Puppy #259882 at Memphis Animal Services was approximately 8 weeks old and had rescue lined up but MAS spayed her on October 14, 2013 prior to release. The puppy was dead before 1o o’clock that night. Let’s take a look at what happened. Keep in mind that I am not a veterinarian and as such, I will be asking lots of questions.
Ketamine is a Schedule III controlled substance with known recreational uses.
Xylazine is a Schedule IV, prescription-only drug with known recreational uses. The label for xylazine includes the warning: “Do not use xylazine in conjunction with tranquilizers.”
Acepromazine is a tranquilizer.
Combi-Pen is an antibiotic and anaphylactic reactions are listed as a side effect.
Yobine is a reversing agent for xylazine.
This puppy could not possibly have weighed 98.5 pounds as indicated in the veterinary record. Clearly an error was made in recording the dog’s weight. Drug dosages are based on an animal’s weight. A FOIA request filed with the city of Memphis revealed MAS does not maintain drug logs for any drug other than Fatal Plus. If an overdose of Xylazine was administered to this puppy, the drug log would reflect that but since no such log exists, there is no way to check and the dosages listed above are the only records available, which we know contain at least one glaring error. Yobine, the antidote for xylazine, was administered three times according to the records.
- Why was epinephrine given when there is no note of cardiac arrest?
- Why was Combi-Pen administered at the start of surgery instead of after the patient had demonstrated the ability to recover?
Here is where things go tragically wrong:
The puppy, who had gone into respiratory arrest while recovering from surgery and should have been considered a high risk patient from that point on, was apparently left alone after the tech punched out at 5pm. At 8pm, the puppy was found seizing and her body temperature had dropped to an alarming 94 degrees. Between 5 and 8pm, I would guess she was convulsing and that her tongue was probably white or blue. How could this have possibly gone unnoticed for hours in a high risk patient at the “state of the art vet clinic” inside MAS?
Finding a puppy in this state would indicate emergency procedures – that is, the crash cart would be hauled out – intubation, lifesaving drugs, heated IV fluids and a warm water enema might all be immediately administered. Karo syrup and heated corn bags are not emergency medicine from a veterinarian in a “state of the art vet clinic” but rather something that panicked pet owners might try at home if they wake up to a seizing puppy in the middle of the night.
One note indicates that the “state of the art vet clinic” had no IV dextrose available. I found it online for $2.29.
- Why was 250ml of fluid administered to this tiny puppy (perhaps weighing 10 pounds) in a 5 hour period? AAHA guidelines appear to recommend significantly lower rates. Did fluid overload lead to this pups’ death?
- Why wasn’t the puppy’s temperature taken as soon as she recovered from surgery and regularly thereafter? Instead, the temperature was apparently never taken until someone noticed she was seizing and vocalizing at 8 o’clock at night. By that time it was an extremely dangerous 94 degrees. Did the failure to recognize and treat a possible low body temperature in this pup lead to her death?
- Was the puppy given a dangerous drug combination (ketamine, xylazine and acepromazine) and/or possibly an overdose of one or more of these drugs based upon a wildly inaccurate weight listed in the record?
- Why was this high risk pup apparently left alone for hours? Did failure to monitor this pup as she was deteriorating lead to her death?
- How does $7.2 million shelter with a “start of the art vet clinic” not have IV dextrose on hand and why is the vet relying on things like karo syrup and heated corn bags to save lives? Did Memphis Animal Services’ failure to secure appropriate clinic supplies and/or follow standard veterinary emergency medicine protocols lead to this pup’s death?
By the way, for anyone who didn’t catch the punch line at the end of the pup’s record, the vet attributes the pup’s death to a suspected liver disorder. In other words: I take no responsibility whatsoever, go Memphis yourself.
This isn’t the first time a dog has died at MAS post surgery because no one was monitoring the pet per standard veterinary protocols. The city of Memphis has been a running a tab on neglect and cruelty at its pound for years. How many more pets must pay this debt with their lives before a local group takes meaningful action and demands reform?
