A fuming woman claims a veterinary practice gave one of her dogs the wrong injection when she took her pet in to get an annual vaccine. Gail Geldard, 55, took two of her canines in for jabs at a new vet when she couldn't get an appointment at her usual practice.
Ms Geldard contacted the vets to inquire about the injections before going on a family holiday. While there, she alleges that a staff member at Easipetcare gave one of her dogs the wrong injection and admitted the mistake to her when they realised the error, Derbyshire Live reports.
Ms Geldard said: “I took my dogs, one is a rescue so she’s nervous anyway. I took her, Ava, a Romanian rescue and my shar pei Ella, to what was supposed to be an annual vaccine and another for kennel cough, which is usually done through a pipette that they squirt through their nose."
Easipetcare says that welfare of the animals it treats is its top priority and that all complaints are investigated.
“I took them in, I saw the staff member and they jabbed Ava in the neck with the vaccine and squirted the pipette up her nose. Then he came to Ella and he grabbed an injection and put it in really low down near her tail, and I thought that was bizarre," said Ms Geldard.
“Annual injections are usually done in the back of their neck, so I was a bit like ‘oh, strange’. They came to Ella again and jabbed her in the neck with another injection, and at that point I thought that was weird. I asked him why he’d given her two injections, because she wasn’t supposed to have another one for another two weeks.”
Ms Geldard claims the staff member left the room, leaving Ms Geldard, who works in assisted living, concerned. She claims that the staff member came back a few minutes later and admitted that the wrong jab had administered to her pet.
Ms Geldard added: “The staff member came back in and said ‘I’m sorry, I gave your dog the wrong injection’, and I said ‘you what?’
She went on to claim the staff member “tried to get the pipette to squirt up her nose but Ella was going mad, she was having none of it and wouldn’t let them come near her. I told the staff member to leave my dog alone and I was not having it. I went to reception, took the dogs, and said I needed to see someone.
“I was ushered me into a side room and said I needed to see a manager. Another staff member came in and asked what the problem was, so I told them they'd injected my dog with the wrong injection.
Ms Geldard alleged "the staff member just looked at me and said 'accidents happen’.”
“I said you are absolutely crazy to have that happen. I asked what was going to happen to my dog, and a staff member just said ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’ and said they would need to go on the phone to ask the people who make the injection.
“When they came back in they said the dog might get an infection, so they gave me some antibiotics in case and that it was free. I just wanted to get my dogs out of there because I was so shook up.
“I don’t even know that it was an injection for kennel cough that was given to her, it could have been anything. The dogs were shook up, they just didn’t like it.”
She added: "Easipet care have not advised me nor have they rang me to check how Ella even is. You take your pets to a vets and think you can trust them as they are supposed to be qualified so a simple kennel cough to be put up the nose should not be a mistake and given as an injection."
Derbyshire Live approached the vets for a comment regarding Ms Geldard’s experiences.
A spokesperson for Easipet said: “The welfare of the animals we treat is our top priority at Easipet, and we take any claims of substandard delivery of care extremely seriously. All incidents are investigated thoroughly, and appropriate action is taken.”
