been jumping in windows, playing with the laser dot, using the scratching post. We have a picture of Ava from the night before, and though pictures can not show everything, she did not look like a cat on her deathbed. I believe the Vet was not experienced enough to handle this procedure and used our Ava as a practice. I would like to know how many Pyometra cases she has handled successfully in her career. Once again, there is no way that Ava was in a condition that would indicate that she would be surprised she was alive when she got there. If this was the case why was the vet so cocky about the success of the surgery, why were we not given options, a success rate.
I contend that Ava was not as sick as she tried to imply AFTER she passed away. I am sure that if proper procedure had been followed and recommended practice, then either A) Ava would still be alive or B) we would have been told of the risk and made an educated decision based on that.
To quote a source on the recommended procedure.
“Pyometra is a medical emergency that requires rapid intervention to prevent overwhelming infection and death. For most pets, preoperative stabilization and resuscitation are first and foremost. After appropriate stabilization, ovariohysterectomy (spay) is the therapy of choice. The results of this therapy are generally a rapid recovery with minimal risk of recurrence. Ovariohysterectomy also negates the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer and future unwanted pregnancy. “
Source: https://www.acvs.org/small-animal/pyometra
Note that it states “ preoperative stabilization and resuscitation are first and foremost. After appropriate stabilization”
The time frame that it took for them to perform surgery to the time of death negates this as a logical course that they followed. I would like to know exactly what Preop preparations where taken.
I would like to know why in her short 4 years as a vet had she been working at 4 different vets.
She uncovered ava fully and started to point and move her explaining things.... I told her to cover her as I found this to be quite disrespectful and rude.
We choose to have her cremated and selected an urn, as we were paying the receptionist told us we got a “50%” discount on the spay..... yes exact words 50% like she was a towel on sale. Like they had a special on killing cats.
Every document I have read seems to show that 30 minutes for surgery of this nature is not really adequate, there was no charge on iv's, they did not try to stabilize her first and seriously, in 30 minutes how much EFFORT could they have made. They also had no record of Ava's weight.......
Research also shows that a standard spay would take 15 – 20 minutes.
So how much precaution was taken due to her having pyometra as they stated she did.
Ava had a broken leg years ago. We paid over 3k to have it repaired . The name and location of the vet that handled this surgery is below.
Veterinary Emergency & Surgery
170 NH-125
Brentwood, New Hampshire
4/30/2015
Just picked up Avas cremation from Heartland Animal Hospital.
We requested her records that were on the shelf behind the receptionist. She opened the folder and it was clear only one paragraph was on the page. The copy machine was next to her and she excused herself to get us a copy. She went out back and 4 minutes later returned to make the copy on the machine at her desk, with added information on the record.
They recorded her weight at 6lbs
The recommended dosage of this drug for her weight is .276 they gave her almost twice the amount
The vitals aside from the temperature were also added at the same time as the new paragraph was. This can be noted by the added text being discolored and lighter then the original text.