County Animal Clinic

Review: Hi I took my dog to county animal clinic around 8/**/13 to get her yearly vaccinations after the vet gave her the shots he came out and said she had a reaction to shots has happened before I explained she has been given these shots for seven years(that's her age)never had a problem the vet stated he gave her an inflammatory shot put her in an oxygenated tent come back in an hour said she would be fine let her rest paid my bill $580 and left.The hours after I got home she got very sick couldn't eat wouldn't drink water had a lot blood coming out of her anus rushed her to emergency room stayed there a few days but sad to say she never came home her kidneys shut down she was in alot of pain there was nothing left to do I had to make a very hard choice but I had to put her to sleep.I loved this dog she was the last good part left from my wife who passed from cancer 6 and half years ago.I'm not gona pay these people to kill my pup Ive tried to work with them just asking for the $580 but after dealing with my credit card company they refuse to pay so now I believe they should pay for the additional $4400 I paid to the emergency vet which I round out is their sister company. Thank you very much [redacted]Desired Settlement: Desired Settlement: Refund

Business

Response:

Dear Representative Revdex.com,

Re: Complaint ID [redacted]

"[redacted] presented to County Animal Clinic on 8/**/2013 for an exam and vaccines. On physical exam she was found to be healthy overall with the EXCEPTION of being obese and a medial patellar luxation of her left knee. The owner said that she ate lams Dog food only. Blood was drawn to evaluate her general health further and three vaccines were given that were·considered core essential vaccines for this dog based upon her risks and previous vaccine history. The above occurred

uneventfully except that the dog was panting and known to be a high stress patient. Nursing staff attempted to be as careful and gentle as possible knowing this to be the case.

Within approximately 10 minutes of vaccination,"[redacted]" began to vomit and have diarrhea. She was still very responsive and had a normal body temperature. When It appeared that she was not recovering as quickly as hoped (more vomiting and diarrhea) and that we could not be certain that this was simply "stress" related,the decision was made to treat for a potential vaccine reaction and not take any chances on the dog getting worse. She was treated with both a corticosteroid and an anti-emetic drug, both Injectable, and maintained In the hospital for another 90 minutes to allow us to feel comfortable that she had recovered adequately. After 90 minutes, it appeared that she had recovered and was sent home. The owner was

told to monitor In case any signs recurred. No new vaccines were administered, and as much as It seemed that a vaccine reaction was unlikely, it was the only working diagnosis not knowing If It was possible thai the dog had any other problems not detectable by physic.al exam alone. [redacted] was not charged for any of the services or treatment that were Involved with the events that occurred after vaccination ,le, to treat the vomiting and diarrhea.

"[redacted]" unfortunately became ill later that day and was treated at our emergency/referral facility (Animal Specialty Center) and the attending doctors there would be able to fill you In with their observations in detail, The conversation that Ihad with the attending Internist the next day was based on his observations and abdominal ultrasound, which suggested pancreatitls (Inflammation of the pancreas) which he could not relate to vaccine administration and seemed to believe that this was brewing In the dog prior to her visit, an unfortunate combination of events, although unrelated. Her degree of pancreatltls was severe and became life threatening,and ultimately resulted In other organ failure, and unfortunately, [redacted] elected to euthanlze "[redacted]" based upon her very poor condition. We were all very saddened to hear of this news.

Although there did not seem to be any correlation that we could make with vaccine administrati on and "[redacted]" Illness based upon the findings by the doctors at Animal Specialty Center, I felt that I wanted to investigate the possibility further

for my own patients and to allay [redacted]'s concerns regarding something that may have been done "wrong". Icontacted the manufacturer of our vaccines, (which we use on all of our patients In high volume daily) at Zoetls/Pfizer. We obtained a case number of [redacted], and I spoke to a veterinarian at Zoetis with full explanation of the events

of this case. She could not make a correlation to vaccination. She stated that the case would be reported to the FDA but could

not find a reason for the pancreatltls based on the events and vaccines administered on 8/**/13. This lnforrnatlon is available to [redacted] with reference to the above case number.

I contacted [redacted] by phone on 9/**/2013 to explain to him that we had Indeed Investigated the cause of "[redacted]" passing. We re-evaluated everything done that day at County Animal Clinic and could find no cause. Outside of stress, which we attempted to alleviate for her, everything else was routine. We spoke to the Internists at Animal Specialty center, who IImagine would also have spoken to [redacted] at the time of "Doodle's" hospitalization,who could not find a correlation between vaccination and pancreatitis, and we also Investigated the case·with the vaccine manufacturer who came to the same conclusions.

While I realize that this only brings minimal comfort to [redacted],and we were all very saddened to hear of

the loss of "[redacted]" to pancreatltis, Imust contest the accusation that we "killed his pup". There is obviously a lot more to the

medical picture. [redacted] did mention that he regularly fed his dog bacon fat which would be a more likely contributor to pancreatitls than vaccines, but I cannot say for certain what Initiated "[redacted]" Illness. He also mentioned during our phone call that "[redacted]" had vomited 12 days prior to the visit at County. We at County Animal Clinic are committed to providing the best medical care we can for our patients, and always strive for the optimal standard of care. If there was something we could have done to prevent the Joss of "[redacted]",we would have done it.

The causes of pancreatic, which was In fact the diagnosis made by Animal Specialty Center,are many, with some type of dietary indiscretion being the most common,and unlikely related to any of the procedures carried out at County Animal Clinic that day.

We are nevertheless saddened by the loss of "[redacted]" and wish [redacted] strength in being able to deal with this Joss. We can provide any Information he requires for him to be convinced and at peace that her death was not caused by something done at County Animal Clinic and was more likely a result of an already present, at that time yet-undetected problem that unfortunately became worse after her visit.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by County Animal Clinic regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Sincerely,

[redacted]. I would also like to stress the point that the vet himself less than a minute after the shot was given rushed out and asked me if Doodle ever had a reaction from her vaccines I told him she never had any reaction at anytime in the seven years of her life and he stated she had a reaction and gave her meds to counteract the shot, Thank you [redacted]