This weekend was a terrible time for a friend of mine and her poor dog., The previous Monday, my friend had her dog sterilized by the local vet, agreed and paid for, by the local charity as it was a stray dog.. By Wednesday, the dog must have been frantic and had pulled all the stitches out, which meant the dog had to go back to be re-stitched. One would thing that once would be enough for a sterilization. It seemed that the second stitches had been done too tightly, but the vet didn't appear too concerned. However on the Friday, the owner noticed the skin tearing close to the stitches. She was alarmed so she called the vet again, but a family emergency changed everything. Her husband was admitted into intensive care which was devastating news. She couldn't go with him, because of the sick dog, so her daughter stayed at the hospital with her father, whilst my friend tried frantically to get treatment for the dog.
On the Saturday morning, the situation became far worse with the dog. She was bleeding badly and her intestines were hanging out. Gosh this must have heartbreaking to see this and also must have been hugely painful for the poor doggy. If treatment wasn't found immediately the dog would die. She contacted me and I gave her the numbers of a couple other vets who she might wish to try. Living within this area, we don't have a choice for vets. There are only 2 covering a large area. One qualified a couple of years ago, the other highly experienced with large farm animals, but now performing care for smaller animals. She left many messages for the vet who performed the surgery and all he could suggest was to put a tight compressor around the wound until Monday. I could not believe that this was the attitude towards a dying dog. Equally he didn't respond to any of her further text messages either, but he was around, but choose to ignore this desperate situation. If he couldn't attend, why didn't his brother visit? Anyway she rang the other vet, who basically was in Athens. He would not be back until late in the evening, therefore was unavailable to help. Further more, he implied that if he came, it will cost her, but anyway the dog will probably die during the night. I can't believe that professional people can even have attitudes like these.
Sadly at 3 am on the Monday morning, the poor dog died. I cannot even say peacefully, as the dog will have been in horrific pain. In England, an investigation would have been immediately conducted, but this is Greece and one just doesn't bother and no action will be taken against the vet. Startling though, I have since learnt that this is not the first time a dog has died as a result of sterilization from this particular vet. With this, I now question the competencies of this qualified vet.
Having your husband admitted into intensive care and having a dying dog to deal with must have been horrific. The pain and heartache my friend went through, sadly there are no words to describe these feelings. I tried to help where I possibly could, but I don't speak the language. However, I am so sorry that I could not have done more. The dog should not have died. The vets have a duty and responsibility. Sadly they choose to ignore the urgent plea. Now I have no trust in either of these vets.
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