BULLDOG WRONGFULLY UTHENIZED PLEASE HELP

Submitted by bmj0689 on April 12, 2011 - 11:28pm

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Hello my name is Brett and I had the most beautiful 17 week old english bulldog she was the most amazing pup that I had ever seen. I recently as in this sunday had to take her to an emergency vet because of the fact that ours was closed for the weekend. She had been throwing up all day and started feeling really hot to the touch I tried calling our personal vet but they are not only closed on the weekends she was away on maternity leave. I made the decision to take her to aec (animal emergency clinic) in rockford il. Upon arriving they admited her in to be examined by the vet, the vet said she believe she had pnemonia and she needed to be x-rayed. We waited for 30 minutes while the x-rays were done and she came back in with what at the time was a supposed as a grim discovery she told us that she did have pnemonia but that her trachea was as wide as a pencil and that she would never be able to live a normal healthy life. I asked her what her opinion was that we do she said that if we took her from the hospital she would not make it through the night to get her to a specialist in the morning. She offered to hospitalize her for 1200$$$ which i had no problem paying assuming she would be ok. She said though that with the narrow trachea that she would live a very painful life and would have to stay in all the time and would constantly be in pain and never be a happy dog. She then advised us that our best bet was too put her out of her pain and uthenize her. We immediatelly started balling our eyes out and over the next 2 hours contacted the breeder who talked to the vet and the vet told her if twinkie left that she would die. After 2 hours of consant crying and contemplating the decision, we did put her down. That night I immediatelly looked up narrow trachea on bulldogs on google and on here. The vet said it was as narrow as a "PENCIL" after researching on google we found more then a dozen dogs with this discovery and they are living happy normal lifes just with the right vitamins and antibiotics now and again. Now I have contacted a lawyer and started trying to file a civil suit against the vet for misdiagnosis and have had a professional and our personal vet look over the case and they all say she was misdiagnosed and they rushed to a decision without studying the facts. I was hoping someone on here could help me find a animal rights group or lawyer or something that could help.PLEASE REPLY ASAP. We live in dekalb il for anyone who knows. Thank You for your time.-BRETT J "proud bulldog lover".

that is awful

Submitted by Rocco84 on April 12, 2011 - 11:57pm.

I am so sorry to hear this...sounds like a clear cut negligent daignosis...I sent you a PM message about some groups I volunteered with and maybe they can point you in the right direction...although a law suit wont bring your baby back it will def send the right message and did you talk to the breeder about them letting you pick another puppy, if they are a good breeder they should have no problem with it. Once again so sorry to hear and hope you guys can get passed this. It really shows you how important it is to have a Bullie Vet.

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"Rocco has a spastic wiggle...probally why is nickname is Milkshake"

I would not waste money on a lawyer

Submitted by Jacinda and the... on April 12, 2011 - 11:59pm.

I am very sorry this happened to you and your beautiful puppy. But, your breeder should have been able to give you advice on the situation.

First if all, emergency Vets are notoriously bad. Never take a dog to an emergency Vet unless it is the absolute last resort.

Second, a hypoplastic trachea should not be diagnosed when a dog is sick. For example, if a dog has an upper respiratory infection, the xrays can appear cloudy which can skew the xray and make the trachea appear smaller than normal.

Third, you should have taken the dog home with you. Even if the Vet said it probably wouldn't live, there was a chance.

Fourth, everyone makes mistakes. Unfortunately, this mistake ended with
the death of your dog.

I know this doesn't help now but here's what I believe you should have done. First, I would have tried contacting my regular Vet and explain the
situation to them. If the regular Vet wasn't available, I would probably do a little research on the Internet to see if there was something I could do at home for my dog.

But, if all else failed and I felt I had to take my dog to the ER Vet and they told me of the possibility of a hypoplastic trachea, I would have told them to treat the pneumonia or whatever for now until I could take the dog to my regular Vet. This would have bought you time to thoroughly research the condition and be able to make an informed decision.

I know hindsight is 20/20 but I wish you could have found this site before you had to make a life or death situation.

Very sorry

Submitted by Deb and MacKenz... on April 13, 2011 - 12:45am.

for your loss. I really don't know what to say...but I agree with Jacinda. An attorney is likely not going to be much help and the cost will put you in the poor house. Was this puppy sick when you purchased it from the breeder. Did the breeder agree to have the puppy destroyed? Are they replacing the puppy or refunding your money? I personally would want my money refunded and look for a new breeder. If you have a lemon law you might want to pursue that avenue.

I am so sorry

Submitted by blondiek237 on April 13, 2011 - 6:10am.

We had a similar experience with Ozzy when he was 9 weeks. He had pneumonia and we took him to the ER and we also were told he had hyperplastic treachea and would not live well. We just said thanks and took the meds and left to follow up with his regular vet (not a bulldog vet) after a lot of back and forth we made an appointment with a bulldog vet and when she did an xray she said his treachea was fine. I just felt that ER vets are like ER doctors they are not specialists with bulldogs and give the diagnosis that fits most dogs, and we all know bulldogs are not most dogs.

Again I am so sorry for your loss--

Lyn

I was told @ 9 wks old that Sally's trachea was the size of a

Submitted by Sally's Mom on April 13, 2011 - 10:07am.

Pencil and the size of a cat. They also said she may not live long. She is now 15 mos old and doing fine. She has her litlle "issues", but we deal with them the best we can. I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. Don't beat yourself up because you did what you thought was best at the time and relied on "medical professionals", too bad not all of them know the bulldog breed. I have found it is best to have a bulldog mentor; someone who really knows the breed and can give you advice when situations arise. Don't give up on owning a bulldog! Deanne

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"Still Plays In the Dirt"

So terribly sorry for your loss.

Submitted by AmyandSophia on April 13, 2011 - 9:55am.

I wish there was something that could be done but there isn't. Nothing will bring your puppy back to you. Many vets are quite ignorant about Bulldog health, but that doesn't make them negligent. I offer my sincerest condolences to you.

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Amy and Sophia

So sorry

Submitted by onslowsmom on April 13, 2011 - 10:18am.

what a sad situation :(

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So sorry for your loss.....

Submitted by Micki Jablonski on April 13, 2011 - 9:36pm.

You have my sincere sympathy on the loss of your dear puppy.

One good that can come out of this awful situation for others reading right now could be if everyone who doesn't already know where they would take their dog in the event that they can't reach their regular vet makes sure that they find a good 24 hour hospital in case of an emergency.