A mother was "devastated" after learning her dog had been left "rotting" for five weeks after it died.
Vets woke Dawn Stanley with a phone call at 6.45am to tell her the body of Dotty, her beloved dog who died five weeks earlier, had been left "in storage".
Dawn, 56, said she has "cried everyday" since the call from Vets Now.
The dog fell ill in August with an "upset tummy" and Dawn first took her to a local vet in Southport, Merseyside, but the dog was sent home that same day as she was deemed well enough.
But hours later, Dawn was in the car with Dotty and her son, driving up to PDSA Huyton, Merseyside, as the pooch was still in a "terrible state."
Staff from Vets Now, who run a nighttime emergency service in the building, took Dotty in to care for her.
Dawn said she "can't fault" the level of service and "brilliant and lovely" care the vets gave Dotty. She said at 1.30pm the vets called her to tell her Dotty had aspiration pneumonia, "meaning she'd probably been sick and inhaled some".
Dawn, who owned Dotty for nearly 12 years since she was a puppy, told Liverpool Echo : "That was the worst bit because they said they’d do everything they can for her and that she’s got a good chance. Then at half-three that morning I got a call saying she passed away.
"I was devastated. She was my little pet for the past 12 years. She was like one of my children and my little best friend."
Dawn then made arrangements with the veternary nurse to have Dotty cremated and delivered to her in a casket within seven to 10 days. Yet, time passed and she heard nothing about her beloved dog.
She said: "I had to keep chasing it up and chasing it up. I was waiting and waiting and I made phone calls.
"At first they said she'd be home in seven to 10 days. Then they said 10 to 14 days.
" I started questioning my own vets, thinking they weren’t doing something they should’ve done as I’d still no sign of her. Vets Now just kept coming back to me saying they’d chase it up.
"I finally spoke to a lady who said 'oh I think there’s been a delay and she’ll look into it'. It’d nearly been five weeks by then.
"So after that I get a phone call at 6.45am on a Wednesday morning. The vet woke me up so I didn’t really understand what she was saying - at first I thought she was saying Dotty would be coming home to me on Friday.
"She said no, she said Dotty would be sent for cremation on Friday. I said what do you mean, she's already been dead for five weeks?
"She said she was really sorry, Dotty was left in storage and nobody realised. I said 'what do you mean left in storage was she in a freezer or something?'. She said no.
"I said well can you get me a paw print at the very least, I’d been waiting for her for so long and she said no. She said she was sorry and she didn’t want to be too graphic but it wasn’t possible.
"So the last image I have of my poor little child, who was my whole world, was her left rotting somewhere. Eventually, I got her back. They delivered her in a casket, because they wanted me to come to Huyton but I couldn't get there.
"They said they’d waive the cremation fee, but that’s not the point is it?
"I know it sounds daft but I’ve cried every day for seven weeks since. I’m devastated. I couldn’t speak to anyone without crying about it - I still can’t. It’s just so awful."
A spokesperson for Vets Now told the ECHO: "We were made aware of a serious error that occurred in August at our Liverpool clinic concerning a pet’s ashes.
"Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is always very difficult and we have expressed our sincerest sympathies to Dotty’s family over their loss. We fully understand how distressing this incident is for our client and we are treating this matter extremely seriously.
"We are very sorry about what happened, and we have made clear these apologies to our client. As soon as we were made aware of the incident, we acted immediately and we launched a thorough investigation to establish what happened. We are keeping our client informed as to the full outcomes.
"We have a duty of care to every animal we look after, and the most important thing to us is the welfare of the pets in our care. As part of our internal investigation, we are taking all reasonable steps to prevent something like this from happening again."
