Family calls for answers after death of dog (From Echo)

Family calls for answers after death of dog

11:00am Saturday 13th February 2010 in

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A FAMILY have launched a campaign to modernise the veterinary complaints procedure after the unexpected death of their beloved pet.

Sarah Deadman, 37, rushed her three-year-old great dane, Ted, to a vets and 12 hours later he was dead – and his heartbroken family were left with a £2,772.30 bill for their pet’s unsuccessful treatment.

Sarah and husband Chris, 39, believe it is unfair they have been left with such a large bill. Yet the vets who cared for Ted insist it did all it could.

Ted was taken to the vets with suspected bloat – a build-up of gas in the stomach which is one of the biggest killers of large dog breeds – at 9pm on Sunday, January 17.

He was taken in overnight, but not X-rayed until 4am the next morning when his condition worsened. Despite an attempt to operate, Ted was pronounced dead at about 10am.

Distraught Sarah, of Southwell Road, Benfleet, said: “He was having a blood transfusion and he was also attached to a drip.

“It was such a horrible sight.

“I went to him and said ‘hello Teddy’. It was then that the heart monitor started to beep faster and the lines on the machine started to spike.

“One of the vets present turned the monitor off.”

The family want to know why Ted was not X-rayed earlier.

Almost 75 per cent of dogs survive bloat, if it caught early enough and operated upon.

The family also have other concerns about his treatment, as the vets X-rayed his chest instead of his stomach because they suspected cancer.

The family has still not been given a cause of death by Vets Now, based in Witham.

Spokesman Mhairi Clarke said: “We have conducted a full investigation into this case.

“We are satisfied Ted was given the correct treatment at all times while in our care and that there is no evidence of clinical negligence.”

MP Bob Spink is supporting the couple’s camapign. He said: “It may be it was an understandable error, we don’t know.

“The fact is, there isn’t a proper procedure to investigate the problem and that’s why we want to see the law changed.”