Acepromazine used AGAINST my wishes!! (sorry long...)

[sesua]

I'm calmed down a bit as now I have a little girl to care for... But you should have seen me at the vet clinic. I was livid!!

About 2 weeks ago I had the spay consult with one of the vets. I specifically asked about ACE usage in boxers and she totally reassured me that it would not be used on my girl. They use it there but not on boxers, she tells me. So I'm like "cool, I found a good vet". So her spay was today and I took her in this mroning. I saw on the printout the pre-spay worksheet and it said ACE injection on it. So I questioned the person at the front and she says it's just a general printout for all patients. I told her I'm not signing anything with this on it. She told me to cross it out, and make notes on the pages where I sign that I don't want ACE to be used. I put the same note on both pages, initialed it and dated it. "NO acepromazine to be used as anesthesia on Jayda." I showed the lady and she said that's fine.

So I go to pick her up late this afternoon and I was only planning to complain to the vet about how they missed the ear infection 5 days ago... When the vet says "Jayda did excellent with the acepromazine injection." What the heck!!! I was holding back the tears as I was going off!!! I was livid and almost hysterical. They put me in a room to keep the other customers from hearing me. They used acepromazine and did not know I had any concerns. That they use low dose and never have problems and never heard of the issue with it and boxers. I told them that one of their vets said straight up that she knew about it and told me they wouldn't use it. The vet says she did not know of this conversation or my concern and the doc I was referring to was out of town. I told her that I also put a note on her intake info about my concerns and that they ignored it. She says I was supposed to put it on the front page not the other TWO pages. But whose fault was that? The person who told me to put it where I did. She totally ignored my concern as well.

I am happy that Jayda had no complications but I am thoroughly upset. She could have died. Is it possible that she could still have complications? Is there any recourse I can make?

I am attached to that place through a Wellness Plan and if I cancel it would be a fee assoicated with it (a few hundred dollars). What do I do? I don't want to go back there but I would still be getting charged the monthly fee even if I stop going. The vet who did the spay was apologizing profusely saying she had no idea about my concern and that she never heard of the issue with ACE. I went into the pet store and found the Terra-Nova Boxer book on the shelves (I have a copy here at home) and showed her the warning.

But basically it's too late. My girl had an extremely risky surgery but she's at home now napping away. Thank goodness. The fact of the surgery and recovery was already very stressful on me. And this had to happen...

What should I do?

 

[Cami]

First and foremost I really believe that your girl is out of the woods NOW.
Complications generally happen during the procedure when the drug has been administered.
I am glad that she is home with you seemingly unscathed.

That being said I would contact the Wellness plan you are affiliated with and explain to them that you no longer wish to participate in the plan *if you have to continue with that vets office*. There has to be another vets office in your area that they can switch you over to. If that isn't possible than you can ask for a refund and opt out of the remainder of the term of the plan. Plain and simple.
Your specific wishes were ignored even after you were given instructions on what to do to have them known.

There HAS to be a way to get out of it OR to get a refund for services not utilized. Call the BBB in your area. File a complain with them about this vets office. Don't stop until you achieve whatever results you are seeking.

You and your girl lucked out this time. The next Boxer owner may not be so lucky.

 

[darwinsmom]

Hi Erica,

First I'm glad you're calm now. Jayda is okay and that is the most important thing. The Acepromazine (a sedative) has worn off and she is at no further risk from that dose. I completely understand your distress -- what a mess.

I'm not sure how much the first vet discussed with you at the pre-spay consult, but ACE is a very, very common veterinary sedative. It is not uncommon to find a vet that knows of the boxer warning but still feels it is safe for a couple of reasons - their prior experience, low dosage (the dosage commonly used today is lower than the labeled dosage), and extra care monitoring the response of boxers to the drug. Of course, it is probably more common to find vets that do not know of the warning at all (to me this is the scariest). My point is simply that using ACE probably does not carry a high risk for the vast majority of boxers - however no one wants to be that 1 in 100 (just guessing here) whose pet has an adverse reaction. Especially when there are safe alternatives that do not carry the risk (although all drugs and anesthesia will carry some risk).

Now to the more important decision facing you - what to do about it. I think you probably made your feelings quite clear today. But if you are going to stay at this hospital you need to discuss with them what procedures they are going to take to make sure this does not happen again, probably need to speak with a senior vet and practice manager. I think this can be a problem with hospitals that have large staffs - poor communication and inadequately trained staff. If they are not willing to accommodate you, then I think you need to consider leaving.

There is one thing that concerns me about your experience. Why did they even comment to you about her acepromazine injection? That is odd. Seems to me they only say that if they knew of your request and chose to ignore it. That is problematic - in that they should have talked to you about it first. If they really disagreed with you (and some vets will bristle at taking direction from owners) then they should have declined to perform the surgery. I suppose it could also be possible that they discovered the note after they had administered the dose.

