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Thea was at the vets this morning.

Well, surprise surprise I got a phone call this morning from the Practice Manager at the vets. She'd had a phone call from one of the Directors about my email which she claims she never received. She said it's well known in Veterinary Practice not to give Guinea Pigs Synulox. I replied that I did ask the vet why not Baytril? and that the vet had said that Synulox was more palatable as it said "Palatable Drops" on the box. The Practice Manager said "that suggests she knew what she was doing" and then said "Like you said, 3 people looked at the medicine and should have known not to give it to Thea". She also told me that the vet I saw was newly qualified (which I knew) and that she had seen her Mentor. I replied that I was quite happy that she'd got a second opinion as she didn't want to make mistakes. Nevertheless a mistake did happen that could well have been fatal to Thea.

The Practice Manager is going to email me from her personal email account, apparently, and she is going to do a thorough investigation and get back to me.

Why did I have to complain to one of the Directors before I had a reply back from the Vet Practice? Like I said before, they were probably ignoring it hoping it would go away. Funny how she found the email after she got a phone call from one of the Directors isn't it? A bit of coincidence ......
 
Betsy said:
Well, surprise surprise I got a phone call this morning from the Practice Manager at the vets. She'd had a phone call from one of the Directors about my email which she claims she never received. She said it's well known in Veterinary Practice not to give Guinea Pigs Synulox. I replied that I did ask the vet why not Baytril? and that the vet had said that Synulox was more palatable as it said "Palatable Drops" on the box. The Practice Manager said "that suggests she knew what she was doing" and then said "Like you said, 3 people looked at the medicine and should have known not to give it to Thea". She also told me that the vet I saw was newly qualified (which I knew) and that she had seen her Mentor. I replied that I was quite happy that she'd got a second opinion as she didn't want to make mistakes. Nevertheless a mistake did happen that could well have been fatal to Thea.

The Practice Manager is going to email me from her personal email account, apparently, and she is going to do a thorough investigation and get back to me.

Why did I have to complain to one of the Directors before I had a reply back from the Vet Practice? Like I said before, they were probably ignoring it hoping it would go away. Funny how she found the email after she got a phone call from one of the Directors isn't it? A bit of coincidence ......
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Well done @Betsy
This is so serious ! I’m pleased you’ve had contact with the practice manager but such a serious complaint warrants immediate response. Shocking behaviour on their part. I think you are right to change practices too - trust is gone
 
It's awful when this happens. The vet wasn't paying attention and she made a horrible mistake. Well three people in their practice don't know about how Synulox affects guinea pigs. It would certainly be reassuring if the near miss was taken seriously.
 
Had this reply from the Practice Manager this morning:

Firstly, please accept my unreserved apology, on behalf of ***** and the practice. ***** is a young Vet who accepts she made a mistake, and as soon as you called back, knew exactly what she'd done and was very upset by it. As you say, your own experience with guinea pigs was a huge saving factor.
I will arrange a full refund of the appointment £150.65 and will offer you a free consultation with our head vet to check Thea over, if you wish.
Our action to prevent this happening again, is to arrange additional training for all vets for Guinea pig care specifically.
To display, large, visual posters to highlight guinea pig medication risks.
I hope you are able to accept our apology.
Please forward me your bank details and I will arrange a refund.



I am thinking of a response to send along with my bank details for the refund.

It still doesn't alter the fact that if I hadn't know the fact that Guinea Pigs are allergic to Penicillin, Thea would have died a horrible death and it would have been the Practice's fault. My experience with guinea pigs wasn't just a huge saving factor it was THE saving factor.
 
I am thinking of a response along the lines of

Thank you for your apology.

You said that "your own experience with guinea pigs was a huge saving factor" it wasn't a "huge saving factor" it was THE saving factor without which my old, frail and vulnerable guinea pig would have died a nasty death and it would have been the Practice's fault.

