Nearly killed my dog. I would not ever recommend this veterinarian to a friend or a foe. I would refrain from giving stars if I had the choice.
On August 04, 2016 I took my Australian Shepherd Mix to Dr. Rex to get neutered. The procedure was to cost me $130. The reason I took my dog to Dr. Rex was because my brother had just recently had his Pit Bull spayed there and everything went well.
My first red flag was that I was made to sign a waiver basically stating that if any complications were to arise prior to, during, or after the operation neither Dr. Rex nor any of his employees or affiliates would be held accountable. I dropped my dog off at 10 am and was picking him up by 3:30 pm. When I picked him up he was still a little wobbly and coming off of the anesthesia--so I had no concerns, minus the fact that he didn't have "the cone of shame" on him. When I got him home, I saw that his scrotal sac still looked like it contained a testicle and that blood was coming from my dog's incision area. I kept my dog from licking, gnawing, or even coming remotely close to the area as to not make it worse.
A few hours passed and he still had not eaten and had drank very little water, which is expected but assumed to increase as time went on. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My dog got worse. Let me preface by saying my dog may possibly be the most active dog in the world. Even under the anesthesia he was moving around a lot, however, at about 5 pm I noticed that he slowed down significantly and he was laying in spots that would keep him warm, which is not normal for him being he is a "hot dog" and we don't have A/C.
At around 6:30, I took him outside where he lied down. He didn't want to get back up, and when he did, he almost collapsed... About three times. That's when I decided to look at his gums--they were completely white. I am talking white like paper. He was fading and fast. When my mom got home she looked at them, told me to call the Emergency Pet Hospital of Redlands. They told me to rush him over and that I would be pushed to the front of the line because he was in critical condition. He almost didn't make it to the hospital--that's how shallow his breathing was and how unresponsive he became.
Come to find out Dr. Rex had neither properly nor effectively ligated (tie-off) either of the testicular blood vessels and my dog was hemorrhaging (internally bleeding). So much so that he almost died--and it's still a possibility. Dr. Joo at the Emergency Pet Hospital performed another surgery to correct Dr. Rex's mistake. She reopened the original site of castration (Dr. Rex's work) and had to open up his abdominal cavity even further because the right side's blood vessels had retracted back into his abdominal cavity. Dr. Joo said that when she opened my dog back up there was so much blood so had trouble finding the vessels that needed to be tied off. My dog is still in critical condition and is not out of the clear yet and it's been over 24-hours. He is under Dr. Joo's supervision--she's is the best veterinarian I know.
What should have been an $130 castration turned into $2630 four-hour lifesaving operation.
I went back to Dr. Rex with the report from the Emergency Pet hospital and all he said to me was, "This has never happened to me and I've been doing this since '78" and "There's nothing I can do" and "We get referrals from out of state to have surgeries here." When he apologized, it didn't sound sincere or genuine at all. He did not even state that there was a possibility of him having made a mistake. Perhaps I caught him on a bad day, but I was not fortunate enough to witness the "compassionate", "empathetic", and "sympathetic" veterinarian that everyone else has reviewed. I found him to be cold, unconcerned, and negligent.
I understand that accidents happen, but this to me seemed to show Dr. Rex's true character and needless to say, I am not impressed.
by casey
xxx.xxx.218.249
August 05, 2016