Fire. Them. All.
I don’t…I don’t even.
This sickens me, like every report from MAS. The treatment (or lack of treatment) of the helpless animals unfortunate enough to end up at MAS is truly criminal. The staff there should not only be fired, they should be prosecuted and incarcerated in the empty kennels at MAS and given the same lack of care the defenseless animals are given there.
A question that comes to mind is this: Why was a small 8 week old puppy even put under anesthesia and spayed in the first place? Is that standard vet protocol? Why can’t a young, tiny puppy (or kitten) be given a medical release to return and have the spay/neuter surgery in a few months when the young animal is a little older and better able to withstand a major surgery? An 8 week old puppy is not going to become pregnant and produce unwanted or unplanned litters. Give the baby a little time to grow and become stronger before you subject them to major surgery.
I agree with you Gwen. The health risks associated with pediatric spay-neuter outweigh the benefits to my mind.
I disagree with comments against pediatric spay neuter. It is considered consistent with standard of care medicine though most owned animals are done later. Given the large number of animals killed each year in shelters born to animals that were adopted from shelters and had “contracts” to spay neuter those animals… the honor system doesn’t work. Pediatric spay/neuters do….
I work on many animal raid/kill shelter cases.
1.IF THE RESCUES WOULD STOP STEALING HEALTHY UN ABUSED PETS, SHELTERS WOULDNT BE FULL.
2. IF THEY WEREN’T FILLED YOU WOULDNT BE VOTING ON BUTCHURING THEM.
3. PEOPLE BRED ANIMALS FOR A BETTER BREED THEN YOU HAVE ASS HOLES OUT THERE DESTROYING THE BLOOD LINE.
4. I SEE A LOT GREEDY PEOPLE THAT THINK EVERY ANIMAL BELONGS TO THEM/ THEY COMPLAIN ON A PERSON THAT ONLY JEOPERDISE THAT ANIMALS LIFE.
IF YOU WERE ANY DESENT RESUE, YOU’D PROVIDE HELP TO PEOPLE THAT NEED IT,NOTBE THE CORPRET TO WHY SO MANY ANIMALS ARE BEING KILLED.
WAKE THE FUCK UP.
READ ONLINE THE CONS ON SPAYING N NUETTERING GET EDUCATED.
5TH. GET THE VOLENTEERS TO UT THEM IN THE NEWS MEDIA, KEEP THE HEAT ON THEM..TO SHUT DOWN.
Now that I’ve stopped crying I agree. Fire. Them. All. Now.
I realize that mistakes can happen, but if the tech is the one who weighed the dog, then right there, there is NO EXCUSE for not realizing the weight was wrong when it was recorded. If someone else weighed the dog, and told someone else the weight was 98.5 pounds for an eight week old dog, the person hearing that has NO EXCUSE for not realizing it was the wrong weight. If the person hearing that weight as 98.5 pounds hadn’t seen the dog, and was just recording it for someone else, the tech or vet pulling up the amounts of drugs into syringes have NO EXCUSE for not questioning how much was being loaded, as I would expect that they did see the dog and should have realized the amounts to too large. If, by some ridiculous happenstance, there are several different people who weigh, record, and pull up drug amounts – and none of them see the puppy – or interact with each other at all during the process – the tech or vet who actually lifts up the syringes to inject the puppy on the table has NO EXCUSE to not check why the syringes are filled with much larger doses of drugs than are requires for a small puppy. And if they did not check before they started injecting, they should have wondered why it took longer than normal to fully depress the plunger, which should have brought them out of their ‘stupid trance’ to stop and check what they were doing, and they could have started fixing the problem that their incompetence caused.
They should all be fired and those who supposedly have licenses to practice some type of medical care need to have those licenses pulled, preferably forever. There are always job openings at McDonalds where they can work with already dead animals instead.
We have no idea of the weight of this pup. I have seen 8 wk old pups that are 15 lbs. It would not have been excessive for a 15-20 lbs pup. The weight is obviously wrong, but may have been a typo entered separate from drug calculations
this is what pediatric castration of either sex does..kills animals.. but of course the “irresponsible public” cannot be trusted with a natural dog at any age..
