‘We got a phone call saying they couldn’t find him’
The PDSA Pet Hospital in Huyton(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A woman is heartbroken after a vets in Huyton “lost” her family puppy that died. Olivia Roberts, 20, from Speke, had been dog sitting her mum’s dog, Princess, while she went on holiday to Spain.
On Thursday, November 13, Princess, a pocket bully, became unwell and at around 11pm Olivia rushed her to the PDSA Pet Hospital in Huyton, where she is insured. Staff from Vets Now, who provide the out of hours care at PDSA, told Olivia that the dog had gone into labour, despite nobody knowing she was pregnant. She was told that an emergency C-section needed to be performed or the dog could die.
However, they were told the surgery could not go ahead until the vets had confirmation from Olivia’s mum and a full payment of £745, to cover the operation. Olivia said: “My mum had gone on holiday a couple of months ago and left Princess with a friend to look after while she was away.
“Her friend had a Bully type dog and she’d left them at the house together while she went to the shop and that must have been how Princess ended up getting pregnant, but nobody knew.
“Earlier this month my mum was on holiday again and me and my partner were looking after Princess. She became really unwell, there was dark green fluid coming out of her. We thought she was dying.
“The vet asked us if she was pregnant. I told them no but that’s when they said she was going into labour, she was trying to push, they told us she was struggling and would need an emergency C-section.”
Pocket bully, Princess(Image: Olivia Roberts)
Olivia says the surgery couldn’t go ahead until Vicky had given the green light. She spent almost two hours trying to contact her mum, who was on a different time zone in Spain.
Eventually, after midnight, despite reportedly being initially told the surgery needed to go ahead immediately, Vicky answered the phone and confirmed surgery could go ahead.
Olivia said: “I was pleading with them saying if there is a possibility Princess could die, can’t you just take her in without my mum’s permission. I can prove to you I’m her daughter.”
She added: “She authorised the operation. They then told us we had to pay £745 up front for the surgery. I’m on benefits, I receive PIP, I didn’t have that kind of money. I had to call around my friends and family to try and get it together.
“It was around 12.30am when I eventually got the money together and she went in for the caesarean. We went home and got a phone call after 3am to tell us Princess was out of surgery and was fine but sadly the puppy was still born. I broke down crying. If they’d have put Princess in for surgery when I first got there, there is a chance the puppy could have survived.”
Pet hospital staff do not cover out of hours treatments and confirmed Vets Now provided care for Princess.
The PDSA Pet Hospital in Huyton(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Olivia picked Princess up at around 8am the next day and asked to see the puppy. She claims there was no mention of the next steps and was handed a leaflet by reception staff on her way out. The leaflet advice the family on what to do about cremation and collection of ashes, if they chose to have that.
She said: “It was Princess’ first pregnancy and the puppy looked like her so we decided that we wanted the puppy to be cremated and we’d keep the ashes. We got in touch with the third party company and organised for the puppy to be collected from PDSA.”
However, when she called the PDSA the following Monday to confirm the collection of the puppy she claims she was told staff at the vets “couldn’t find it.” She said: “I got a call saying they have lost the puppy. I said ‘what’ and broke down crying. It was horrible to go through.
“They said they don’t know where he is. But I’d seen him with my own eyes in the building. I ended up putting the phone down because I was so upset. I demanded they checked the CCTV to find out what has happened to him.
“I got another phone call from the vets to say ‘unfortunately your puppy has been sent for a communal cremation’. I was so upset, we wanted to keep his ashes and now we just have nothing of him.”
The PDSA Pet Hospital in Huyton(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Since the ECHO first spoke with Olivia, her partner Dean Ringwood, has now taken over the care of Princess from Vicky.
A spokesperson for Vets Now said: “The loss of a pet is always a very sad time, and we extend our sincerest condolences on the loss of the puppy. Our dedicated team at Vets Now aim to provide a professional and caring service at all times, and the most important thing to us is the welfare of pets in our care.
“We take any suggestion of substandard delivery of care very seriously and all incidents are investigated thoroughly. Due to client confidentiality, we cannot comment publicly on individual cases but would encourage clients to contact us directly regarding any concerns so we can address them directly.”
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