My dog had cardiac arrest in small cage at vets after 14 hours

Gilead

I'm sorry to hear about your dog, any dog owner out there will feel your pain.

You stated at the beginning you trusted this veterinary practice as you had used them before, you should follow that trust through and allow a post-mortem as it is through that investigation a cause of death can accurately be confirmed. If the trust is completely gone then get another vet to carry it out.

If you aren't willing to do that it would be impossible to connect any alleged negligence with the death. And, to be honest, from what you are saying I do not see negligence, I see someone hurt by the loss of their dog trying to find answers but being quick to attribute blame.

I agree with other posters that if a drip is placed on an animal they need to be in a confined, safe space.

telboy82

ive lost many animals including dogs in vets in the past, never once have i ever felt this about a veternary practice, if they didnt know whats wrong with him im sure there is no need to have him confined on a drip for 14 hours, doesnt make sense at all, i promise im not looking to blame someone just because im in pain over it, id prefer to know they did all they could, but they didnt because they didnt have the facilities for him, if he wasnt on a drip or sedated he shouldnt of been kept in that size confinement, its against his rights full stop, they denied my rights to see this area before hand to make satisfied with his well being, this is against the code and law, i will be requesting the whole log of events tomorrow which im entitled to by law during his stay there so i can see what happened if anything, also i hope they have cctv in there as il be requesting this also, my big dog shouldnt of been left there full stop thats my fault for not being more pushy about taking him to his holding, and if the only cage they could put him in meant he had to be sedated or hooked up to a drip then thats just wrong if you dont know whats wrong with an animal, either way as they didnt see any emergency they should of kept to there code and thought of the animals welfare and realized they do not have the facilities to look after him and refer me to another vets or let me find another more suitable on my own which would have been no trouble. No blame game here just someone who knows there dog got neglected from the treatment he needed which they couldnt provide and many other veternary practices could of.

arbrighton

Sorry, I haven't read your full original post and subsequent ones in full as without much in the way of paragraphs or punctuation, it's impossible.

If there is no blame game, you wouldn't be out to sue. And in order to make sure noone was to blame, you would allow that post mortem, see if there was an underlying issue. You say you want to get to the bottom of why he passed away. That needs a post mortem, same as a sudden human death would.

Dogs, and humans can seem healthy but have underlying health issues. You are not a vet, you can't have known every single aspect of his health, nor would a vet be able to find a problem without testing.

If your dog had been sedated, they would know have been responsible to release him to you until he was fully recovered.

AND dogs don't just keel over of cardiac arrest if they 'panic' due to being separated.

telboy82

I am now inquiring about a post mortem, and I am sorry for my punctuation, quite difficult to write properly at the moment, as i say he was not treated with the respect he is entitled to i wouldn't feel the need to blame them for his suffering if they made satisfied with his welfare there first so i knew he would be comfortable in god hands, this I wasnt allowed as they wouldnt let me near his holding, they only let me in that area when he was passed away, that is when i knew his welfare was non existant, still no one has told me on here why its okay to keep a dog in a small cage meant or small dogs or a dog that is sedated, my dog would not of sat there awake for 14 with a fluid line in him with out a struggle or stressing, so when he is awake and not supposed to be in such a small cage what are your answers for keeping him a insufficient sized cage that doesnt give him freedom to move, thats right ive asked this in most my posts but no body can answer this because its wrong, it cant be answered as it shouldnt happen, il be inquiring about a post mortem but this has nothing what so ever to do with negligence, negligence is when they dont stick to their code or laws and doesnt have to involve death either they just have to do a bad job or go against your wishes and that is negligence, my problem if you read is not me saying they killed my dog but if they were honest that they cant care for such a large dog and let me take him somewhere where they werent under staffed and had the correct facilities, i believe if they had done this or aloud me to see his holding cage as requested which they refused me my right to do so, he would have a greater chance of survival but il never know, either way i dont need to be a vet to know what health issues he might of had up til now but it was none, even if there was one and they find a snooker ball in his tummy it doesnt take a single piece of the rotten treatment he got away, there is no excuse or underlying illness thats going to make this vets negligence seem fine or change the fact my dog was in a cage he shouldnt of been in. no autopsy or underlying illness can ever change the way an animal or human is treated by others illness and treatment are different, my dog was also sedated probably more than once also, and he only had to be sedated once for the xray, so if they sedated him more than that I think then they were definatley putting him at risk of cardiac arrest especially if they did it more than they had to especially if it was just to keep him calm in his cage as he was very stressed ive already said he was trying bust out, why sedate a dog that doesn't need it if you've done your xray and blood test, im sure when i get the vets log tomorrow i may see what was going on, people die from losing a loved one from heart break so dont tell me a dog cant cardiac arrest over panic they understand this world a lot less than us and get scared more than us, have you ever had a panic attack or similar, the heart is fragile and can take only so much stress its the same in animals as in humans, he was not sedated or 14 hours so shouldnt of been in that cage for the entire time.

