A family say their 'fit and healthy dog' died after a vet would not assess him until the following day because they had arrived eight minutes late for a scheduled appointment.
Mum-of-two, Synnove Garvey, 31, noticed her miniature labradoodle Frankie seemed slightly ill last week while her husband Ben was in hospital. She thought this might be due to the animal missing Ben, who has a long-term health condition and regularly has to stay in hospital, but she soon realised this wasn't the case and booked an appointment with with Vets4Pets in Stockton for the next day.
However, on the way to the vet the mum says she was held up in traffic, and that she tried to phone the practice to warn them she would be late but claims nobody answered, reports Teeside Live.
Synnove alleges that when she got there the vet refused to see Frankie due to their late arrival, which was eight minutes behind schedule.
Tragically, the two-year-old pooch died the following day.
Vets4Pets, a Pets at Home partner, said that 'following an initial missed appointment, the Garvey's were offered the next available appointment.'
The vets also said they offer an emergency triage system, however the mum wanted her dog to be seen by the vet, to try and get to the bottom of his condition.
She says she tried to explain to them that Frankie had been refusing to eat or drink for two days but says she was told that the vet refused to see him as it was after the time of the agreed appointment.
Synnove claims that she and her husband tried calling the surgery for around 40 minutes to explain the delay, but their calls were not answered.
"I was trying to phone the vets for 40 minutes, for 40 minutes I was trying to get through to them. I called my husband and said please keep phoning and let them know I'm going to be 5-10 minutes late," said Synnove
"I walked into the vets and it was completely empty, I thought oh thank God, they'll see me. I said 'I'm really sorry I'm late', there was still five minutes left on the appointment and I said I've been trying to phone, but nobody was answering the phone."
She arrived at the vet that afternoon with her daughter Bella, 2, and little Frankie in tow, but says she was told that the phone hadn't been answered as staff had been cleaning the floor.
The mum says that despite there still being five minutes left of the 5.30pm appointment when she got there, she claims the vet still "refused" to see her unwell dog.
She claimed: "[The receptionist] said, I'll go and ask him, but the vet said no. He didn't open the door, he didn't look at Frankie or triage him, didn't check him, he just said he wouldn't see him.
"There was no one there in the waiting room. I was shocked. I said are you sure you can't see him because he's really not very well.
"I thought this is ridiculous he's not eaten or drank. You could see he was poorly bless him, his little tail was tucked under his legs and his head was on the floor, it was just awful."
Synnove says she was given an appointment for the following day, but tragically it would be too late to save Frankie's life.
The next morning she found Frankie despondent and cuddled up in bed with her daughter Ayla, 6, and rushed him to an emergency vets.
At just after 7am, they arrived at Jacqui Paterson's Vet in Stockton, and quickly discovered that the two-year-old pup had pneumonia.
Frankie sadly died just hours later on Thursday, May 18, despite the surgery's efforts to save him..
When Synnove phoned Vets4Pets to complain the next day she alleges that she was asked why she didn't attend his appointment the previous day, at which point Frankie had already died.
She said that prior to this incident he had always been "fit and healthy" and had never needed to be seen by the vet before.
In tribute to her pup, nurse Synnove said: "He was my third child and it just wasn't his time to go, I'm devastated. My husband has to come home from hospital and he can't bear the thought of coming home without him having his tail wagging coming through the door."
A Vets4Pets spokesperson said: "We understand how difficult it is to lose a pet and would like to extend our sincere condolences following the death of Frankie.
"Following an initial missed appointment, Mr and Mrs Garvey were offered the next available bookable appointment for Frankie the following day and we also offer an emergency triage system, which can be activated in response to an urgent case raised by a client.
"On this occasion, Frankie was taken to a different vet practice for out of hours treatment and we were later informed that he had sadly passed away. We remain in contact with Mr and Mrs Garvey and our thoughts are with them and Frankie’s family at this difficult time.”
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