If I were you I would hold off on contacting the RCVS until you have a formal reply from your practice. At that point you can then also let them have a copy of this.

As for the mat in reception the dogs lay on that sounds really odd. In the surgery I worked in (and we didn't have a lot of staff) the floors in reception were disinfected twice a day plus if any 'accidents' happened. If no one else was around I did it (I was the receptionist/admin person). Every single piece of bedding used out back was washed at night too. No dog ever layed on anything another dog had been on before it had been industrial-machine-washed.

It sounds like the place yours go is very slack on hygiene and it shouldn't be the case. Hope you get a good answer from them!

i am at a loss too H it being a hospital(let alone a vets) hygene should be of the upmost...its one of the most important things you are taught..i can only think that your guys may of relieved themselves and the staff(do they have a.a's(animal assistants) have made a real mess(literaly|)of trying to clean your babes up...other than that???????....whatever its just not acceptable...sorry i cant give you any more info,i would be very upset and angry too...as you say once(dogs do have accidents)but twice??? clean kennels and beds should be given to all wether they are paying or not!!!!!!

The thing is Layla, the urine smell, smelled so OLD, kind of musty, strong and damp. We all know the smell of fresh urine, and I once got to smell the OLD kind at the home mum was in when they had left a pair of her tenna's lying around for a couple of days, and that's why I'm thinking such horror stories here, it was the exact same smell on both dogs, and it wasn't just me with my super sensory smelling power, because it was Dave who commented on it before I did! I just assumed that she had wet herself too, but it wouldn't have smelled as stale as that, and why was she wet from her head to her feet if that is the case, it would have been just her trousers surely? Same applied to Georgie, although being white, you could actually SEE the dirt all over his lovely white fur, clagging it altogether, it was so strange and that's why I rang the vet the very next day.

I didn't ring about Zena, coz of course, I was more concerned with her aftercare here at home, and the fact that she was 100% for the first 4 days here at home, the wound was beautiful, white and clean, until we took her back on the Thursday night for her check-up, that's when the big problems started with the wound flaring up and all her sickness at 5.00 am. the very next morning and that just doesn't seem right to me either, I don't think they clean their waiting room floor enough throughout the day, and obviously, lying there on it and their mat, she copped an infection, and to get charged for the priveledge, well!!!!

I know that I always say you are right H and in this case I definately think you are, going to the RCVS or mentioning that dam carpet in reception are things you have in reserve, best to see how they explain how your two lovely dogs came back so dirty and foul smelling, then you can go on the attack again if it seems you're being fobbed off.

It's hard to see how they could offer a logical explanation but if they had trainees dealing with the post op. procedure then they may just have not known what to do, trainees should always be supervised but sometimes it doesn't happen, believe me I know but would take too long to tell on here (And not related to vets anyway)

It's a very good letter H - and most importantly your anger is conveyed very well, which I think is important.

I do hope they take this complaint seriously, it is disgusting that it happened ONCE let alone twice.

Thanks AM, and I've just remembered something else about this nightmare too!!!

When I was getting the low down from the vet nurse about her aftercare, she omitted to tell me what to do about the blooming great big plaster stuck on the wound itself and all around it! I had to ring the surgery when I got her home to find out how to get it off, and when the receptionist came back to me, she told me it shouldn't have been left ON there for me to deal with!!!! I had to soak it next morning coz it was stuck like glue, and attempt to peel bits back in stages coz of course Zena is only a puppy and she got fidgety and screamed a lot I managed to get half of it hanging down so I cut that bit and left the rest for later, but it took me all morning! What is that all about then?? I wish I'd put that in my letter!!!!Grrrr I'm mad again now!!!

Edited to add: I've just looked at that e-mail again, and the fact that the Dear Mrs. H bit at the top was in BLUE, and the rest of it was in bold black, I'm beginning to think that is a standard reply to all complaints...... I'm going to send another one now about that plaster being left on her too!!!

I wouldn't be using them again ever for any of my pets! Have you started looking around for a new vets yet? Before you need one so you can be confident when you next have to visit. As I have said before Dizzy came back lovely and fresh and covered in lipstick from her trip I'm glad you have made your complaint as it is really unacceptable. Hope they come back with some real answers not just a fob off job.

deleted, double posted! That';s a first for me!

NO, I have no intention of using them again,hence the reason for my delay in sending this letter, I had to wait until my puppy was 100% healthy before I could vent off!

I've got a couple in mind, one is too far down into the Town, lots of traffic to get through, but it is THE best, and the good news is, they are actually moving to new premises only half a mile away from my door, so they are first on my list. I do have another one nearby, a very good vet, but no bedside manner, but at the end of the day, do I really need/want a good bedside manner when he's a fantastic vet? Then again, this branch has no facilities, and once I had to watch my poor dog suffering all night long to get her operated on at their other branch 10 miles away next morning,and that is the reason I changed.

This Hospital also has another branch, further away, but I went there on one of my aftercare visits, and she is a lovely vet and they do their OWN operations there too, so that is also an option. How strange that it's the same branch, only 3 miles apart and yet this branch chooses to do their OWN operations when their head office is a hospital? I find that a bit strange

I've just e-mailed them again telling them about the bandage predicament, so let's see if I get exactly the same e-mail back as I got this morning! Lol! I've sussed them out!!!

That seems like an odd, and rather horrible way of doing things. The vet I worked for got taken over and the new owners have a practice about 15 miles or so from the one I worked in. We swapped animals over day and night if one side got busy and the other had free space to do the op needed (their original practice had more op space than us). The vets always moved the animals around (with help if they were really sick) and always returned them to the original surgery as soon as possible for the sake of the owner (we never moved an animal without owner consent either).

Before the time we were the same company we did each other's out of hours from time to time and still the animal got the op it needed when it needed it. Heck, one vet even slept in a kennel with a sick dog so it had care all the time! My boy (who had numerous sets of x rays etc) was taken over to the other surgery more than once and returned to me.

I can't imagine leaving an animal suffering all night waiting for an operation at another centre.

I'd go with the practice you feel most comfortable with. That means good vet, good team *and* bedside manner can be important if you are stressed or the animal is very ill etc. I think I like the sound of the ones moving near to you soon best (but that is just my opinion, obviously!).

I really hope you get a satisfactory response to your complaints because they really seem to have made a mess of all of this! I hope your little girl is recovering well now too.