Now go take care of your sweet little girl, spays are no fun!

-Karlyn

 

[sesua]

It's great to know that I don't have to worry about the ace anymore and that she's out of the woods where it is concerned. Thanks so much for letting me know this...

This vet's office is within 3 miles of my home. There is another but it's about 10 miles from me... I'm not sure what I want to do. The vet felt so bad that she asked me to please give them another chance to show that they care about animals. She is one of the head vets. She said she'll personally call tomorrow and ask that I only come in to see her from now on since it seems the other vet was the incompetent one. She apologized profusely for the miscommunication as well.

Honestly I'm not sure why she came out and said acepromazine cause I probably would have never known, so I feel like she did not know my concerns up front. Then again, who knows. You could be right that she knew it and did the injection anyways.

The first vet I was told is recently out of vet school so she may have more up to date info than the other vets. But she actually told me it will NOT be used on Jayda. Too bad she did not discuss this with the others. No communication is right...

Anyways, thanks so much for the advice. I have some thinking to do. And no, this is so far no fun at all. Now she's standing in her crate for bed with that darn e-collar around her neck. Just standing there with her head hanging down looking so so sad... This is just too much for me... :(

*relax relate release* or whatever...

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I absolutely 300% would NEVER EVER EVER under ANY circumstances return to that office! So the other one is 10 miles (10-15 minutes) from your home, that's not a huge issue compared to possibly killing your pet because they can't a) communicate with each other and b) respect your wishes. What happens in the future when you request something to be done or not be done and they don't put it in the right spot, don't talk to eachother, completely ignore you, whatever the case was? Yes mistakes happen, we're all human I totally understand that but COME ON you spoke with someone (in which case it should have been noted in the chart you discussed this) AND you wrote it on two pieces of paper AND spoke with the girl at the front desk regarding it, I mean yes mistakes but IMO that's just blatant incompentance. I don't care if they're sorry, if they were a human facility they'd be facing a malpractice lawsuit for something like that....IMO sorry isn't good enough. You were lucky this time, why risk a next time when there are other places to go to?

On what you can do, I would absolutely file a report with your state's veterinary licensing board against the clinic as well as the individual vet who performed the surgery due to neglect. I'd also contact the BBB and file a report with them against the facility. And if your wellness plan won't let you go to another clinic or refund your money without making you pay the termination fee I'd file a report with the BBB against them as well. And honestly after something like that I'd pay the early termination fee (or keep paying the monthly fee whichever would be cheaper) and figure it money well spent to keep my pet from having to go to an incompentant facility. Personally I'd also be asking for my money back on that spay if you had to pay for it (not sure if it's covered in your Wellness plan or not).

But I can safely say without a shadow of a doubt I would NEVER be returning to that facility again for any reason whatsoever.

On a personal note, I had an issue with one of the vets at the clinic I go to, however the rest of the staff is fabulous. I have a HUGE note on many many pages of all of my pets charts as well as on the front that they are not ever to see that vet under any circumstances and also "no ace" is written on the front of my dogs charts as well as on many of the internal pages in red permanent marker and then highlighted in yellow. I did continue to go to the facility but only because the rest of the staff is fabulous and the vet I now see is also fabulous and very aware of my wishes as are the majority of the staff. Given that you had a problem with multiple people at yours I would say choose the one that's a bit further away if they're a better facility. 10 miles is nothing (I personally drive 15 minutes to my vet).

JMO.

I am glad everything in the end turned out okay and she seems to be recovering nicely. Good luck!

 

[Caney Creek]

This vet's office is within 3 miles of my home. There is another but it's about 10 miles from me... I'm not sure what I want to do. The vet felt so bad that she asked me to please give them another chance to show that they care about animals. She is one of the head vets. She said she'll personally call tomorrow and ask that I only come in to see her from now on since it seems the other vet was the incompetent one. She apologized profusely for the miscommunication as well.

Honestly I'm not sure why she came out and said acepromazine cause I probably would have never known, so I feel like she did not know my concerns up front. Then again, who knows. You could be right that she knew it and did the injection anyways.

The first vet I was told is recently out of vet school so she may have more up to date info than the other vets. But she actually told me it will NOT be used on Jayda. Too bad she did not discuss this with the others. No communication is right...

I would personally not rush to switch vets since the one you spoke to initially has been so apologetic and wants to make this better. Also I would NOT expect that with a chain of vets tied to a major pet supply retailer you'd get many that would be willing to do things YOUR way and not the way that their company does things; meaning, I wouldn't think that switching to another vet of this company would solve your problems, and it's not likely that you'd find a vet at the new clinic that would understand your concerns about ACE. I would stick to the one you're seeing at least while you're under this contract, but be aware that it is not the clinic that you've decided to put your trust in but the INDIVIDUAL vet. You have to be that much more careful now. Don't ever drop Jayda off for any sort of treatment or do ANYTHING without knowing that the vet you trust will be the one treating her. And don't be afraid to make it clear to the vet that you are staying ONLY because you trust that she is genuinely sorry for what has happened, and you understand that she will do everything in her power to make sure that it doesn't happen again, and for you that means that Jayda will ONLY be seen/treated by her from now on.

