First let me say I've been going to KBAC for 9 years ever since I adopted my cocker spaniel. I've only had wonderful things to say about Dr. Toby Shows and Dr. Richard Croft, and the staff there are a... Read More
First let me say I've been going to KBAC for 9 years ever since I adopted my cocker spaniel. I've only had wonderful things to say about Dr. Toby Shows and Dr. Richard Croft, and the staff there are all great. I have recommended them to many friends. HOWEVER, a recent incident by Dr. Aaron Rainer left my dog wounded in severe pain and caused him to lose his hearing. I€m giving it a 1-star to draw attention, so hopefully people will read it, and be careful whose hand they put their beloved animal in.
Here is what happened: while I was cleaning my dog€s ear as part of regular cleaning, a piece of cotton on the Q-tip fell off and dropped into his right ear canal. This had happened once before when Dr. Shows took it out easily. So I just took him to the clinic for a walk-in. After him being taken to the back for examination by a Dr. Rainer, I was told that he needs to be sedated first so he can be held still when they get the cotton out. I left him there, trusting he can be taken good care of like before, though this is the first time with Dr. Rainer.
At 11am Dr. Rainer called to tell me he got the cotton tip out, but found Preston had a severe mid-ear infection with drum ruptured, so he prescribed multiple antibiotics and pain killer and suggested a follow-up check the next day. I was surprised to hear about the infection because with regular cleaning the ear looked perfectly normal with no sign of swelling or itching or discharge. What really got me worried is why he would need pain killer and an almost immediate follow-up check € this suggested something really bad had happened. Getting cotton tip out is not a surgery and is not supposed to leave him wound or pain. Dr. Rainer explained that pain killer is needed because ear infection is painful € I know ear infection is painful but I did not know doctors prescribing pain killer just for that. My dog had battled with ear infection before and was never given pain killer because of infection, not by this clinic nor by his Dermatologist who specializes in ear infection.
Then when I checked Preston out at round 12:00, I noticed a lot of dried dark brown stain, which I believe was blood, on his ear flap. Really scared and also worried about infection I drove him to his Dermatologist (Southwest Dermatologist Veterinary) right away. She examined him, and found his ear canal was severely irritated with very bad ulcer and swelling. Because of the swelling, she could not see clearly inside but judged that the ear drum should be fine because there was no severe infection.
All the facts (the blood, the bad ulcer and swelling, the need for pain killer) can only point to one explanation: My dog€s ear got damaged when Dr. Rainer tried to get the cotton tip out. Getting that cotton out was supposed to be an easy thing, but Dr. Rainer managed to leave us with a $500 bill and a badly wounded ear.
What got us in real devastation was that when we got home we found my dog has lost hearing of his right ear. Now more than two months passed, the ulcer and infection was cured, but his hearing has not come back. The exact reason of the hearing loss is not known. After multiple trips to the specialist, she suspects it€s probable that the ear drum was indeed damaged during the initial handling, with nerves impaired either by direct damage or medication. We€ll never be able to know what exactly happened, but are struggling to figure out how to cope with the disastrous result. Read Less