I don’t rescue puppies this young very often, but I, too, am against pediatric spays. This puppy was going to a rescue? Most rescues spay/neuter per course.
Aa an RN who works with people, the not LOOKING at the patient and presumably pushing drugs way out of range for the puppy’s weight is criminal and negligent. The LIVER failure is most likely a result of the meds used to overly sedate, then ignore this puppy in distress immediately on trying to awaken from anesthesia. MAS makes my blood boil – and Memphis does nothing except for those few very caring souls trying to get the word out.
Roberta – you don’t know the weight of this pup. And my guess is you, as an RN, don’t know the dosing for a puppy for this cocktail. For a 98 lbs animal, this would be GROSSLY UNDER DOSED. Obviously, the meds were not calculated from that weight. There is no other record presented here so that means we don’t know a weight. My worry would be that there may have been low blood pressure from the cocktail which was more profound in this pup than others. Hence the use of the IV fluids post op to combat. They were monitoring the pup post op or the respiratory arrest would have led to cardiac arrest and a dead pup was found.
As far as pediatric spay/netuer – I am completely for them as I have seen too many healthy dogs and cats killed after being dumped at a shelter or picked up stray. A good portion of those were animals that were adopted from a shelter with a “promise to spay/neuter” – obviously not done when they come in pregnant. This is consistent with standard of medicine when proper protocols are used. While most vets with “owned animals” wait until closer to 6 months, even those animals will end up with “oops” litters because of owners not using common sense. Please don’t try to use human medicine views on animal medicine… you don’t kill unwanted kids or homeless adults.
what is wrong with them? oh sorry,,, forgot .. it’s MAS!!! I am sick over this.. I hope there’s a protest or something, Anything!!!
Since we know that the city will not do a thing to correct the issues at this facility, can a complaint be filed with the state veterinary board? I think anyone can do this… i.e. it wouldn’t require a local rescue group (who is afraid of being banned) to do so. And just fyi: we had similar problems with a HORRENDOUS vet at Houston’s city pound. After some searching, I found out that her license had been suspended for 3 years in another state for “accidentally” killing 3 pets when she worked at Banfield’s in another state–she was apparently practicing while hopped up on pain killers. One of the stories was very similar to this one—she gave a tiny dog the amount of meds you would give a very large Great Dane. The city had no idea as they had obviously done no background check. before hiring her
The topper was that when I turned this information over to a reporter, who wrote about it, the city’s representative admitted to the reporter that, up until that point, that horrendous vet was at the top of the list to take over as director.
http://www.localmemphis.com/mostpopular/story/Head-Vet-at-Memphis-Animal-Shelter-Cited-for/d/story/0xN-2_2ej06L74exeWVGaQ
Wow, Bett — isn’t that a scary thought? This incompetent vet was at the TOP of the list? It is also hard to believe that the place did not do a background check. That just seems that it should be a standard practice for any position, but especially one in which lives are at stake.
Gwen, yes, it was terrifying to hear that. But, just goes to show that, even in a city as big and compassionate as Houston, the politicians who hire people to work at the city’s pound, just do not care. They pretend like they do, especially when the cameras are on, but they really don’t. And they absolutely will not lift a finger to fix SERIOUS issues (like puppies being washed down kennel drains) unless citizens raise holy h*ll, and keep the pressure on CONSTANTLY.
It is crazy and sickening, but the sad fact is that it takes a BATTLE just to get politicians to do the right, and common sense, thing. Only when they are constantly publically exposed and shamed will they do anything (a councilmember even admitted this to a friend—constant negative media attention is the only thing that gets any movement at all). Shameful, but true.
http://www.memphistn.gov/Portals/0/pdf_forms/MAS_AdvisoryBoard_Minutes_021313.pdf
“She stated that people don’t deserve their animals back because they have failed to keep their dogs from getting heartworms.”
And she said that knowing that the alternative was death for the animals. Lovely.
