It is the job of veterinary professionals to make dogs feel safe and comfortable at the vet. Dogs cannot speak for themselves, so we as the human adults have to do that for them. We had never had an issue with All Creatures when our puppy was going for his regularly scheduled vaccines and dewormer. We had not been in the clinic in nearly 9 months because our dog never had an issue. So when our now 13 month old goofy boy started shaking his head, pawing at his ears, and rubbing his head on the ground we made an appointment to get his ears checked out. We knew it had been awhile and he is a lot bigger and more excitable now so we were prepared with his harness and lots of treats, thinking it would be a slightly chaotic but quick ear check. The vet we saw is the older man. He had his tech absolutely manhandle our dog and hold his mouth shut with her hand as she pressed his head against her chest. That is a sure fire way to get bit out of fear, but thankfully that did not happen. They had him in the corner on the floor instead of on the table right away. Only after cornering him and pinning him, clamping his mouth shut, did they put him on the table and muzzle him. I vocalized many times before that that he would get mouthy but I was ignored. I also offered multiple times to have my spouse hold my dog for them since as his owners, we know how to handle him and respond to his cues. The vet and tech both simply did not respond. This entire time, my dog was not aggressive. He was anxious and overwhelmed and making crying noises as they manhandled him. Even with all of this, he sat politely for treats and took them gently from the vets hand, so they KNEW he was okay and just an anxious big puppy.
The second and honestly bigger issue is that once his ears were checked, the vet told us our dog was significantly overweight. We know many people get defensive about their pets weight but this was not the case for us. Our dogs breed does not match what they have for him on file since they put down what the shelter guessed him to be as a wee puppy last year. We got a genetic panel done way back last year and at one of his routine puppy visits, we asked if they should update his chart with the correct breed mix. They said it wasn’t necessary and we didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to now, the vet is insisting that his weight should be 64lbs when the genetic panel actually put his target weight as anywhere from 65-95lbs. He is a mutt of 11 different breeds, most of them being LARGE doggies. His ribs are palpable, his waist is trim, he is active and looks fantastic for his size actually. The shocking diet the vet recommended was a starvation diet of 750 calories. But yet the vet acknowledged that he is still growing! He should actually be getting 1634 calories a day per nutritional guidelines and the dog food bag and this “professional” recommended HALVING his food. We were flabbergasted to say the least.
When my spouse called to voice his concerns we were told our dog was “combative”. We were also informed that “muzzle grabbing” is their standard practice. Sounds like a good way to get bit and blame it on the dog. Another review I read mentions their dogs mouth being clamped shut. He really wasn’t combative, he was jumpy but did better than I expected considering he was having his mouth clamped shut and being pinned down in the corner for several minutes. I think I would not be happy if my doctor was manhandling me that way. Needless to say, we are going to find a new vet for our dog. He deserves better than that.
