[flexenator]

My dog keeps removing his sutures after being neutered. Shadow was neutered on Tuesday morning and during the night he managed to remove the sutures at home. He went back to the vet on Wednesday to have more sutures put in and about 20 minutes after picking him up from the vet's office, I noticed he didn't have any sutures again. He had not licked once while in my care during those 20 minutes because his nose was stuck out the car window. This means he removed them while still at the vet's office. Who is responsible for payment of today's procedure? I understood paying when it was my negligence and purchased an e-collar to put on him but I never even got the chance yesterday. I'm trying to know what common practice is and know what to expect this afternoon when/if I'm handed a bill. Thank you for your opinion.

 

[animalcraker]

Did they show you the new sutures when they handed him back to you?

 

[flexenator]

No. When I called and told them that there were not any sutures there, I was told that they had checked him earlier and he was fine. Of course their story is different now. I just picked him up and refused to pay. The vet was not there for me to talk to but the rude woman behind the counter insisted that he did it after he left. We will not be using their services again. The vet is supposed to call me tomorrow and I will be sure to spread the word throughout the base (we're military) that no one should use their office for anything. I wish our base vet was able to do surgeries. They are in the process of hiring someone but in the meantime, we have to get surgeries done off base. Hopefully I will need from now on is shots and that can be done locally.

 

[Willowy]

In my experience, most vets won't charge to re-stitch after a spay/neuter. It's included in the price of the surgery. The vet might have used glue this time, or decided to leave it open. There's really no reason to stitch after a neuter. . .neither of my boys had stitches (OK, they might have had stitches to begin with, but I had them both neutered while I was on vacation, and by the time I got home 3 days after the surgery, they had no stitches). You can call to ask the vet about their policy on that.

ETA: oops, saw that you updated while I was typing. Too bad they were so rude about it. Hopefully the vet will set things straight. . .sometimes the receptionists are just plain awful.

 

[flexenator]

Well, Shadow now has staples and Shadow is a rather large Black Lab. Large, not fat. Anyway, the hole was gaping open and really was quite big. One of the parts of being a military family is finding new health care providers for all of the family and finding a new veterinarian is part of this. I am not happy with this one. One of our last locations is 4 hours away but that's too far to drive for veterinary services.