Favorite veterinarian misdiagnosis's - Page 1

OK... This isn't meant to be a bloodbath.... and please don't identify your vet by name.  Just want to see how many of you have experienced this topic..  I will go first - 

My little dog was limping on his right hind.  He would trot normal, and then kind of skip.  He didn't appear to be in pain, and ran around as normal except for this skip..

I took him to the vet the next day.  The vet looked at him, palpated the leg, and without xrays or even letting me trot him so he could see his gait, he gave me the diagnosis:

"He has a  ruptured anterior cruciate ligament" .    OK.   So he told me the what the cost of the surgery would be (approx. $700 to $800), and that it will only get worse if left on it's own.    I had to digest the information and I wanted to go home and research it.  I said I would call in a couple days to schedule the surgery.  I paid my bill and left. 

Um.  the next day my dog was 1OO PERCENT sound.  That was over 3 years ago.   Needless to say...I haven't been back to that vet. 

My late husband wasn't too reliable when it came to keeping an eye on our dog. One day in the spring, he left the gate open, and she wandered off. He only became aware she was missing when he heard a neighbour yelling at her.  

Two nights later, she woke us up in the wee hours of the morning as she vomited all over the rug. The next morning, she was so ill, he had to lift her into the back of the car to take her to the vet.

The vet found she had a high fever, and that some of her bloodwork was off. The values he was most worried about were the liver enzymes. Anyway, he treated her with antibiotics, and soon she was well enough to come home.

The liver enzymes continued to be out of whack, and he gave me all sorts of dire predictions: cancer, Addison's disease and hepatitis are the ones I remember. He did a special cortisol challenge test for the Addison's and it was inconclusive. He also tried a few other tests, then suggested an ultrasound and biopsy.

The cost of all this was really starting to add up. Meanwhile, Tasha seemed fully recovered. She was happy, healthy and eating like a horse. I finally put my foot down, and said "no more tests!"  If she's really sick, let's wait until she shows some symptoms!

About a month later, I decided to repeat the bloodwork for the liver enzymes, assuming that  If there were really something wrong with her, the figures would be even worse than before, and we could take it from there.

The vet called me back a few days later to say the liver enzymes and all other bloodwork were completely normal.

Tasha had a reputation for eating whatever filthy, rotten stuff she could get her teeth into, including people's garbage. I still think that all that was wrong with her was a severe case of garbage gastritis. The bacteria involved probably produced enough toxins to damage her liver, starting a wild goose chase for a condition that wasn't there. Fortunately, the liver is one of the few organs in the body that is able to heal itself, and given enough time, that's what happened.

Wow that vet was really hungry for money!

I wonder how many people were duped by this vet?

It's vets like that one that truly deserves to be publicly exposed.

I've lost track of how many of my clients have been told upper resiratory infections are caused by training collars.

I have a great story for you guys. A client of mine who recently had his dog neutered felt pretty sure his dog still had one tesitcle in place. I felt the dog, and sure enough, one nut. He called the vet, who REFUSED to remove the other testicle unless the owner paid for an ultrasound to confirm it was there. The vet YELLED at my client, saying he went to school and he had been a vet for x amount of years, blah blah blah how dare he accuse him of missing a testicle on a neuter. My client went to another vet to have it removed, sure enough, it was there. Seriously how do you get through vet school if you can't count to 2?!

Pyrometritis is a common misdiagnosis for vets to make a quick buck on an "emergency spay".  I'm not the only person who has had this misdiagnosis. 

I had a bitch who came up feeling so bad, she could not hardly walk.  This was on a Sunday.  I ended up taking her to the emergency vet clinic, where they did xrays and some tests.  The veterinarian said the dog had Pyro, and she had to have an emergency spaying, cost of $1600.  I said this was an bitch I had purchased and imported for breeding-- was there another option?  Vet said "No".  I knew nothing about pyro at that time.  I said I would wait until I could see my usual vet the next day.  The vet strongly contested that decision, saying the dog would probably die before the next day.  I told her I'd take her chances, and took the xray they did with me. 

The next morning, she was already feeling much better, but I got her into my regular vet's office right away.  He examined her and she was fine, no stinky discharge that is a symptom of Pyrometritis. My vet pointed to the xray, taken by the emergency vet the night before, to show me the pockets of gas and bone in the dog's intestines.  I'd given the bitch a huge length of backbone to chew on, like half of an adult cow backbone, and instead of chewing on it, like I thought she would do, she'd crunched up and eatten the whole damn thing. 

The bitch had a riproaring case of flatulence!!  I bred her after that and she had nine healthy pups. 

Veronica

I have had too many misdiagnosis on pups that were sold to my clients that it would take the whole day to write about them,,just know, find the right vet for a german shepherd , Ask around the clubs of poeple who are in the know and have had good vets., before you take you gsd to just any ole vet...it will cost you three legs ,and a couple of bank vaults of money , and worry and grief if you do not.

I had a gelding welsh cob blood tested and the vet rang me to say that the results showed he was in foal !

AKVeronica60, Are you sure you weren't interfering with PETA members by any chance? Maybe they didn't like the idea that you were going to breed her?

OMG Pagan...I have to say that takes the cake, LOL!!  Veronica

Who knows Brittany?  PETA is insidious! :-) Veronica