A family dog died after they couldn't have him assessed at the vet for 24 hours after missing their first appointment by eight minutes.
Synnove Garvey noticed her miniature labradoodle Frankie was unwell and an appointment was booked with a vet for the following day, but after Synnove was held up in traffic the vet was unable to see him when they arrived eight minutes late.
Frankie died the following day. A spokesman for Vets4Pets in Teesside told TeessideLive that 'following an initial missed appointment, the Garvey's were offered the next available appointment' bookable. The vets also said they offer an emergency triage system.
Frankie had been refusing to eat or drink for two days when he arrived at the vets, and when the 31-year-old mum tried to explain the situation she says she was told that the vet couldn't see him as it was after the time of her appointment.
"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 added: "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 sadly it would be too late. The next morning she rushed Frankie to an emergency vet.
They arrived just after 7am, where they discovered that the two-year-old pup had pneumonia. Sadly he died just hours later.
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.”
