Vet tales of woe: Ive been going to Animal Care Center of Chicago for 1.5 years -- far longer than I should have stayed with all of the issues but I thought the problems were with specific vets or staff members and that it wasnt the organization as a whole. I have had so many bad experiences including them giving Chewy the wrong set of vaccinations when he was a puppy, being double charged for things constantly, asking for certain things done (like nail trims/ears cleaned out) to have them charge me but then never perform them, but more importantly as hes grown up Ive brought up the fact that Chewys legs are bowed and his one paw is turned to the side (due to bone growth I later learned). They always told me not to worry about it and watch out for signs of discomfort -- as long as it didnt bother him they werent an issue. Flash forward to recently, he took a tumble while running around and was limping with lots of pain if he extended his leg. I brought him to the vet, they say its just a pulled muscle and give some pain pills & muscle relaxer. A month later and hes still nursing the leg sometimes and limps after laying down. Take him to their orthopedic vet and this is where I am still horrified at what happened. He took Chewy in the back for X-rays, comes in and tells me that even though you cant see it on the X-ray, that Chewy has torn ligaments and that his shoulder pops in and out of the socket. He then proceeds to muzzle Chewy, and continuously pop his very painful leg in and out of its socket all the while Chewy is screaming and crying. He then kept trying to make me feel whats happening all the while Im hysterical because hes clearly in so much pain and tell him that I dont need to feel it for myself if thats what he says it is then I believe him. Finally after practically screaming at him to stop he did, and then he said Chewy was going to be in more pain because he was manipulating it so much and gave us another round of pain meds. He said he was unable to perform the surgery needed and I had to see a specialist (the ONLY good thing that place has ever done). Well I went to the specialist today and not only is everything he said wrong, Chewy is now so traumatized by what happened he wouldnt even let the vet pet him without crying out (he has always been amazing at being handled by every person weve ever seen). The specialist read the vets notes and even told me he was completely wrong in his diagnosis and that he caused unnecessary pain as Chewy doesnt have a dislocation issue his pain is from an inflamed and damaged bicep tendon that potentially might need surgery but we are trying crate rest and a steroid injection for now. Not only that, but now that Chewy is fully grown its too late to try to fix his twisted leg because it would have needed to be treated while he was still growing -- the complete opposite of what the other vets specifically told me this whole time. I am so upset at myself for allowing Chewy to go there as long as I did. There were so many doctors there and each time we saw a new one and there were some visits that were fine but in my gut I knew I didnt trust them fully and now will never take him back there ever again.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:30:15 +0000