I SAY WE ALL MAKE WORD PRESS’S WITH THE TITLE OF THE COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL ON TOP PAGE, PUT THEM ALL IN THE HEAT OF THINGS.THEN PEOPLE CAN ALL THIS THERE COMMENTS IN THAT COUNTY.I KNOW ITS ALL SICK, MAKE ME CRAZY.
I haven’t finished reading but wanted to answer one of the questions.
“Why was epinephrine given when there is no note of cardiac arrest?”
They noted respiratory arrest and started CPR. When you stop breathing eventually your heart also stops and then you are in cardiac arrest. Its the opposite to if it had cardiac arrest and therefor stopped breathing. When someone chokes and passes out you do CPR and attach an AED because CPR may remove the obstruction and by then they are probably in or close to cardiac arrest. If you got the obstruction out you may still need to shock and get the heart restarted. They probably got him breathing and gave him drugs to try an fix any resulting heart issues.
Leaving the puppy is stupid. But not mentioning cardiac arrest is because when you stop breathing things start to die.
*by things I mean organs.
So irresponsible…..no excuse….reckless, careless no concern for life, left alone, just disgusting and this is a credible vet????
This makes me sick here in Fl puppies have to be 4 months old before they will fix a dog , I have never in my life seen a puppy at 8 wks old being fixed , Shame on all of you
Again.. I agree.. never heard of an 8 week old being spayed/neutered… There has to be rules on this practice, guidelines, something. I recently heard that kittens have to be a certain weight not age…
There are rules… and 8 wks of age and at least 2 lbs qualify given the standard of medicine regarding pediatric spays/neuters. Some places do try to wait longer… but most move to spay/neuter before adoption given the statistical PROOF of most people not following through with their commitment to spay/neuter. Do you really want them to keep that puppy or kitten until 4 months of age in the shelter and, by doing that, increase risk to disease AND limit space for incoming animals? It is sad this puppy died..
You have a lot to say. Please back up at least this one claim of yours:
“the statistical PROOF of most people not following through with their commitment to spay/neuter.”
Failure to furnish said “PROOF” will result in banning as trolling is not allowed here.
@Kero Wyn – what are your qualifications for making all the comments and statements that you are making? Are you a vet tech, or vet? You seem to know a lot about what should and shouldn’t be done or what is and isn’t common practice. I’d like to know what is behind your comments besides opinion.
As for the pediatric spay & neuter — I will say again that I am personally against it. A young puppy or kitten is just too fragile and frail to undergo such major surgery, in my opinion. Some animal facilities do allow the sick or very young animals to be taken out with the promise to return in several months to undergo the spay/neuter, but they also require the adopter to leave a deposit on-hand. That is incentive for the adopter to return the animal to be spayed/neutered when it is a little older. The deposit is returned once the operation takes place. I know this for a fact, because it was the case in my own personal experience when I rescued a Chi from MDAS in Miami several years ago. The dog had kennel cough and we got a medical release for it until it got well and could undergo the anesthesia.
It would seem an approved rescue group would make certain the puppy was returned later, or they may risk their good standing with the facility, and be banned from further rescues.
I’ve seen the mandatory s/n prior to release by rescues or municipal/county shelters & ACs here in California result in s/n of physically compromised kittens and cats, and while there is some discretion in the case of illness or injury, I’ve rarely seen it used – never to any adopted pet of mine. I’ve come to regard it as a serious flaw in the system, possibly – maybe – better for the pet population as a whole (though in the absence of good data I remain somewhat skeptical) but not better for the individual pet. As adopter and owner, I see it as my job to advocate for my pets as individuals, not as expendable and interchangeable feline and canine units.
As for PROOF, I’d love to see it. Mostly what I see when people claim proof of common shelter beliefs, it’s about as objective as trivia night at the pub.
I got a 4 months old dog from the county shelter and took her home after providing documentation that we prepaid for spaying. It was at least two months later that we had the operation done. Even at 4 months my dog wasn’t spayed – it’s absurd that an 8 week puppy would undergo a non-emergency surgery.
