Hi everyone. A few months ago we had to separate my partners 2 boars because of fighting that led to a serious head injury for one of them. One has been rehomed and on Thursday we had the other neutered so he can be housed with my 2 sows... he’s grown very fond of one of them. We are really concerned he’s not going to make it, after he had emergency surgery Friday night as his intestines burst through his scrotum.
This is what happened and I would appreciate your views...and advice on how to tackle the vets practice over this. We are not experienced piggie owners and we were not made aware of the risks typical to boars , beyond usual anaesthetic risks and post op infections.
1 . our vets called Wednesday to reschedule his neutering appointment from Friday. We were keen to get the opp done whilst our kids were away so they weren’t stressed out by it so we accepted their offer of a locum vet. The practice has a good reputation for g pig care usually. I didn’t think to question the vets experience levels which I know now was a terrible mistake.
2. I took him in Thursday morning and signed their disclaimer. The vet nurse explained there was a risk like all animals from the anaesthetic and post opp issues of infection and the importance of getting him eating. At no point did She explain that the procedure in g pigs was more risky than in other animals and the reasons why. They said he would be operated on at around 3pm.
3. At around 4 pm the male vet that operated called me to say it was fine to collect cookie at our discharge time of 5.15 pm , advised about importance of eating and said to make sure we kept a close eye on him in case he chewed his wound ( he had been glued not stitched) but said he had been leaving it alone.
4. My partner collected him just over an hour later but the vet came out with cookie in a box and said to my partner he had made a mess of himself and would have re glue his wound. The vet seemed quite concerned and tried to get my partner to book an appointment for the next morning. Because of work commitments she said she would call if we had any concerns.
5. He was discharged and Sarah brought him home. His testicle area seemed quite swollen at the time to us and the glued area seemed quite stretched but there was no evidence that it has been nibbled. He was now wearing a collar. He barely ate and was very tired but showed no interest in his testicles what so ever . We took him back in the morning first thing because he hadn’t past faeces and had barely eaten.
6. Another vet saw cookie and commented on how “swollen” his testicle area was. She took him away to examine him, returned and said he had had a massive wee but she had removed his collar as that could be putting him off his food. She made him some pants to protect his testicle area and medicine to help him poo.
7. Sarah took him home and watched him like a hawk all day. He made no attempt to have a go at his wound whatsoever even though the make shift pants fell off straight away. We didn’t put them back on. He took a little veg through hand feeding but ate very little. He had a few poos after the meds too.
8. We put him out in on grass in the evening for an hour or so as it was a warm Eve and he grazed and also interacted through the cage with his favourite female g pig. He looked much perkier but his scrotum was massive and quite purple.
We brought him back in for the evening and as we were settling him down one testicle burst open and his intestines poked out ( we didn’t know it was his intestines at this stage)
9. We called the vets immediately and took him to their out of hours vet . He was there within 15 mins! I knew the vet as she had treated my rabbit and I knew she was good with small mammals. She could tell what had happened, explained all risks thoroughly and gave us a quote of £450 ish for the emergency surgery. Despite the chance of him not recovering we agreed to it as cookie belongs to my partners 10 year old and is very loved. We were shocked at the cost though.
10. The out of hours vet carried out the procedure straight away and updated us in the middle of night and again in the morning. Sounded like she had done a thorough job and had stitched not glued. I questioned her about why it had happened and she explained the risks around the inaugrial canal. I asked if the fist vet had tied it off properly but she evaded the question and said it had been stitched but there can be wound breakdown. They kept him there all day but he didn’t eat so they force fed him recovery food through a syringe. At no point did cookie attempt to mess with his wound.
11. We went to see cookie at about 9.30pm with fresh veg and herbs and he ate some from us so they said he would be better at home. He had a few poos with them. We’ve been encouraging him to eat ... he’s had a bit and we’ve got more recovery food down him but no poos.
Now I’m writing this post as I believe that:
1. It’s possible the locum vet who did the op has had little or no experience in boar castrations. We think cookies intestines has possibly already prolapsed before he was discharged causing the initial wound to reopen and the vet lied or was mistaken about cookie opening up his own wound given he has made no attempts before or after that to bite his wound and there was no nibbling damage.
