Nightmare experience @ Katy Old Town Animal Hospital & Katy Pet Clinic

[fuze]

Just a warning for pet owners in the Katy area. I took my dog to get spayed by Vet Hicks. She passed away in his care. Have not received an apology or anything from Vet Hicks.

My dog was a Great Dane. My dog made it through surgery but passed during recovery. I am told that Great Danes need special care during recovery. They need to be covered in blankets to be kept warm. This is done to keep them from bleeding out internally. Vet Hicks did not even have one blanket on her. He just had her laying on the floor. He will not give me the records of what he used during the surgery. This is a violation of the law. I asked him for them and told me to get a lawyer then hung up on me.

Here is Vet Hicks contact info if you would like to make

the mistake and use him as your vet or help me in my

fight to get my Great Danes records from him.

Email: info@katypetclinic.com

Phone: (281) 392-8387

[special]

I'm so sorry for your loss. What a terrible thing to have happen, I know you must be heart broken. I hope you can find some closure.

(are you in Katy, TX?)

[fuze]

Yes Katy, Texas. I should of added the Texas part.

[tiffers]

Hey, Fuze. My name is Tiffany, and I work at a Vet Clinic in Conroe, Texas. PM your information, and I will try to call and get your records. Do you have any other animals? It'd be easier for me to get your stuff if you did... :D I can even look over them with my doctor and see if we can see any mistakes.

I am so terribly sorry for your loss.

[krazy4birds]

I am so sorry about your Great Dane......that is pretty traumatic....hope Tiffers can help.

[Miss Vicky]

If you want to take action against that veterinarian, your best bet is to file a complaint with the Texas Veterinary Medical Board.

Here is a link to their site:

http://www.tbvme.state.tx.us/Complaints.asp

[fuze]

Thanks for all your responses. There is more to the story about the decisions Vet Hicks made and the Vet at the other clinic his owns. I have talked to a handful of Breeders and 2 lawyers that deal wit Vets, they have all told me the same thing. Vet Hicks did not tend to the needs of a Large Breed dog. I been told this surgery is a 45 min procedure, my dog was still trying to wake up after 2 hrs n 30 minutes. All i want to know is what happened and an apology. It has been 28 days of trying and still nothing.

[tiffers]

I been told this surgery is a 45 min procedure, my dog was still trying to wake up after 2 hrs n 30 minutes.

...a spay can be anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours. For a big dog, I'd say 45 minutes is about the norm. However, most drugs don't allow the patient to wake up immediately after surgery. For instance, one of the drugs we use frequently keeps the patient knocked completely out for 5+ hours in recovery. So, depending on what she was given...2hrs and 30min isn't bad.

[Miss Vicky]

...a spay can be anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours. For a big dog, I'd say 45 minutes is about the norm. However, most drugs don't allow the patient to wake up immediately after surgery. For instance, one of the drugs we use frequently keeps the patient knocked completely out for 5+ hours in recovery. So, depending on what she was given...2hrs and 30min isn't bad.


5 hours?! Now that's insane. May I ask which drug this is?

At my hospital, dogs are typically pre-meded with Acepromazine, Xylazine and Atropine, inducted with a combination of Valium and Ketamine then intubated and maintained with Isoflurane (Cats are usually inducted with Sevoflurane in an induction chamber then intubated and maintained with Isoflurane). The cats are fully awake within a couple of minutes and the dogs at least have their head up within that period of time. The two other hospitals I've worked at have used slightly different protocols, but certainly none that ever left the patient out for that length of time.

[tiffers]

...we use DexDomitor and Torb, and they sleep for a long, long period of time. Granted, if you go over and tap on the cage they pick their heads up and look at you, but they still sleep pretty heavily unless we reverse them. On older patients, we use Propofol, and they are up within a few minutes from surgery. Cats get the same thing (DexDomitor and Torb) with Ketamine mixed in, and we let them sleep it off as well, because if you reverse the DexDomitor before the Ketamine has been in the cat for an hour or more, you're going to have a freaked out kitty.

Our boss, an older doctor, uses all the old school drugs. The Atropine and Ace and whatnot. The younger doctor's that we have don't do that anymore.

EDIT: I wanted to add that if these guys are kept unstimulated, they tend to sleep a lot longer. Much like humans in surgical recovery. And in the case of this great dane, she was cold...which will also make her stay sleeping longer. She needed her energy to try to build up some heat to keep her self warm.

[DoggieVogue]

I would just like to say that I am so very sorry for your loss. I wish I was knowledgeable enough to help you in some way, but I'm not. My heart goes out to you all the same.

[nanamouse]

The stuff Tiffers mentioned is what I see itemized on my reciepts too. Mine also get a 24 hour pain shot before leaving the clinic, so are a little groggy, but that (usually) keeps them from doing too much running and jumping right away.

I can't imagine what you've been through, I know there are incompetant vets, and that even a good vet can make a mistake, I guess I'm just grateful for the vet I have. If that one is truely as unconcerned as it sounds like then I hope you and your lawyers are able to put him out of business before other animals die.

[MandyPug]

The Atropine and Ace and whatnot.

I've always wondered, and maybe i might start a new thread about all the drug questions, but i have a bottle of Atropine sitting in Izzie's drug box. It's the eye drops and i only had to give her one drop this one day back when she first got her eye fixed. What is it used for?

[tiffers]

What is it used for?

There are many, many uses for Atropine, actually. One of the main reasons we use it is for emergencies. When given IV, it speeds up the heart rate. I know it can be used as pain medication for the eyes, as well as being used to dilate the pupils for an eye exam. And of course, the old doctor uses it for chemical restraint and sedation for surgery.

[MandyPug]

Ah cool cool, i think i may write a thread now about how she is doing. She had a check up yesterday and i think y'all are due for an update anyways.

[tiffers]

You should! We all need an update! :D And you should start a drug thread, I do like pharmacology. ;)

[Miss Vicky]

...we use DexDomitor and Torb, and they sleep for a long, long period of time. Granted, if you go over and tap on the cage they pick their heads up and look at you, but they still sleep pretty heavily unless we reverse them. On older patients, we use Propofol, and they are up within a few minutes from surgery. Cats get the same thing (DexDomitor and Torb) with Ketamine mixed in, and we let them sleep it off as well, because if you reverse the DexDomitor before the Ketamine has been in the cat for an hour or more, you're going to have a freaked out kitty.

Our boss, an older doctor, uses all the old school drugs. The Atropine and Ace and whatnot. The younger doctor's that we have don't do that anymore.

EDIT: I wanted to add that if these guys are kept unstimulated, they tend to sleep a lot longer. Much like humans in surgical recovery. And in the case of this great dane, she was cold...which will also make her stay sleeping longer. She needed her energy to try to build up some heat to keep her self warm.

Interesting. We give our surgical patients butorphanol as well, but as an analgesic not an anesthetic. I've never even heard of DexDomitor. Is that a brand name or the actual drug name?

[tiffers]

Is that a brand name or the actual drug name?

Brand name. It used to be just Domitor...but, they did some reformulating. We've been using it forever.

There are times when we use torb for pain, but more often than that, we use it for chemical restraint.