This had me just bawling. Horrendous and inexcusable treatment of this darling pup. They should revoke this idiot Vet’s license! I can not believe the insensitivity towards this animal that was suppose to be taken care of. Isn’t that the main reason people become Veterinarians? At least it USED to be. I guess no one gives a crap about that anymore! Poor Sweet Baby :(
Whats MAS stand for. I’d make a new pahe with there name on the top, anyone does a search they ill see how screwed up this place is.
As a veterinary assistant this is just appalling. Legally you have to record all controlled substances. The dog should not be left alone until fully extibated and is awake and alert. The symptoms to me sound like a drug over dose (no way a puppy, even a breed that gets to 200lbs, is 98lbs at 8 weeks) or a reaction to the wrong medications being given together. If there was a liver disorder you can test for that. I would want to know why a pet under my care died. Let’s pretend it was a liver disorder, they still made so many mistakes. Who knows, if they did blood work prior to anesthetic, or had a tech there until he was awake things could have ended differently. RIP little guy. I’m sorry you had to go like this.
I agree.. why is this puppy listed as 98.5 lbs.. this makes no sense… heads need to roll.. so what can we do?
Miss vet assistant… yes by DEA rules there has to be a controlled drug log available for review at request by the DEA. If there truly is no such log, then that would lead to a fine and possible loss of license by the vet under whom the drugs were dispense.
I would imagine you have no experience with this protocol or you would know that a 98 lbs dog would have been grossly under dosed at the amount given for this cocktail. You should also know that shelters do not have the money to run blood test for routine spay/neuters. If the animal looks unhealthy (suspected liver shunt for example), it would most likely be euthanized vs the expense of the blood test. Or do you think they should also do an echo for each animal with a heart murmur at $500-700 a pop? Are you going to pay for it? Or would you rather they just euthanize each one with a murmur – some do advocate that but I do not. This protocol isn’t used much because of concerns with the cocktail, but it is an accepted cocktail (so no… not “wrong medications being given together”)
And the pup was monitor during recovery or -as you should know – respiratory arrest would have quickly lead to cardiac arrest and death leaving a dead pup to be found. Yes, I’d want to know the cause of death… but as you should know, often times we don’t every know even with a necropsy. Is this sad? Of course. It would break my heart and make me sob if this happened to me. You don’t know how devastated that vet is… or maybe isn’t. Some have gotten more callous… but don’t assume shelter vets aren’t caring. That’s a horrid thing to do.
So, do a necropsy, have them investigated and employees checked for knowledge. I can’t knock them for attempting to spay and neuter dogs that otherwise may never be. I’ve been in this field for over 23 years, and there have been several cases of undetectable defects that manifested themselves with elective surgery. Why a place that claims they are so high tech doesn’t have something equivalent to a crash cart is wrong. If the tech weighed the dog wrong, whomever was giving a massive amount of anesthetic cocktail should have visually noticed it. Exactly the reason why having legit credentials are important, not like in many states that you need not a license to be a technician and handle controlled drugs.
this is terrible, how can people be so cruel, they are supposed to help animals not be killers.poor baby, just began life and then it ended too soon.
Even if you gave the right dosage… Ketamine/Ace? This isn’t the 1970s anymore.
It’s apparently still the 1970s in Memphis. Everything about how they operate that pound says it is.
Ketamine is routinely given in low-cost spay/neuter clinics. The animals who recieve it seem to recover well; at least the hundreds of cats and one dog I’ve taken to these clinics have.
I understand that the age to spay or neuter is 6 mos. I am an RN, and I don’t know all of the drugs listed, but anyone checking on the puppy would know that this dog is not 96 or better lbs. Gross negligence.
That is horrible!!! Poor baby. Its a shame the medical staff were so unconcerned. Shame on u!!!!! That poor puppy my heart hurts 4 what it went thru.
If they r so unconcerned maybe they should clean house & get people that care.
Ho Hum, just another dead animal and killing day at MAS.