2. I believe the unusually excessive swelling the 2nd vet saw when my partner took him back in was due to the intestines filling his now empty scrotum sack more and more and this was missed by that vet.
3. I am concerned the good out of hours vet is reluctant to say the locum vet didn’t do the op properly because she works for the same practice, as well as the out of hours clinic.
4. We have had to pay £450 for this and are more likely to lose our piggie because of the incompetence of a locum vet our usual vet practice put in charge of cookie. The vet was also very young... we think under 30 for sure.
5. I believe This procedure went wrong before he was discharged and is being covered up by the locum vet. I’ve complained already but the clinical director is on holiday and I’ve been asked to put in writing my concerns to the practice manager before they will see me. Do I give them the full picture as on here or do I give a basic outline and hit them with my questions cold so they have less chance of fabricating a defence?
I will be asking them to confirm how experienced the locum vet was and if they were aware of his credentials ( or lack of them) and be asking if he was assisted during the op and when he reglued cookie and who that person was too. The fact the vet was acting quite nervous when he returned after the regluing is very suspicious. Obviously after only now reading all the forums and blogs do we realise how important it is to use a very experienced vet but they should know that too surely and this should have been discussed with us as part of the risk review. If it turns out the vet is experienced at piggie castration and has a great success rate we may have to accept that theses things just sometimes go wrong. But that was never made clear to us and I don’t see why we should have to pick up the tab for the out of hours care when evidence is pointing to the high probability cookies opp went wrong before he was discaharged and they did nothing about it... either through incompetence or through deliberate cover up from a young inexperienced locum vet.
Any thoughts, case law knowledge or experience or sign posting you can share to help us tackle the practice would be very much appreciated. We obviously want them to pay the out of hours bill but more importantly if the practice is at fault here I need them to be honest with us and themselves so they can learn from it so no one else’s piggie or family have to go through this stress. Thank goodness cookies 10 year old doting owner is away on holiday and totally unaware her piggie almost died.
It goes without saying that I will go on every forum I know locally to name and shame the Practice if they attempt to shrug this off. I have good contacts with the local media also and not afraid to use them. Thanks for reading our post. Sorry it’s so long!
This is what happened and I would appreciate your views...and advice on how to tackle the vets practice over this. We are not experienced piggie owners and we were not made aware of the risks typical to boars , beyond usual anaesthetic risks and post op infections.
1 . our vets called Wednesday to reschedule his neutering appointment from Friday. We were keen to get the opp done whilst our kids were away so they weren’t stressed out by it so we accepted their offer of a locum vet. The practice has a good reputation for g pig care usually. I didn’t think to question the vets experience levels which I know now was a terrible mistake.
2. I took him in Thursday morning and signed their disclaimer. The vet nurse explained there was a risk like all animals from the anaesthetic and post opp issues of infection and the importance of getting him eating. At no point did She explain that the procedure in g pigs was more risky than in other animals and the reasons why. They said he would be operated on at around 3pm.
3. At around 4 pm the male vet that operated called me to say it was fine to collect cookie at our discharge time of 5.15 pm , advised about importance of eating and said to make sure we kept a close eye on him in case he chewed his wound ( he had been glued not stitched) but said he had been leaving it alone.
4. My partner collected him just over an hour later but the vet came out with cookie in a box and said to my partner he had made a mess of himself and would have re glue his wound. The vet seemed quite concerned and tried to get my partner to book an appointment for the next morning. Because of work commitments she said she would call if we had any concerns.
5. He was discharged and Sarah brought him home. His testicle area seemed quite swollen at the time to us and the glued area seemed quite stretched but there was no evidence that it has been nibbled. He was now wearing a collar. He barely ate and was very tired but showed no interest in his testicles what so ever . We took him back in the morning first thing because he hadn’t past faeces and had barely eaten.
6. Another vet saw cookie and commented on how “swollen” his testicle area was. She took him away to examine him, returned and said he had had a massive wee but she had removed his collar as that could be putting him off his food. She made him some pants to protect his testicle area and medicine to help him poo.
