About 2 weeks back, D's old dog, Lewis, suddenly bled profusely from his nose and mouth. He obviously freaked out and immediately headed for the vet. It was past 9pm at night and their usual vet was closed for the day... they could only settled for a 24hrs vet near their place. At that point of time, it was probably the worst decision ever.
I heard about the news and rushed down to accompany D immediately. D said the vet left Lewis to bleed for a long while while moving on to attend to other pets. It was only after that she came and took a look and said Lewis was in critical condition. That was when she proceed to put him on drip and did tests on him. When I reached, Lewis was STILL BLEEDING. We were told not to clean the blood from his face and just wait for the blood to clot. Poor Lewis was placed on a metal grilled table, with a pool of his own blood dripping down to a metal tray below the grill. His face was covered with blood which he has been licking away. The blood stench was so strong I felt so nauseous trying to hold him.
We waited for the vet to get back to him for at least 2 hours or so. Imagine a mid-sized dog bleeding for a good whole 2 hours while the vet just let him be and continued with her regular consultation.
The bleeding stopped after that and they transferred him into a cage to rest. A clot indeed formed about Lewis' nose which I supposed stopped the bleeding as what the vet said. But dogs aren't like humans and having a bloodied mouth and nose with a big clot around your nose, it's natural that they would try to sniff it out. While speaking to the vet, Lewis suddenly hit his head against the metal cage, collapsed and started bleeding again. We freaked out of course, and D's sis screamed. Who wouldn't? If that happened to your very own pet that has been with you for the past 16 years?
The vet took Lewis out, and while the blood started trickling down to the floor, she told us not to scream, not to get so worked up and invited us out of the room. She even offered to show us the rotten teeth, which she suspected was what caused the bleeding. We were so shocked and anxious and just told her to save Lewis but she continued 'lecturing' us.
Fortunately, the rotten teeth was removed successfully and the bleeding stopped, for good.
This is the most un-PLEASANT vet clinic with the most UNCOMPASSIONATE staff I've ever seen.
Until now, I don't understand the vet's advise on letting the blood drip until it clots. This is not a simple nose bleed that will stop after a while. Lewis bled for at least a good whole 2 hours. If that happened to a human, it is definitely a serious condition, what more a dog. And it proved to be true since the blood did clot, but the clot came off after a few minutes resulting in more bleeding. If a surgery could be done at that point of time to remove the tooth and stop the bleeding, why did they say they were not able to do anything before that?
Nothing concrete could be diagnosed from that few hours in the clinic, little attention was given to a bleeding dog in critical condition and there was an obvious lack of staff - one young vet and an assistant, but a deposit of $700 was collected swiftly. Notices to not abuse staff were plastered all over the service counter which gave me the vibes that this is definitely not a one-off case. I even went back to google about this vet clinic and indeed, there were many bad experiences from pet owners in forums.
Despite being an after hour emergency and night clinic that claims to provide emergency veterinary care for over 20 years, this experience was nothing less than horrifying. Their website stated 'severe bleeding - internal or external' is one of the many emergencies which require immediate veterinary care, yet no immediate attention or proper care was given at all. Not to mention, they do not have ready blood banks for emergencies - we were told to find young and big dogs for blood transfusion if required, in the middle of the night.
The surgical room doubles up as the rest area for unwell animals and we were all allowed in. The door was wide open, so pet owners with their pets waiting for consultation could look right in at the 2 other dogs inside which were in critical condition. I'm not sure how it would be like if there were more animals in critical condition with their anxious owners waiting for that one vet, or how the other caged pets would feel looking at their fellow friend on the surgical table when a surgery is being done in front of them.
We met the owner of a 6 years old golden retriever at the clinic too as her dog collapsed on the way to the groomers who then brought him to the same clinic. He was also put on drip and left to rest on the floor. She saw how Lewis was being treated and recommended us to transfer him to Companion Animal Surgery instead. Her dog has been in before Lewis and nothing much has been done besides putting him on drip and collecting an initial deposit of $1000. She has made arrangements to transfer her dog over to Companion as well but had to wait as there were no slots available at that time.
And so Lewis was transferred early morning the next day. The experience at Companion was so much better. The vets and staff were much friendlier and compassionate both in attending to the owners and pets. A proper diagnosis was provided and the vet took time to explain Lewis' condition and the steps to take thereafter. There's a notice board pinned with 'Thank you" cards of appreciation. We found out that the golden retriever was also sent to Companion and enquired about his condition but was told he went went to a better place...
I can't helped but think that he could have been saved if treatment has been rendered much earlier. A healthy, young dog that suddenly collapsed due to suspected poisoning/ate something wrong, could have received proper treatment earlier.
Lewis received blood transfusion at Companion (yes, they have blood bank), performed a major surgery to remove all the potential problems he had been facing, and is a happy, old dog at home now.
This whole ordeal made me wonder how much of vet clinics are being properly regulated and is there nothing pet owners can do if their pets weren't treated right. Dogs, cats, hamsters or birds, are all animals with feelings just like us humans and should also be treated humanely with care and compassion. Vets need to realised that these pets mean the world to their owners which is why they even bring their pets to the clinic when something is wrong and is anxious about their condition. I thought these don't need to be spelt out since I believed vets are vets because of their love for animals, but this particular vet proved me wrong. Utterly wrong.
Even though Lewis isn't my dog, I've seen him through these 3 years over, and any animal lover would not agree with the way this clinic treats their patients. It is also important for pet owners to always have a reliable vet clinic on hand, especially a 24hrs emergency clinic because you won't know when you need one. This is the reason why I have to pen this down.
For pet owners who are reading this, Companion Animal Surgery (Singapore) is located at Shaw Corner, 12 Boon Teck Road, at the junction of Balestier Road, about half way between Thomson Rd & the CTE. You can visit their website at http://www.comvet.com/.
For Yume's owner, not sure if you received our heartfelt gratitude which we informed Companion to pass to you, but Lewis owed his life to you. Thank you for your concern and love, and RIP Yume, I'm sure you are in a happy place right now.
For Lewis, I am so proud to know you. Your determination and fighting spirit amaze me and we should all learn that from you. I promise to not be irritated when I step on your pee, I promise to give you snacks soaked in water till it's soft enough for you to lap up and I promise to carry you up and down the stairs whenever I can. I hope you like the cushion and polka dot blankie too.
With love,
M
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