ComplaintsforMy Kids Have Paws Veterinary Services

• Initial Complaint

  01/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1/7/21. To the amount of $120, and an additional $10. My kids have paws knew I had two rabbits, one male, and one female. They knew the rabbits were being fixed so that they could bond, live together, but not reproduce. The rabbits went to the vet together, for their neuter and spay, and I was told I'd be called whenever they were finished. My kids have paws came to the realization that my male rabbit was hermaphrodite. This meant that he had the male parts without testicles, without a vulva, but had ovaries. Being a hermaphrodite, he can't reproduce, he is sterile. Hermaphrodite animals, especially rabbits, have higher risk. They are unique, uncommon, have more underlying health issues, cancers, a weaker immunity, and are not suggested to have this surgery. Especially since in most cases, it is not necessary. Being spayed or neutered is already a very high risk, dangerous procedure for rabbits. Fixing one with this unique situation is even higher risk, especially since the animal cannot even reproduce, and it's weakening immunity on an already high risk animal. My kids have paws decided they would break the law, practice poor business etiquette, with inconsiderate actions, and fixed the rabbit anyways. This means they put him under anesthesia, realized he was hermaphrodite, knew that it was no longer necessary to perform surgery to prevent male hormones or reproducing, and they performed the surgery anyways. This isn't what I signed the waiver for, it isn't the surgery I hired them for since they did it as a spay, and then they charged me the new, higher price. He shouldn't have been fixed. Now neither should've since they couldn't reproduce. He is under critical care, losing weight, almost entered GI Stasis, but I took him for fluids, extra pain meds, and IV. And they charged me again. He didn't need the surgery, it wasn't what I hired them for, he is suffering from the surgery, yet they want to charge me again. I'm out of characters.

  Business response

  03/17/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/01/25) */ Response to Case #****** There are many reasons people bring their bunnies for spay/neuter. Some people bring them for aggression issues. Some people bring them for health reasons (prevent cancer, etc). Some people bring them for reproduction control. Not everyone has bonded pairs. Many people have bunnies in separate areas of the house, or they live in separate cages or different members of the house each have their own bunny. I had never met Mr. ***** and his bunnies. I had no knowledge of his reason for bringing two bunnies in for alteration or their living arrangement. These are adult rabbits - possibly living separately, possibly already having babies, I truly didn't know nor is that a part of what our clinic focuses on. He brought two bunnies to the clinic for alteration. If he didn't want them reproducing, he could have just brought one bunny. He signed our waiver that expressly states that we will proceed with the alteration regardless of sex. B******* presented for neuter. We could not palpate testicles while B******* was awake - he wasn't very cooperative. But he had a penis - irregular penis, but a penis. We anesthetized B*******, and we still couldn't palpate testicles. Some male bunnies need to have their testicles removed from the abdomen rather than scrotal. That is a technique used for neutering bunnies. So, I entered the abdomen and saw a uterus first. Knowing that if he was a hermaphrodite, there could be ovaries and testicles, I continued exploring. It was a complete uterus and two ovaries. There are three medical reasons I continued the spay: 1. Bunnies over 3 years of age with an intact uterus are at a high risk of uterine adenocarcinoma. Therefore, it would have been very risky to put the uterus back in the abdomen and close up, only to have to remove the uterus in the future due to cancer. 2. Bunnies are highly prone to adhesions. Once an organ is outside the abdomen, once gauze or sterile gloves touch an abdominal organ, the likelihood of serious adhesions is extremely high. It would have been unfathomable to put the uterus and ovaries back in the abdomen. 3. Bunny anesthesia is highly risky. Prolonging anesthesia to try to reach the owner was not in B*******'s best interest. When B******* stopped eating a few days after surgery, Mr. R**** took over 24 hours to contact us and then even longer to bring B******* in for a post-op exam. Because of how long B******* had gone without food (over 24 hours), he was then at risk of GI stasis leading to sepsis. So, we had to cover a lot more issues than just not eating as well after surgery. Mr. R**** is upset over a $10 difference. A bunny spay is $65 - it includes the surgery and anesthesia, pain meds for 4 days, a bunny e-collar, a nail trim, and a little bottle of Critical Care to make sure owners are encouraging feeding. A bunny neuter is $55 and includes all of those except the e-collar. B******* was sent home with everything included in the bunny spay price. When he came back for the post-surgery exam, we didn't charge an exam fee. We charged simply for the medicines/treatments that B******* needed due to Mr. R**** waiting so long to bring him in. And, when he said he didn't have his wallet, I didn't care if he paid that day or not. I just wanted to get B******* eating again. So we did all the medicines and treatments and received no compensation. Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/01/25) */ ***Document Attached*** Consumer Response /* (3000, 15, 2022/02/07) */ I never was sent their response. My case shouldn't be closed

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