7. Sarah took him home and watched him like a hawk all day. He made no attempt to have a go at his wound whatsoever even though the make shift pants fell off straight away. We didn’t put them back on. He took a little veg through hand feeding but ate very little. He had a few poos after the meds too.
8. We put him out in on grass in the evening for an hour or so as it was a warm Eve and he grazed and also interacted through the cage with his favourite female g pig. He looked much perkier but his scrotum was massive and quite purple.
We brought him back in for the evening and as we were settling him down one testicle burst open and his intestines poked out ( we didn’t know it was his intestines at this stage)
9. We called the vets immediately and took him to their out of hours vet . He was there within 15 mins! I knew the vet as she had treated my rabbit and I knew she was good with small mammals. She could tell what had happened, explained all risks thoroughly and gave us a quote of £450 ish for the emergency surgery. Despite the chance of him not recovering we agreed to it as cookie belongs to my partners 10 year old and is very loved. We were shocked at the cost though.
10. The out of hours vet carried out the procedure straight away and updated us in the middle of night and again in the morning. Sounded like she had done a thorough job and had stitched not glued. I questioned her about why it had happened and she explained the risks around the inaugrial canal. I asked if the fist vet had tied it off properly but she evaded the question and said it had been stitched but there can be wound breakdown. They kept him there all day but he didn’t eat so they force fed him recovery food through a syringe. At no point did cookie attempt to mess with his wound.
11. We went to see cookie at about 9.30pm with fresh veg and herbs and he ate some from us so they said he would be better at home. He had a few poos with them. We’ve been encouraging him to eat ... he’s had a bit and we’ve got more recovery food down him but no poos.
Now I’m writing this post as I believe that:
1. It’s possible the locum vet who did the op has had little or no experience in boar castrations. We think cookies intestines has possibly already prolapsed before he was discharged causing the initial wound to reopen and the vet lied or was mistaken about cookie opening up his own wound given he has made no attempts before or after that to bite his wound and there was no nibbling damage.
2. I believe the unusually excessive swelling the 2nd vet saw when my partner took him back in was due to the intestines filling his now empty scrotum sack more and more and this was missed by that vet.
3. I am concerned the good out of hours vet is reluctant to say the locum vet didn’t do the op properly because she works for the same practice, as well as the out of hours clinic.
4. We have had to pay £450 for this and are more likely to lose our piggie because of the incompetence of a locum vet our usual vet practice put in charge of cookie. The vet was also very young... we think under 30 for sure.
5. I believe This procedure went wrong before he was discharged and is being covered up by the locum vet. I’ve complained already but the clinical director is on holiday and I’ve been asked to put in writing my concerns to the practice manager before they will see me. Do I give them the full picture as on here or do I give a basic outline and hit them with my questions cold so they have less chance of fabricating a defence?
I will be asking them to confirm how experienced the locum vet was and if they were aware of his credentials ( or lack of them) and be asking if he was assisted during the op and when he reglued cookie and who that person was too. The fact the vet was acting quite nervous when he returned after the regluing is very suspicious. Obviously after only now reading all the forums and blogs do we realise how important it is to use a very experienced vet but they should know that too surely and this should have been discussed with us as part of the risk review. If it turns out the vet is experienced at piggie castration and has a great success rate we may have to accept that theses things just sometimes go wrong. But that was never made clear to us and I don’t see why we should have to pick up the tab for the out of hours care when evidence is pointing to the high probability cookies opp went wrong before he was discaharged and they did nothing about it... either through incompetence or through deliberate cover up from a young inexperienced locum vet.
Any thoughts, case law knowledge or experience or sign posting you can share to help us tackle the practice would be very much appreciated. We obviously want them to pay the out of hours bill but more importantly if the practice is at fault here I need them to be honest with us and themselves so they can learn from it so no one else’s piggie or family have to go through this stress. Thank goodness cookies 10 year old doting owner is away on holiday and totally unaware her piggie almost died.
It goes without saying that I will go on every forum I know locally to name and shame the Practice if they attempt to shrug this off. I have good contacts with the local media also and not afraid to use them. Thanks for reading our post. Sorry it’s so long!