I accept that mistakes happen especially with inexperienced vets. The fact that ***** checked with the Head Vet that what she was doing was correct and the Head Vet didn't pick it up is just beyond belief, especially as in our initial phone call you said that it is well known in the vet industry not to give Synulox to guinea pigs.

I feel that additional training in the care of guinea pigs is much needed in your Practice.

I'm not going to take you up on your offer of a free consultation with your Head Vet.
 
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Betsy said:
I am thinking of a response along the lines of

Thank you for your apology.

You said that "your own experience with guinea pigs was a huge saving factor" it wasn't a "huge saving factor" it was THE saving factor without which my old, frail and vulnerable guinea pig would have died a nasty death and it would have been the Practice's fault.

I accept that mistakes happen especially with inexperienced vets. The fact that ***** checked with the Head Vet that what she was doing was correct and the Head Vet didn't pick it up is just beyond belief, especially as in our initial phone call you said that it is well known in the vet industry not to give Synulox to guinea pigs.

I feel that additional training in the care of guinea pigs is much needed in your Practice.

I'm not going to take you up on your offer of a free consultation with your Head Vet.
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I think you’ve summed it up perfectly @Betsy - there was nothing that could have been ‘undone’ if you hadn’t known about penicillin
I’m glad they are refunding your fee - I hope you’re able to put this nasty experience behind you now
Thea is so fortunate that you knew 🥰
 
I think the reply I gave was very restrained, polite and reasonable considering that I'm seething that one of the vets would have would have killed Thea if I hadn't noticed. The Practice Manager, of course, had to have the last word probably because she didn't like all that I had to say in my email:

Thank you for your email and your unreserved apology on behalf of ***** and the Practice. However, the fact remains that it took me, a member of the public, not a vet, to point out that guinea pigs can’t have Synulox. You said that “your own experience with guinea pigs was a huge saving factor.” It was not a “huge saving factor” it was THE saving factor, without which my old, frail and vulnerable guinea pig would have died a very nasty death and it would have been the fault of your Practice.

I accept that mistakes happen, especially with inexperienced vets. The fact that **** checked with the Head Vet that what she was doing was correct and the Head Vet didn’t pick up on the mistake is, quite frankly, beyond belief. In our initial phone call you said that it’s well known in the vet industry not to give Synulox to guinea pigs.

It’s clear that additional training about the care of guinea pigs is much needed in your Practice and should be brought about as soon as possible. No owner and their guinea pig(s) should have to go through the trauma of wrong medication being given to them by someone that they trust to get their pet better but it doesn’t get their pet better, it kills them as nearly happened to me and Thea.

I won’t be accepting your offer of a free consultation with your head vet.


I will not be going back. I've asked for the notes to be transferred to my new vets.



I won't be going back there and have asks for the notes to be transferred to my new vet.
 
Betsy said:
The money is back in my bank account. I could take this a lot further if I wanted to but I think I'll just leave it now.
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I am so impressed how you’ve handled this awful nightmare situation @Betsy - it will take a while I’m sure for you to come to terms with it ….the ‘what if I hadn’t been so vigilant’ etc - I really hope that the surgery uses it to update staff training and educate its staff on how to handle complaints too - well done you and as we’ve all said Thea is so fortunate to have such a knowledgeable slave ❤️
 
It's this forum that helps to educate it's members. I get teased by some people about being a member of a forum dedicated to guinea pigs but it certainly saved the life of Thea. I don't care what other people think. I enjoy being an active member of this wonderful forum and that is all that matters to me.
 
Thea now has blood coming from her bottom. It's definitely blood this time. Not the same reddy brown discharge as before. It's not coming from the back where poop comes from its from the small opening at the front. I'll be phoning the vets at 8.30 when they open.
 
The very lovely vet lady examined Thea's lady bits and squeezed a bit of sludge out and said that may be why she was uncomfortable and bleeding. She also mentioned cystitis and said it could be that. I'm to start her on Metacam for 2 days and if nothing changes, then it might be a urine infection and to start up the Baytril again for 7 days.
 
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