What is it going to take for the people of Memphis to put this place out of business and put those responsible in an appropriate place – a jail cell with animal lovers would be a good start.
Godspeed little girl. I’m sorry you suffered and died so needlessly.
How many more animals have to suffer and die before things change here?
Who will step up and be the hero for these animals?
Great-incompetent vets and vet techs in a “state of the art facility”.
Not to mention careless and uncaring.
Is there any point in getting a petition started to have them investigated ? This seems to be an ongoing problem with this “shelter”
Nope. Because they back their own people and back them until the law comes in and takes them away. That seems to be what it takes to get people removed from staff there.
Why did they spay her so young anyway???? I thought you had to wait until they were at least 6 months old to spay! So heartbreaking!!! RIP Sweet Puppy
YEAH ANIMAL’S DIE IN THE HANDS OF STUPID PEOPLE THAT CAUSE PEOPLE TO LOOSE THERE PETS. THAT JEOPERDIZES THEIR LIVES, OVER GREED TOO PROFIT.
LETS G TO THE NEXT DOMINO, DO YOU ALL RELIZE IT DESTROYS CHILDREN AND FAMILIES? DO YOU EVEN CARE IT CAUSES HEART ATTACKS AND DEATH.I SAY SHAME ON YOU ALL. IF YOU WERE A DESNT RSCUE KNEW FRAUD RAID, YOU SHOULD BE TRYING TO GET THOSE PETS BACK TO WHERE T CAME FROM, UN CARVED ON.THE ANIMALS WANT TO GO HOME. YOU DIDNT PAY FOR THEM, NOR DID YOU SACRIFICE THE TIME AND MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. NOR GAVE THEM THE LOVE THEY WERE STOLEN FROM THE FOREVER HOME! HOW DID THAT ANIMAL GET STOLEN TO BEGIN WITH.GFO BITCH THEM OUT. WHO MADE THE CALL TO A KILL SHELTER. GO HUNT AND HAUNT THEM.STOP THEM FROM BITCHING TO KILL SHELTERS. WAKE THE FK .UP. THIS CRAP MAKES ME SICK. I HAVENT HEARD ONE WORD ON WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK IT DID TO THE CHILDREN .
I know this isn’t the place to post this, but with all that is happening right now with Markwell, OAS and the dogs (see peninsula daily news and komo news) …can you please follow up with any sources you have to check with what is happening with Mari/Mario (see below links)? Thanks.
http://www.olympicanimalsanctuary.org/steve/2012/01/
and
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=602680773119077&set=a.457029624350860.111051.107867909267035&type=1&theater
I hate MAS! Those illiterate, uncaring bastards keep getting away with abuse. They must be stopped!
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Memphis implementing pediatric spay/neuter. I don’t normally agree with the “irresponsible public” rhetoric, but I must say it is an issue to get people to spay and neuter their dogs here. It is almost a cultural thing in rural areas – many people will spay their female, but not neuter their male, and they feel like this solves the problem (as long as MY female doesn’t get pregnant, it’s not my problem to deal with- if the neighbor’s female does, that’s their issue.) I have heard 1000 ridiculous reasons why people won’t alter their dogs (it will change his personality, he will be mad at me for taking his manhood, etc…)
I’ve looked too many awesome dogs in the face and then watched them die at MAS to not vehemently support anything program that enforces spay/neuter.
As for this particular pup, who knows what the actual cause of death was. We will probably never know if MAS administered the wrong amount of drugs to this baby. But, we will assume it was their fault and with good reason! They have brought this scrutiny on themselves by showing they have no compassion for animals over and over again.
a) They euthanize on review date. ALL. THE. TIME.
b) They euthanize on review date even when the review date is on a date they are CLOSED.
c) They have god knows how many animals stashed away in stray that are killed and no one is ever allowed to see.
d) They euthanize animals that have homes waiting for them.
e) They euthanize animals that have rescues in line for them.
f) They euthanize with TONS of empty kennels available.
g) For years, they have not listed all available animals on the web
I could go on…..