• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Complaint to my Vet - Response from vets P43

fluffiebunnie

fluffiebunnie

Warren Veteran
I am writing to my vets regarding the poor treatment Twinkle received and the fact they told me to put her to sleep when all she appears to have is gut statis:

Dear Sirs

I am writing with regard to the recent treatment you provided for my pet rabbit, Twinkle. I am writing because I am extremely unhappy with the care you provided for her, which lead to her suffering unnecessarily and putting me and my family through an emotional time.

I brought Twinkle to you with what I believed to be gut statis. She had a lack of appetite and her droppings were very small. As an experienced rabbit owner I knew the signs of her sitting hunched up and teeth grinding meant she was in pain, which further exacerbated the statis.

You did provide injections of gut stimulant and painkiller and did syringe feed, but I was left to look after her at night with no further medication. I noticed she was still in pain as she was still sitting hunched up and was grinding her teeth.

I did question the vet regarding the small amount of painkiller but was assured she had had the maximum dose (even though it obviously wasn’t).
As there was no improvement the vet decided it must be her teeth so did x-rays. Both Nathan and Hilda assured me her tooth roots were too long and that was causing the pain, and the only option was to euthanize.
After discussions with very experienced rabbit owners I was recommended to get a second opinion, and when at the vets, Hilda did get an appointment with a specialist in Maidstone.

Upon seeing Twinkle in Maidstone, the vet said he did not think the tooth roots were a problem and said he thought Twinkle only had a bout of gut statis, which had been prolonged due to the previous week’s treatment not being sufficient.

Twinkle was admitted to Maidstone and with fluids and the correct amount of painkillers, plus round the clock care, has made a full recovery from the gut statis. She is now gaining weight again and is back to her normal self.

My complaint is that as a vet that I have used for many years, I trusted your judgement and ability to treat my rabbits. You have neutered and spayed them all, and they are all vaccinated throughout the year. The first time I bring a rabbit to you with something more than a simple nail clipping or vaccination, and you do not seem to know what you are doing! You recommended putting a healthy rabbit to sleep as you did not recognise the fairly common problem of gut statis in a rabbit! I wonder how many other rabbits have been euthanized by yourselves without the proper treatment?

As well as the stress to myself and my family, putting my rabbit through a week of serious pain which would of resulted in death due to her not being able to eat, the financial implications are also an issue. I paid a lot of money to you to treat my rabbit, and you treated her incorrectly and x-rayed her without a need to do so, which has all cost me money I did not need to pay if you had treated the statis properly. Not only did I pay you all that money, I then had to pay all over again at the specialists!

I have lost all faith in you as my vets and would like a response by return post. I cannot take calls at work, so appreciate you do not ring with a response. I would like a written response and I would like a refund of the money I have paid to you, as I have paid for a service I have not received.

Yours faithfully

So do you think this is OK?
Many thanks!
 
Last edited:
Sounds really good apart from the statis not stasis bit.

Your vet really should have got this right and I think you have a right to complain and ask for your money back.
 
or you could even add GastroIntestinal thatll throw them :shock:

its really awful when they turn out to be pants isnt it. ill never get over Pearls heart not being diagnosed till the so called exotics vet left the practice :(:(

hope you get a decent outcome from your letter
 
Excellent I hope you get results and he/she does a bit of research on treating rabbits :censored: Poor Twinkle :(
 
donnamt said:
or you could even add GastroIntestinal thatll throw them :shock:

its really awful when they turn out to be pants isnt it. ill never get over Pearls heart not being diagnosed till the so called exotics vet left the practice :(:(

hope you get a decent outcome from your letter
Click to expand...

I have always sung their praises.. thought I had a rabbit-savvy vet... went past about ten different vets to go to these as I thought so highly of them.. Oh I am so angry as it could of turned out so horrible :evil:

I am sorry your vet let you down with Pearl :cry: We put our trust in these people with our pets.. there should be more comback if they get it wrong :evil:

I will let everyone know if I get a response.
 
It does get the point across that you are unhappy - but to be honest some of the stuff they did like x-ray teeth was probably the appropriate course of action. It does seem as if the problem was gut stasis, but as we all know, that is often secondary to something else, so it sounds to me as if by x-raying, they were trying to determine an underlying cause. I don't think the x-ray was unnecessary, I think it was possibly a sound thing to do, and their pts recommendation - rightly or wrongly as a suggestion - would probably have been based on what they saw as an underlying cause rather than on the stasis itself. I don't think you can assert that they did not recognise gut stasis - it's a bit of an unfounded assumption, especially as that is exactly what they treated for at the outset (albeit not to your satisfaction).