telboy82

If i try to sue them or take them to court its not about money because I wont be entitled to much at all, this is about making a point that you have to give these the care set out in the guidelines and laws about animal welfare, my dog suffered no doubt about it because his welfare wasnt priority when its supposed to be, me getting them investigated and raising a case will make this vet think twice about keeping animals in the wrong cages for the wrong reasons, then i will feel closure, I will take it to court and prove myself negligence was at play, I made calls and told the events that happened rcvs and solicitors and they agree it wasnt right the way he and us were treated by them and they should of let us take him to his holding as we requested, this refusal alone is misconduct and negligence, just refusing me that right alone put them in the wrong

elsien

If you try to sue or take them to court, you are going to have to make your points more concise and easy to follow. I have no idea if you have a case or not, but you're not making it easy for yourself with how you've written so far.
A couple of points though - you mention staff being inexperienced because they are nurses not vets. Vetinary nurses can be very experienced and know exactly when to call for assistance.
And I can't see that it would be particularly practical for back rooms in vets surgeries where there may be a number of unwell dogs being monitored or following surgery to have owners in there as well, getting in the way.
I understand you have concerns but you need to separate out the bullet points as the other less relevant stuff is just a distraction.
I also find it unlikely that the RCVS or a solicitor would have completely agreed that your dog's treatment was not right from hearing only your side of the story. My guess would be there were rather more ifs and buts in there than that.

Have a look at the log, see what it says, then if you choose to take it further take a deep breath and focus on the essential points - that's likely to get taken more seriously than the posting style you've used on here so far.

telboy82

Thank you Elsien for the kind advice.

telboy82

im going to try an get an autopsy.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

telboy82 wrote: »

we got him in the car and rushed to London to a well known charity based vet clinic weve have took our pets to for about 15 years

PDSA or RSPCA? You were fortunate that you've qualified for free treatment all these years, as I was under the impression that they didn't want to encourage ownership of pedigree animals that tend to need more and expensive veterinary treatment, by people who are unwaged and therefore unable to afford to pay for the treatment the animals need. In any case, they've got dedicated legal teams who would defend your accusations with expert veterinary testimony. Can you afford expert witnesses and solicitors if you're unwaged?

telboy82 wrote: »

dont tell me a dog cant cardiac arrest over panic they understand this world a lot less than us and get scared more than us, have you ever had a panic attack or similar, the heart is fragile and can take only so much stress its the same in animals as in humans,

People don't die of panic attacks. They might make you feel like you're going to die, but the point is that you don't, as they're just anxiety, not a heart malfunction. And quite frankly, the size of animal you had, if it has been babied to the extent that it freaks out if not with you, not only would they have had to sedate it in any case for x-ray, they'd have needed to for their own safety.



Yes, there are vets that are bad and vets that make mistakes, but not only do you need something better than 'he was scared' to get a legal judgement in your favour, you're anthropomorphising your dog. He was a dog. He didn't die of a broken heart or claustrophobia or of being unable to wander round the clinic and chase the cats in their cages. You would get torn to pieces in court by the judge for wasting their time in bringing what they'd say was an entirely frivolous law suit.

He was unwell, you said yourself there was something seriously wrong - what sounds like a hernia from what you've said - they did all the tests they could to try and find out what your reports of a rugby ball sized lump could be, kept him in to see whether the symptoms recurred (which costs them a lot), as a hernia can disappear back inside and then come back again when moving freely, either strangulating it or pushing up into the lung space and causing heart failure (which makes it a good idea to restrict movement overnight), then followed standard good practice by giving him fluids to deal with potential dehydration and he unfortunately died overnight before they were able to establish what caused your frantic dash across town to them in the first place and ultimately, his death.

Completely losing it and trying to punish them for animal cruelty when they quite obviously were trying to do the best for him at no cost to yourself isn't going to bring him back, improve veterinary standards or achieve anything other than costing you an awful lot of money that you really don't have if you're relying on the RSPCA/PDSA to provide veterinary treatment in the first place.


I am still sorry that your dog has died. Perhaps if you consider getting another pet, you should get something smaller and less prone to a sudden early death - mongrels may lack the kudos that a fighting/guardian/pedigree/inbred dog does, but they don't tend to have as many medical issues. It should also make taking out pet insurance affordable, so you don't have to use a charity for another fifteen years and can pick and choose where you get treatment.

gettingtheresometime

If seem to remember there was a long running post about someone trying to sue a vet over the treatment their pet received.

If memory serves me right it was on the consumer rights board.

I think the situation went on for months.

Try & find it because that's the same sort of fight you're going to be faced with if you proceed with legal action