Vet spade my puppy - she was returned with all her facial hair cut off - is there anything I can do?

[Lorraine101]

Leaving my mums 5 month old puppy, Millie, a Maltese Terrier, at the vets to be spade, the nurse went through the permissions list, asking if I wanted to allow them to cut her toe nails, to which I said 'no' and did I want her returned with a neck collar, to which I said 'no'.

 

When my mum collected Millie, she was 'horrified' to see that her female parts were not the only thing the vet had removed!

 

The vet had cut off all her facial hair up to her forehead including her eyelashes and also cutting off her under chin beard hair!

 

My mother immediately complained to the nurse and 2 days later when I took Millie back for her after surgery check, I complained to the vet who had actually performed the surgery.

 

Showing her a photo of Millies face before surgery, I asked 'why has she been returned to us looking like a totally different dog' and 'why on earth was her facial hair cut when she only went to be spade?'

 

I was told that the nurse had thought she was just doing her job as Millie was drooling. What was wrong with wiping any drool with a towel or cloth and then washing her face?

 

I told her that I was horrified that they assumed it would okay for them to cut off her hair when I would not give permission for them to cut her nails.

 

I stated it would of taken a 5 minute telephone call from the vets to ask either my mother or myself for our permission to cut her hair and that surely the permission question should be included in the pre-surgery questionnaire.

 

 

The vet called my mother and said that she would be elevating the complaint with the practices senior partner and the nurse in question.

 

I told my mother that she should request a full refund of the cost for Millie to be spade as I felt the vet should refund either all or some of the operations cost as a sign of goodwill after unauthorised cutting of Millies face hair.

 

My mother requested a refund and was told 'no'.

 

Is there anything that we can do? Is there a governing board that we can report the vet to?

[ericsbrother]

It is done to get a decent fit for the anaesthetic gas mask. The hair will grow back in about 6 weeks so although it looks unsightly now no harm has been done. Accept that this is done for medical reasons and enjoy the dog rather than fussing over this temporary problem. Complaining to any authority wont get you anywhere but you may be struck off the vets customer register so see if there is another one locally if you do decide to make a complaint.