Also when you say that it 'obviously wasn't' the maximum dose of painkiller - on what are you basing this? I think your argument would have more strength if you said that the vet gave x mg/kg whereas it is now commonly accepted that y mg/kg (or a different type of painkiller) is more appropriate for these circumstances.

I do think vets have a difficult balance to make - I'm sure if they admitted every rabbit in stasis, put them on a drip, syringe fed them through the night etc etc, they'd be getting lots of complaints about the cost and over-treatment. The fact that they sent you home overnight with no further treatment might not necessarily be a big deal if the drugs that had been given would have been effective for that time period. Again if your argument is going to have weight, I would add what else you would have expected.

I also wouldn't ask for an answer by 'return' post, as they won't have time to investigate properly if you're asking them to turn it round on the same day.

Maybe also ask them if they would confirm that they will update and refresh their knowledge with the latest and best ways to approach treatment of common rabbit illnesses such as stasis?
 
Santa said:
It does get the point across that you are unhappy - but to be honest some of the stuff they did like x-ray teeth was probably the appropriate course of action. It does seem as if the problem was gut stasis, but as we all know, that is often secondary to something else, so it sounds to me as if by x-raying, they were trying to determine an underlying cause. I don't think the x-ray was unnecessary, I think it was possibly a sound thing to do, and their pts recommendation - rightly or wrongly as a suggestion - would probably have been based on what they saw as an underlying cause rather than on the stasis itself. I don't think you can assert that they did not recognise gut stasis - it's a bit of an unfounded assumption, especially as that is exactly what they treated for at the outset (albeit not to your satisfaction).

Also when you say that it 'obviously wasn't' the maximum dose of painkiller - on what are you basing this? I think your argument would have more strength if you said that the vet gave x mg/kg whereas it is now commonly accepted that y mg/kg (or a different type of painkiller) is more appropriate for these circumstances.

I do think vets have a difficult balance to make - I'm sure if they admitted every rabbit in stasis, put them on a drip, syringe fed them through the night etc etc, they'd be getting lots of complaints about the cost and over-treatment. The fact that they sent you home overnight with no further treatment might not necessarily be a big deal if the drugs that had been given would have been effective for that time period. Again if your argument is going to have weight, I would add what else you would have expected.

I also wouldn't ask for an answer by 'return' post, as they won't have time to investigate properly if you're asking them to turn it round on the same day.

Maybe also ask them if they would confirm that they will update and refresh their knowledge with the latest and best ways to approach treatment of common rabbit illnesses such as stasis?
Click to expand...

I only know the painkiller was not enough as the specialist said vets tend not to give enough.. and that she improved immediately upon proper treatment.

Do you think I shouldnt complain at all then?
 
Santa said:
It does get the point across that you are unhappy - but to be honest some of the stuff they did like x-ray teeth was probably the appropriate course of action. It does seem as if the problem was gut stasis, but as we all know, that is often secondary to something else, so it sounds to me as if by x-raying, they were trying to determine an underlying cause. I don't think the x-ray was unnecessary, I think it was a sound thing to do at the time, and their pts recommendation would probably have been based on what they saw as an underlying cause rather than on the stasis itself. I don't think you can assert that they did not recognise gut stasis - it's a bit of an unfounded assumption, especially as that is exactly what they treated for at the outset (albeit not to your satisfaction).

Also when you say that it 'obviously wasn't' the maximum dose of painkiller - on what are you basing this? I think your argument would have more strength if you said that the vet gave x mg/kg whereas it is now commonly accepted that y mg/kg (or a different type of painkiller) is more appropriate for these circumstances.

I do think vets have a difficult balance to make - I'm sure if they admitted every rabbit in stasis, put them on a drip, syringe fed them through the night etc etc, they'd be getting lots of complaints about the cost and over-treatment. The fact that they sent you home overnight with no further treatment might not necessarily be a big deal if the drugs that had been given would have been effective for that time period. Again if your argument is going to have weight, I would add what else you would have expected.

I also wouldn't ask for an answer by 'return' post, as they won't have time to investigate properly if you're asking them to turn it round on the same day.

Maybe also ask them if they would confirm that they will update and refresh their knowledge with the latest and best ways to approach treatment of common rabbit illnesses such as stasis?
Click to expand...

I agree with this, a lot. I was mulling over how to try and write it and helpful Santa beat me to it.

Facts are super important, for the more facts the better (preferably with evidence/literature from a recognised source if you disagree, such as with the pain killers).

