Would you be upset?

[PetLuvR]

Hey guys I was at work today (at the vets) and we had a dog that was boarding with us. We were suspicious that this dog had swolled a nail b/c it had vomit in its pen with a nail in it. We are doing construction so we were wondering ....did he vomit on the nail...or vomit the nail. Anyway we x-rayed him and found a rock in his belly. Dr. Slayman called the emerg. number that the owners left us but was unable to talk to them and left a message. The dog vomited again the next day and had passed the rock from his stomach to his intestines that were being stretched out, and the rock was causing a blockage. Although this was not a life of death situation we did surgry w/ out talking to the owners to prevent the stool from rotting the intestines so we wouldnt have to remove part of her gut later. Would you all be mad if you came back from vacation and found out we had done surgry w/ out permission...by the way she did it for free. Would you have done that at your vet DaVet? Thanks!

[davet]

personally i would not be upset..we had this problem often in the kennel atached to my office..it was understood that if the dog required any treatment we would go ahead and do it, if we cdould not get ahold of their regular vet...most the time the owners understood although we had a atorsion that died and those people were not, understandably happy. i am not sure if another x-ray was tekn after the stone passed or not but if it were i sure would show all the x-rays and treatment to the owner...although again if the dog swalloed the nail at your place etc. that could be a little touchy, but i thnk most dog owners would accept something if it meant saving the dogs life...all peoople are different thuogh so who knows.???

[k9Karen]

I think I would be upset that you couldn't get hold of me, not with the surgery, as long as it was fully explained to me what had happened and why it was done. I would expect that you would continue to try to get in touch with me to let me know what happened and to keep me informed of my furbaby's condition. I also would probably want to cut my vacation short to come back and make sure all was OK. (Although I know sometimes that can't be done - depends on where you are and transportation concerns). I think your vet is to be applauded for doing this for free, but since no one can be sure if this happened while the dog was boarded with you, it is probably a very wise decision. I hope this dog is OK and makes a full recovery.