My mom has just shared the story of my Aunt Amy’s dog Pinpon. Pinpon was a stray dog that my aunt took in. She took Pinpon to the vet to get neutered.
I don’t exactly know what this vet did, I just know it was wrong. The vet took the dog, and basically mutilated her insides. Pinpon got sick because of a vet’s bad care.
Amy took Pinpon to another vet. The new vet told Amy what the other one had done, and they operated imediately. But it was too late. Pinpon had already lost so much weight, and got so many infections. Pinpon just couldn’t recover. My aunt had to put her down. She was only four years old. This is so sad. Can’t we trust our vet? I wonder if their are organizations that can help you find trustworthy vets? Do you know?
Do you have any vet stories you want to share?
Comments
This is a very sad story and your thoughts are very insightful. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Maybe you can let us know if there are places to find out the credentials of vets and if any complaints are filed.
You raise some very valid concerns. We trust our vets as the persons in the know and we cannot always tell that they are doing the best. Doctors for people have watchdog agencies looking after them. I hope there is one for vets as well. But then again, what goes on in Peru may be a very different story…..
that is sooooooooooo sad kitty kat!!
poor pinpon
🙁
happy new year!!!!!!!!
That’s a very tough story. One thing people can do is be very careful to go to vets who are personally recommended by someone you trust, and so you already know that they have given good care. My wife and I highly recommend our vet,
Dr. Andy Kaplan, who runs his own clinic in Manhattan called City Vetinerary Care
(up on 72nd Street, between Broadway and Riverside Park). He has given our dog great care for 7 or 8 years, after we had in fact had a bad experience with a different vet here in New Jersey.
Dr. Kaplan not only is a great vet but he also does volunteer dog rescue, AND he runs the Toby Project, a charitable organization where he performs free neutering of cats and dogs in NYC, to keep the numbers down so that more cats and dogs don’t wind up in shelters or worse, needing to be euthanized. We can’t say enough about how much we like Dr. Kaplan, and if any of your blog-readers want more info on him, they can feel free to contact me. His office’s phone number is (212) 799-7000.
Thanks again for doing your blog, and Happy New Year! Jeff
Author
Jeff,
Thank you for your advice. I’m sure many people will be looking forward to calling Dr. Andy Kaplan. Do you think your vet knows of any organizations like Toby in Peru. How did the Toby project get it’s name?
The Toby Project is named after Dr. Kaplan’s dog Toby, who he rescued (just in time!) from a shelter. Toby is a great dog and he and Dr. Kaplan’s other dog, Grif, get to hand out most days at the vet’s office with their “dad” the vet. Both dogs are very well-behaved and friendly to all the dogs who come into the office and to their owners. Toby has particularly soulful eyes —
when he looks at you, it is very much like a human looking at you more than a dog. And someone painted a picture of Toby –when you walk into the office, it’s the first thing you see.
What a sad story. I had no idea this had occurred. Your Aunt Amy has always had such a soft spot for animals. I’m sure this was very hard on her and the family. Thank you for making so many people aware of these kinds of things so that they can make sure and check out the reputation of a vet before using them. I think we all just trust that they are competent. But just like with people doctors, there are good ones and bad ones.
The vet that I had been using for the last few years came highly recommended and is used by some very prominent people in Cusco and is even somehow involved in animal rescue of illegally obtained wild animals, and with several projects in Cusco, the surrounding valleys, and the jungle. Additionally, she is/was a person who seemed to generally care about the homeless animals — especially cats and dogs — wandering the streets of Cusco. She even has been wanting to begin a shelter/spay/neuter clinic, for which I helped her obtain support.
The end of the story with this vet is that for 3.5 years, up to and including yesterday, she has lied to me about Pinpon. Until I told her yesterday what has happened to Pinpon, she has been sticking to her story that she did Pinpon’s surgery and that the uterus and 1 ovary were removed. I let her know the horror that the new vet found 2 weeks ago and she insisted that they must be lying until I told her that I saw the infected uterus and ovaries that were removed too late as Pinpon was already critically septic. She shows no remorse at all and now claims that the surgery must have been done by an assistant working for her at the time.
So, you want to trust and can trust to a point, but in many cases, it is always good to seek the 2nd opinion of another vet. I have learned this lesson the hard way.
Though there is an animal protection society in Peru — I would say that only pets and strays in Lima see the benefits. In the vet that I am now using, it is a pleasure to see the amount of people who really do look at and treat their pets as members of their family.
Thanks for caring enough to make your blog post!