Last August our dog fell very ill, she was really in pain and was very poorly. I took her to Park Vets in Cassiobury and they kept her the night. After scanning her and doing the exams needed, they co... Read More
Last August our dog fell very ill, she was really in pain and was very poorly. I took her to Park Vets in Cassiobury and they kept her the night. After scanning her and doing the exams needed, they contacted me saying that a cancer the size of a tennis ball was found in her pancreas. The vet Mrs. Cristiana said that the exams carried out by Monique Noronha where conclusive and that we needed to think of our Dog and not ourselves. She said the best was to put the dog down. As my children were in Italy at the time, I asked if extra time could be given, and she prescribed medication. Once everyone cut their holidays short to say our finals goodbye, we went to the appointment at the Vet Centre to put her down. That day in particular our dog was more lively and had recovered a bit, so the Vet (Mrs Cristiana) advised us to wait until she was less lively so that we wouldn't feel so guilty or that we had done the wrong thing. She said not to expect our dog to last till Xmas. After that time, our dog recovered so much, that a friend advised us to ask the lady who did the scan to show us the cancer again as we could not understand why our dog seemed better instead of worst...The lady (Monique) was astonished when she re-scanned our dog and could not see any cancer, nor the tennis ball size that was so visible and for which we were advised to kill our dog. We where so happy and relief but then felt so let down that I contacted the Vet to complain and to let her know that they should think twice before advising pet owners to kill their pets when unwell. Her answer was really disappointing, she said, "misdiagnosis happen even with humans" and that if we wanted a more accurate vision of the cancer she could refer us to a place where the scans are carried out in colour as their black and white screen seemed to show a text book like description of cancer which is what we were told our dog had" There was no apology, no remorse and sadly no lessons were learnt (I feel) from their part. I think it was a mistake and that the practice is not bad one (they just made a huge mistake, maybe a one off) but this experience has taught me a lot! Please pet owners, think twice before putting your pet down and more importantly seek a second opinion, wait for treatment to take its course, it may get better and a life could be saved instead or finished. We are happy to report that once year on, our dog is lively and still around. K. Mujica Read Less