I recently found a vet who I like a lot, and she is the youngest/newest vet in the practice (3 other vets work at the same clinic). Last week I had Creek in surgery so I just went through the whole NO ACE thing as well -- I expressed my concerns to our vet and she assured me that she would never use ACE on a boxer. (I also figured her knowing about ACE had something to do with her being fresh out of vet school Then when we were trying to schedule a day for Creek's surgery, I asked who would be doing the surgery and who at the practice had the most experience with this type of surgery. She told me that one vet had 26 years of experience; one vet had 16 years experience; another vet, 3 years; and herself... 9 months. Still, I felt most comfortable having her perform the surgery because she had spent so much time with Creek and ESPECIALLY because I had personally expressed my concerns to her about ACE and I trusted that she would respect my wishes, and that there would be no "miscommunications" from one vet to the next.

Once your contract is up then you can decide whether you like this individual vet enough to keep going to a practice that you don't particularly care for. Or, you can start looking for a new vet at that point. And don't get stuck on one that's close to you. It's your baby's health and well-being that should be most important, and you need a vet that you can TRUST most of all. I live in the Atlanta area where there's a vet probably every 2 miles, and I visited several before sticking with the one we see now... which is about an hour away from us.

The important thing is that Jayda's OK now. So glad for that. Just keep her comfortable and pampered for the next few days, and give her some extra hugs from all of us on BW Hope she has a speedy recovery.

 

[Tiga]

Let me guess, Banfield? I had this *exact* same experience with them. Went to great lengths to insure no ACE use with our dog's spay, had it written in her chart, talked to the people doing it that day and they still used it. The fact of the matter is these chain vets are tied to a big business and no matter how caring an individual doctor is there, they are tied to a company that cares about making money, not your animal. I would honestly keep the plan for now so you can see them if you need to but I would be looking fast for another vet that you like and trust. I ended up paying out our "wellness" plan (which is an absolute joke) just to close it out and not deal with it. It was worth the money just to get rid of them. The majority of the vets they employ are just out of school and don't know what they're doing. Even some that were more senior were incompetent and always just trying to sell product and prescription diets. As a first time dog owner with a very sick dog I fell for their schtick many times before I took my money and my dog elsewhere. I haven't regretted it at all.
I'm so sorry you had to go through this and I know exactly how you feel. Glad your dog is OK and I would not recommend seeing them any longer.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Let me guess, Banfield? I had this *exact* same experience with them. Went to great lengths to insure no ACE use with our dog's spay, had it written in her chart, talked to the people doing it that day and they still used it. The fact of the matter is these chain vets are tied to a big business and no matter how caring an individual doctor is there, they are tied to a company that cares about making money, not your animal. I would honestly keep the plan for now so you can see them if you need to but I would be looking fast for another vet that you like and trust. I ended up paying out our "wellness" plan (which is an absolute joke) just to close it out and not deal with it. It was worth the money just to get rid of them. The majority of the vets they employ are just out of school and don't know what they're doing. Even some that were more senior were incompetent and always just trying to sell product and prescription diets. As a first time dog owner with a very sick dog I fell for their schtick many times before I took my money and my dog elsewhere. I haven't regretted it at all.
I'm so sorry you had to go through this and I know exactly how you feel. Glad your dog is OK and I would not recommend seeing them any longer.

Oh ITA here! It is VERY rare I hear anything positive about this chain and on the opposite of that many many MANY times I hear HUGE negatives about them from them ripping folks off to incompetant vets. I personally went one time and will never recommend nor return to them. If that's who it is, I would absolutely say find another vet for sure. If you have a wellness plan as in something like health insurance where it's different private practice vets that accept the plan (which is what I thought was what you were talking about originally) then I would find a new private practice vet that accepts the plan.

 

[sesua]

You all have given me much to think about. She is my first dog and I guess we're easily suckered! I actually had someone refer this plan to me so I thought it was legit. I will let you know what I decide to do... Thanks a lot!

And she is up and happy this morning. I'm trying to keep her away from her incision without having to put the collar back on. She has tried to lick it a few times already... We'll see.

 

[haleyandmark]

Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry that this happened, but I'm so glad she is ok!

I'm also sorry you had this problem with Banfield! We have used them since Asia was 10 weeks old (she is six years now) and have never had any problems with them, although I know many people who unfortunately have! It seems that we have lucked out with our particular Banfield and the vet's there (they are wonderful)!

If you feel very uncomfortable going back (I know I would), I would certainly look in to finding another vet. If you call the customer service and tell them your situation, you may be able to get out of your plan? I'm not sure, but it's worth a try!

I'm glad your furbaby is doing well after her surgery!