The Pet Hospital - Hilo, Inc.

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
First in part, the Drdoes not even keep the dates correctHe states that he received a letter in regards to the complaint dated the 29th of OctoberHe then finishes to say that he received the letter on the 31st of October? It only takes one day to mail anything from Island to IslandThen he goes on to state that "on Oct8, 2014, they called and we stated that our puppy stopped vomiting and was starting to eatThat he was getting better." This is not true! If so, then we would not have called and expressed that our puppy was still in the same state as when we brought him in on the 6th of OctOur puppy was NOT getting better! We reluctantly returned with our puppy after making another appointment with another VetWe were trying to show faith in the servicesAt this point the Drdid put the puppy on IV for the day and charged me in advance for the following day IV treatment (Oct10, 2014)On this day the Dragreed to provide one additional IV treatment if the puppy was still having issuesWe called and requested the additional IV treatment (as promised by the Dron Friday the 10th of Oct.) for Saturday treatmentWe returned with the puppy the morning of the 11th and was told that they were not going to do the promised treatment however they would inject something into the puppy's back and shoulders that left big bumps for the remainder of the dayThe puppy was still NOT getting better nor was he eatingAt this point he was very yellow and not moving well so we called to see if we could get him into the New Vet we had a Monday appointment with on Sunday the 13thThe new vet made us leave the puppy because he was in such bad shapeThe DrStates that we were sent home with meds for Leptospirosis? We NEVER received any of those meds from the Dror the New Vet! I have the meds that were providedAnd we were provided different meds then what the Drgave us originallyI even asked the Drabout meds that would further damage the puppy's ALREADY DAMAGED liver, and was told that that was not an issueHowever the new Vet took the puppy off those meds and treated the puppy as requested by providing more IV treatmentsThe puppy stayed in-house for days getting IV treatmentBy October 15, 2014, the Drhad no more hands on the matter of helping my puppy, and as he states, he knew of us taking the puppy elsewhereHe knew at this point that we were no longer going to use his services and the issue was no longer his business or concernThe Puppy ingested the second (DOUBLE) dose of the heartworm meds and he began to have the problems throughoutThe paper provided by the Drstates in fine print (also which the Drdid not tell us could happen) as follows:
"ADVERSE REACTIONS:
The following adverse reactions have been reported in dogs after giving milberrycin oxime or lufenuron; vomiting, depression/lethargy, pruritus, urticaria, diarrhea, anorexia, skin congestion, ataxia, convulsions, hypersalvation, and weakness."
Now based on all of those described "possible" reactions that my puppy had and still has, due to him getting big red bumps on his skin since this all started, as well as the information and issues others have had and posted to the World Wide Web, the DOUBLE DOSE of heartworm medication at such an early stage in the puppy's life was the cause for the sicknessOn top of that, the Drhas not afforded ANY other cause for the sickness other than "Leptospirosis" and given the fact that I have another dog that has been around the whole time, and the Dradmitting that if it were Lepto, that my other dog would have symptoms as well which she does NOT, what else is the cause of the sickness and why the warning that was not afforded by the Drin question?
The Dralso states that on "Nov2, 2014, he contacted the Vet on emergency call and was told that the Sentinel would not cause the illness." Why did it take the Drto contact all of these people so long after the fact if there is NOT a problem with what may be the truth about this medicationIt took a complaint to have him call aroundHe apparently didnt care enough about the animal in the beginning to not only have me take the puppy elsewhere, as well as not make calls earlier in the illness while the puppy was in his carethis also supports the statement I have made and with my Brother as a witness as well as GOD, this Drmade the statement to us that "At least he is not dead" and it was said twice! I have no reason to lie, and I was only asking for the dollars that was afforded by me to still not have the puppy wellI did not ask for the other or any other NOW questionable charges I had been given and made to pay forI guess I will take this to small claims for the entire amount
Sincerely,*** ***

THE  PET  HOSPITAL-HILO, Inc.[redacted].[redacted]Telephone: ([redacted]) [redacted]      
November 2, 2014
Dear Revdex.com,Here is my response to the letter I received from you dated 10/29/14 and assigned the case ID...

[redacted].On October 5, 2014 I received a phone call from the client stating that his 4 month old pitbull puppy was given a Sentinel tablet on Oct 2 and his puppy has not eaten in two days and is having horrible diarrhea. That the puppy is going downhill quickly. He claimed that the Sentinel that we provided did this because he looked it up and all the signs were there. I said that it could not be and that something else was the cause and it is just a coincidcnce.  I told him he should bring the puppy in for us to assess. He stated that he did not have the funds and hung up saying something like you are just going to let my puppy die.On Oct 6, we called the owner to check on the puppy. He said it was still sick. We again advised him to bring the puppy in. This time he agreed. We examined the puppy and found it to be lethargic, vomiting and having diarrhea, oral erosions in the mouth and an abdomen that was completely distended with some sort of transudate. We did x-rays and ultrasound and didn't find anything obvious. We started treatment for inflammatory gastroenteritis  telling him that the diagnosis was open but we are treating the signs.On Oct 8, we called to check and the abdo swelling had decreased and the puppy had stopped vomiting and was starting to eat. That he was getting better.On Oct 9, the owner called saying that the pup had not eaten in a day but the abdo swelling had completely resolved and now the urine was really yellow.We advised him to come in. The puppy's oral erosions were almost gone but was jaundiced.Due to the jaundice we ran a series of lab tests and found the liver and kidney enzymes to be elevated and discussed the possibilities of toxicosis, leptospirosis and some sort of metabolic disease. The owner still said he thought it was the Sentinel. We started the puppy on IV fluid therapy and medications. We treated the puppy for two days.Oct 11, the 3rd day the puppy started to eat and drink and was not dehydrated so the IV fluids were discontinued but we infused fluids subcutaneously (SQ) under the skin just as an extra measure of therapy. This was a Saturday so he was informed to call the emergency service if needed over the weekend.On Oct 13, we called and the owner said they had taken the puppy to the emergency vet the day before. I contacted the veterinarian and he said he suspectedLeptospirosis, which was also one of our suspects, and sent home some medications.On Oct 15 we called the owner to check on the puppy. He said they were having to force feed him but he was eating some and there was no vomiting.He declined to bring the puppy in for assessment.On Oct 20, we called the owner and he reported that the puppy was now feeling better everyday.On Oct 24 we called again to check and he said the puppy was eating like a pig, that the jaundice was practically gone and he seemed back to normal.On Oct 31 we received the letter from Revdex.com.On Nov 2, I contacted the veterinarian who was on emergency call and who saw the puppy on Oct 12 and he said he knows the Sentinel would not cause the illness.On Nov 3, I contacted a staff veterinarian at Novartis Animal Health, the manufacturer of Sentinel and he said the product would not cause that type of illness.We worked so hard to get this puppy well. We maintained contact with the owner from the day that he called on Oct 5 up until the pup was "back to normal" on Oct 24. Throughout his illness we were ready to assist at any time, never stating that I was not Responsible for the puppy's illness nor would I EVER say something so callous as "At least he's not dead", as the owner alleged that I said. Those are such insulting words that attack my very nature of who I am and how I feel about the work that I do.Respectfully yours,[redacted], DVM