Its also very recognised that bunnies do better at home than at the vets in a lot of cases, so they may have been working on that basis rather than admitting. My vet sends my operated on bunnies home very quickly after the operation and they eat far quicker here than if they stay at the vets for longer.

It might also be worth stating what you wish they had done and why (oh, Santa said this too :lol:). Also, with regards to the tooth roots, it might be worth finding some info on tooth root problems and how a bunny can have a happy life with them, they just need to be managed.

In short. I agree with Santa.
 
From my receipt my vets gave her every 24 hours:

Metacam Inj 0.5% (dog)
Metoclopramide Inj 10mg/2Ml
Baytril Inj 2.5%

Are these doses the maximum allowed?
 
You could even include a table in your letter setting out and comparing what was provided by an acknowledged "specialist" vet and your own vet:

Teeth X-rays:

In one case its the problem, in the other it's not. Did they both X-ray the same rabbit?


Pain-killers:

In one case it's the "maximum", in the other it was insufficient and the rabbit was still showing pain symptoms. Different vets appear to have different ideas of what constitutes the "maximum" for the same medication. Surely they must be using the same manufacturer's data?


Fluids:

One does not provide any, the other does (and the rabbit improves).


Euthenasia

For one vet this is "the only option", for the other it's not (and the rabbit improves with fairly simple treatment).

Perhaps you could mention that you would have been entirely happy if the vet had just admitted that they did not have the knowledge to treat rabbits correctly and simply referred you elsewhere.
 
fluffiebunnie said:
I only know the painkiller was not enough as the specialist said vets tend not to give enough.. and that she improved immediately upon proper treatment.

Do you think I shouldnt complain at all then?
Click to expand...

I'm not saying you shouldn't complain, but it is very easy for them to wriggle out of blanket assertions so it adds far more strength to your letter if you can back up your assertions with evidence.

Even looking at your statement above - when the specialist said that 'vets tend not to give enough', was he referring to the dose your vet gave? Did he have those details? Or was he just making a general statement? I think for your argument to hold water you need to be absolutely clear and evidence-based on what they did not do properly, hence stating fact back at them like 'you gave x when generally accepted best practice is to do y'.

I think you'd be better off making it a bit shorter but clearer on exactly what they did or didn't do 'right' and maybe something along the lines that you are concerned that without updating their knowledge, the same situation might occur with other rabbits. This shows that you're not just after money from them, you want to stop it from happening again. Good luck.
 
I have copied this from above in case it wasnt seen as a few people have posted quickly together:


From my receipt my vets gave her every 24 hours:

Metacam Inj 0.5% (dog)
Metoclopramide Inj 10mg/2Ml
Baytril Inj 2.5%

Are these doses the maximum allowed?
 
fluffiebunnie said:
Oh :oops: they havent said how much... :oops:

Think I might just leave it... draw a line under it .. and move on...

I dont mind the money.... as long as Twinkle is well :)
Click to expand...

mine list what they used then how many mls on the invoice..


ie from an invoice

metoclopramide injection 10mg/2mlx10 then theres the quantity of 0.2
metacam injection 20ml quantity 0.05

ive always assumed the description is the strength/type and the quantity is how many mls given...

the dose can then be worked out be someone clever :oops::oops:
 
donnamt said:
mine list what they used then how many mls on the invoice..


ie from an invoice

metoclopramide injection 10mg/2mlx10 then theres the quantity of 0.2
metacam injection 20ml quantity 0.05

ive always assumed the description is the strength/type and the quantity is how many mls given...

the dose can then be worked out be someone clever :oops::oops:
Click to expand...

Oh... :oops:

Dont think I know how to read invoice... is this better?

Metacam Inj 0.5% (dog) .... 0.170 (increased to 0.340 after first visit)
Metoclopramide Inj 10mg/2Ml... 0.170 each time
Baytril Inj 2.5% .... 0.350 each time
 
yeah they are probably the mls used, i dont know the strength of the metacam used or the weight of your bunny so i have no idea what dose they used. same as alvins one, no idea what the used to get 0.05ml but when he has it at home 0.3ml works out as 0.2mg/kg which is low on the scale of what they can use but its enough for alvins tum :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
My Rabbits broken leg advice
Replies
9
Views
315
Barn Yard Bunnies
Barn Yard Bunnies
L
Gi stasis, no vets available
Replies
9
Views
179
ERCD
E
J
Bunny still isn't right following vet stay
Replies
17
Views
239
a reader of books
a reader of books
Back
Top