Sharing this review following mediation with the VCMS, which has been left as unresolved.
The pain this practice has caused my dog and in turn our family has been more than they probably realise. I ... Read More
Sharing this review following mediation with the VCMS, which has been left as unresolved.
The pain this practice has caused my dog and in turn our family has been more than they probably realise. I have taken my complaint to them which was half responded to and half ignored. We then went through a mediator and this has been left unresolved due to the practice "taking on board" my comments, but not offering any good will gesture or apology.
I took my french bulldog to the clinic after finding a lump on her ear, we were new clients after the closure of our local vet.
They diagnosed a hematoma and advised that the treatment would be leech therapy. We took our dog to the Dorking branch for the therapy several days later and following this, the hematoma worsened. We were asked to wait a week before bringing her back, however the size concerned me and I took her back after a few days. More leeches applied. A week later, it's even bigger. Her whole ear is swollen. Take her back again, no treatment offered as we need to wait at least 2 weeks.
She was given anti allergy injections and antibiotics to treat the underlying ear infections at her first and last appointments.
At this point I decided to seek a second opinion. There were several factors involved in this, including gut instinct that something at this clinic felt "off", as well as conducting my own research and finding that leech therapy is not a common treatment for this type of injury.
I took her to another clinic the following day and the Vet drained her hematoma surgically there and then. There was 26ml of blood drained from her ear. Had this been done at the start when the hematoma was a lot smaller, it would have saved her 2 weeks of pain. She required one more drainage a week later, a very small amount, and now several weeks on, her ear has fully healed thanks to the new clinic, sadly it is now crumpled so will not stand upright again.
The above is a condensed version of everything I complained about and I put these opinions forward to Brelades, but what I received back was far from a heartfelt apology but a defensive account of the effectiveness of leech treatment and a "I'm sorry you felt....." apology, rather than anything genuine. I requested a refund for the leeches (a small amount in the grand scheme, less than £200) which the VCMS agreed would be a goodwill gesture but this has twice been declined. My comments about poor customer relations at the clinic were ignored.
They have agreed to take my comments on board that I wish for them to give treatment choices to clients to enable them to conduct their own research and make choices that they feel would benefit their pet, rather than giving one preferred treatment option (in this case leeches). Whether they will or not is a different story.
I highly regret not declining the leeches and wish I had researched sooner, but not as much as I regret going to this clinic in the first place. Read Less