My puppy was misdiagnosed with parvol?

Question

My 6 moth old puppy was throwing up and I took her to the emergency hospital/vet I was told she had parvol and had to pay 589.00, she was there for 24 hrs, we picked her up and took her to her own vet I was told she only had gastritis, and that she had her vaccine for parvol wish I showed the emergency Doctor and he ignore it. I want my money back, but was not able to put a stop payment, since I paid with credit card, please advice.

Answer 1

The majority of the bill you paid for was Emergency services. Unfortunately its how vets make there money. Did they tell you he was Parvo Positive? They actually have to test stool and blood samples to be able to tell you it was for sure Parvo, and if it was they wouldnt have released him after only 24 hours. With Parvo as someone stated above, vets dont wait for test result to treat the dog, tests can take a day or more somtimes for a positive, and if the dog shows signs and symptoms now they will being antibiotics and IV fluids to help the dog.
Dogs that have been vaccinated for any disease can and do get that disease despite the fact. A vet will tell you vaccinations are not 100% all they do is help the dog fight off infections of that particular disease.
Gastrinitis is a bi-product of Parvo. Its part of the Parvo disease. The vet you took her to after the emergency room was probably seeing the after affect of the minor Parvo infection, because your dog WAS vaccinated for Parvo the infection, if he had one, was only minor and slight.
I doubt your going to get your money back, Im sorry to say. I dont think the dog was mis-diagnosed, but if you think so you can get your current vet to sign a statement saying the dog did not have Parvo and only gastritis. If you can get that, you can take the emergency vet to small claims, but just to warn you, small claims can take months to get into, and you pay court costs and fees which will probably exceed the amount of money you paid the emergency vet. I doubt you will win because most Medical facilities have certian policies and proceedures for mis-diagnosis. Your dog was not harmed in his treatment, he was not given anything to make him sicker than he was. He was treated and released with no bodily harm. Granted they may have been a bit pricey but they didnt do anything in the way of mistreatment. They did all they were suppose to do in an emergency situation. You did the right thing in getting the dog there and you are a great and very responsible owner. Dont let this change your mind about Vets. Just maybe now you are aware of the costs and should look into a pet insurance company. It really helps with a dog that may have a cronic problem. Sounds that if this dog had parvo or a minor infection of it. It can be that the dog will get Gastrinitis on and off during its life. Better to be prepared if he has another attack.
I took a sick cat to an Emergency room once, after 700$ of tests and medication 6 hours later i paid another 100$ to put him to sleep and then 25$ for cremations services. All i got was a plaster paris cat paw print of my beloved Gideon and alot of overtime from work to pay the bills.

Answer 2

The thing about ParvoVirus, is that it is fatal to 80% of puppies that get it. Even if the puppy is vaccinated, it can still get the virus. And in some cases the vaccine can cause the virus.

Most vets do a PV test to make sure the animal has the virus before doing treatment, but sometimes there isn't time for the test because of the health of the puppy is at stake.

The vet at the emergency clinic did their job the way it should have been done.

As far as getting your money back, it may be next to impossible. Even though it wasn't ParvoVirus, they still stabilized the puppy during the time that it was in their care.

If you paid for things that weren't done, then try to get your money back for those things.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Call your credit card company and dispute the charges. They should be able put a hold on the charges until it gets cleared up. Then I would get copies of the diagnosis from your regular vet that states it was just gastritis. Take it to the clinic that told you it was Parvo and tell them that you would like to be credited for their services, with an explanation, of course. Since he chose to ignore that fact that your pup already had the Parvo vaccine, in my opinion, shows incompetence on their side. More than likely, they will argue with you. Then you'll probably have to take it to small claims court.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I have seen vets that will not waste the time or your money for a test because there is no cure. They immediately start treating the symptoms to save the dog. Did your vet test for Parvo?

Just because she had a vaccine doesn't mean she is safe.

Let this be a lesson just because a dog throws up doesn't mean its sick. Just because everyone on here expects everyone to drop and run to the vet doesn't mean it is truly necessary.

I would go back to them and confront them that it was not parvo. See what they say.

Answer 5

There is a definitive test for diagnosing Parvo-virus. I can't imagine the Emergency clinic did not make use of it. It should be on your invoice. Some smaller vet clinics do not have the in-house Parvo test. Did your Vet do one?? If not, he/she cannot say it's gastroenteritis. Having a Parvo-virus vaccine does not guarantee the dog will never get Parvo.

Answer 6

i dont think you'll get your money back, sorry. they treated the dog for the symptoms they saw, and like people above had said, parvo is something that needs to be treated immediately if suspected. my friends got a puppy that started throwing up the day after they got it, and the next day it was dead from parvo. its not something to mess around with, and just like any vaccine, it wont completely stop an animal from getting the disease, it just greatly decreases its chances.
if it had been your child that was sick, with something as deadly as parvo, wouldnt you treat it right away and not waste precious time on a test that could just say it was what they expected? wouldnt you want to treat and rule out the worst and just hope for something better even if it cost you a few extra dollars?
we've had problems like this with our dog. we took her in because her eyes were really gooey and they sent us to a specialist to be treated for glaucoma. we went a few counties over to go to this specialist and they told us it wasnt glaucoma, yet we still had to pay for that visit and the initial testing done at our vet that SAID it was glaucoma.

Answer 7

Like it or not....your dog was still treated at the clinic! Your dog still had tests ( which cost money ) still received care ( which costs money ) just because ( or thankfully ) the dog didnt have PARVO doesnt mean you shouldnt pay. Just be glad the dog didnt have PARVO....ours did and the vet bill was nearly TWICE the amount of yours !

Answer 8

Try to stop the payment through the credit card company they may be able to assist you.

Answer 9

Was she ever vaccinated in the first place? like when she was a couple of months old???
Maybe you wouldnt be having this prob now