Complaint Review: Midfield Animal Clinic

It's hard for me to believe what i have experienced and what i have learned regarding the "healthcare" for your pets.

I own a dog who's age is around 11.5 years. Up to this point and i believe most likely this dog is still healthy. I was going to take him in winter for
a general checkup and rabies shot this winter, along with addressing toe paw nails that have grown excessively long and appears to create some discomfort while walking him, infact my understanding unless this is addressed, the likelihood of injury increases.

Anyhow, as i already stated, this dog has appeared healthy for the most part, sure it's slowed down and there's alot of graying around the nose

In the last couple of months i've noticed him skidding his paw nails on the hardwood floor and as stated did some research on the internet regarding this, which yes this can possibly result in injury.

In the last couple of days, it's been hot. While he had excess to water, he may not have drank it. Also i try not to overfeed him to keep him healthy.
However a couple of nights ago, the dog lost the ability to stand up with his hind legs and even worse his front arms kept skidding on the floor. Just the
slightest amount of dirt made it impossible to get a grip.

What i didn't realize he suffered a injury and i entrusted taking him to the vet.

The vet observed him and obviously this dog was in some pain. While i did the best i could during the examination to bring up the long nails and excessive hair growth around the paws, the vet stated this was not a issue.

I was given a diagnosis regarding the following diseases:
1) severe suffering arthritis which creates pain all over him,
2) Demyelination (equivalent to neurologic damage - severe), 3) Severe Spinal degeneration,
4) Cystitis,.

He gave him two shots which i clearly asked him the duration of those shots, which he replied 24 hours. The vet stated this dog should be put to sleep, he is not going advanced age and he will never recover from this severe degeneration, but as a last resort if we can take away this severe pain. but at best he's at end stage. His response to how long will he live. weeks/months, very hard pressed 3 - 6 months. If he needs more Rimadyl,
it's $1 day. I brought up the question of rabies shot and clearly he stated this dog is end stage, the degeneration/advanced aging is too much

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Well that evening, he kept sliding on the hard wood floors and i kept him on a padded area. While he was asleep, i took a good solid look at his paws and the amount of hair growth on the pads, well i trimmed it back.
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The next day, i called the vets office and told them there's a possibility of
a mis-diagnosis. When i spoke 2 sentences, which were there's that possibility and a sentence about the nails and immediately he cut me off
and stated then find another vet and immediately hung up

I very much questioned whether this was a ethics issue, not to get him
back or anything like that... just can the professionally licensed doctor
really do that and how many other people does he do that to? After
calling another ethical animal hospital, clearly there are ethics and referred
me to the AVMA or in Alabama the ALAVMA.

I then began to question the charges of $89.07, which definitely seemed
fair, that didn't seem excessive, until it became apparent later tonight i
looked at the front paws he's been skidding on and i could clearly see why
he couldn't get up. Last night the cutting back the hair on the back paws
stopped the skidding on the back paws and i can clearly understand now
why he injured himself and by cutting back the hair while he was asleep
most likely has stopped him from injuring himself. Still, the nails are
excessively long (which can result in back/spine injury) and i'm not sure
how far back to cut them.... anyhow at this age, he should have received
a accurate examination, which i'm going to need to do now again... but this
time with a ethical animal hospital.

This dog is not end stage and the only suffering appears related to injuring
himself. I'm sure there is some arthritis, but those excessive long nails
appear alot more painful to the paws, infact i have never noticed this dog
exhibiting arthritic symptoms.

Unless this is more than a minor bladder infection, this dog appears healthy
and i plan to have him examined by a competent vet... his teeth, nails,
and overall concerns at 11.5 years old.

And since i'm going to have to pay again for another vet to examine this dog,
i am very much considering contacting my credit card company and possibly
the state professional licensing/ethics.... but what's really the use of that?

It is very hard for me to believe when attempting to explain twice the concerns of the nails, which then would have brought up the issue of years
of fur growth on the paw pads, clearly the vet would have realized this dog
had a minor injury to the muscles.

The shots given yesterday have long worn off, i am not going to giving this
dog one single Rimadyl... the super premium senior dog food already has the Chrodroitin sulfate and glucosamine, which most likely is why i've really noticed any Arthritis symptoms in the past.

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I just hope anyone else anyone else, either at that animal hospital or anywhere else does not allow their dog to suffer in the future by such
negligence and ethical concerns. If i didn't realize the fur covering the
pads had grown so excessively, literally i had to wet the hardwood floor
to stop him from slipping/collapsing and injuring himself, i would have
subsituted Rimadyl....

But now i've learned... this dog as of tonight appears healthy, sure he's
slowed down but this clearly appears to be a tendency to injure himself,
fortunately realized in time, before some serious permanent injury did
occur. My understanding Rimadyl is short term inflamatory and to never
use it long term unless the blood work is monitored, it can damage the
liver and only when the aminal has permanent conditions (that doesn't
include long nails and fur covering the pads :)

So that's about it and my experience + what i can pass on to other pet
owners... oh and that super premium dog food or better yet making the
dog food yourself, really does extend the health, particularly feeding a
little bit less food then needed.

The best i can make of this episode was it took months to realize something
that resulted in a tendency to injure himself, when he began sliding all the
time, finally it appears he must have slightly injured the leg muscle.

All it took is cutting back the hair covering the paws and it appears all that
Arthritis, spinal, demyelination has resolved itself. Only time will tell... i'll
update this report in a few weeks, then again few months from now..

but please please to very careful regarding the animal hospital you trust
your pets to... for me, i caught the symptoms early, entrusted a professional,
and in this case he really would have suffered until what appears as a healthy dog really would have finally seriously injured himself

oh.... and just before cutting back the fur around the front paw pads, yes
i took some digital jpg photo's and i guess i took take some pictures after
the hair was cut back, the nails still are long, but that's not why the injury
was occuring. I absoluetly cannot believe a professional animal medical doctor diagnosed severe painful arthritic, severely degenerated neurological
degeneration and advanced aging to the spine when it appears as a minor
muscle injury.... as soon as the hair was cut back, the cause of the of
what was causing injury was taken the way.

As a last note, just to mention, by slipping and sliding on the floor, finally when injury occured, literally the day he just couldn't stand on his hind
legs without a tendency to collapase. The day that began, by the following
day he was to the vet. By that evening, i kept wetting the floor to prevent
him from sliding. The injection from yesterday is long gone and the muscle
pain has already healed. PS: If you have hard wood floors and your dog
slides, the dirt can cause less grip, the more fur around the pads and long
nails, eventually can result in permanently injuring the pets back/spine, in
this case, fortunately i realized in time. Even worse from this point forward
Rimadyl and finally injury so bad, i would need to put this dog to sleep. PPS:
it is hard for me to believe a vet couldn't realize this, but what is really beyond belief is his unwillingness to learn and continue to practice in this
nature, which i would estimate he's done it for years and probably will continue.

Rich
Birmingham, Alabama
U.S.A.