Hey, Everybody - I'm normally just a lurker here & I'm way behind on the FML... (as usual!) I noticed a post recently about somebody (sorry! Don't know who!) who was looking for a vet in the NY area... If you will e-mail me direct, I will give you the name of a vet NEVER to see if you truly love your critters! Earlier this week, my sweet little girl, Carrey, died... and I know it's due to inadequate care on the part of the vets & staff... out & out negligence. Too make a _very_ long story short.... Carrey got into something & ended up with an obstruction - Dr. C did a series of tests (blood, x-ray & barium x-ray) and then did surgery. AT NO TIME did this so-called "professional" ever tell me that there could be any risk from using the barium. Carrey had a small perforation in her small intestine, the barium leaked into her abdominal cavity & caused her to have a raging infection. Next came the surgery.... Dr. C removed an entire foot of Carrey's small intestine & during the course of the surgery, Carrey ended up with a burn on her back from a defective heating pad - we were never notified of this. After the surgery, we went to visit her & even we - being non-vet-type people - could see that Carrey was very seriously dehydrated.... and had not been given ANY fluids at all (this was 3 days after her surgery!!!) Carrey was also vomiting up the antibiotics they were giving her by mouth - they never gave her an injectable antibiotic! As soon as we realized what was going on - we grabbed her & rushed to another vet (who agreed that there were an awful lot of things done improperly) but it was too late... the new vet wasn't able to save her & Carrey died just after midnight on Wednesday morning. I am absolutely _heartbroken_ over losing Carrey... she only turned a year old in October & NO animal should ever have to go through what my sweet little baby girl went through... her constant companion, Digger, is now alone - at the moment he _seems_ okay and we've been giving him TONS of extra attention. I think he knows why Carrey is gone since we took him with us when we went to visit her. But I still feel sorry for him... and I ache for the pain that Carrey went through in the hands of an inept vet. I would love to post his name here, but I worry about the possibility of being accused of libel..... if you live in the Orange County New York area & want to contact me privately, I will explain further. Missing my sable sweetie.......... Donna [Posted in FML issue 1771]