PART 1 of 2
My experience at Servicios Medicos Veterinarios with veterinarians Dr. Leon and Dr. Wong June 2023
If you have a Rabbit, please read and share with other rabbit owners. This does not apply to Dog or Cat owners.
This has nothing to do with how well Servicios Medicos Veterinarios Dr. Leon and Dr. Wong have cared for your dog or cat. They seem very knowledgeable on treating Dogs and Cats. Barb's Dog Rescue uses them and they get paid very well so losing me as a client will not make a difference. I am sharing my experience to prevent another rabbit's death. This happened here, but it can happen anywhere with any vet. It does not matter how many years your vet has been practicing. I only want to make people aware of what happened and how this could have been avoided. If you don't have a rabbit, please scroll past and don't post comments of how well they treated your dog or cat. This pertains to Rabbits and our experience.
Double check what your vet has prescribed for your rabbit. Check if the medication should be used as a treatment in rabbits. Make sure the dosage is correct for your rabbit’s weight. Review side effects to understand the risks before giving to your rabbit. A rabbit requires a Vet that specializes in exotic animals. We are limited to who can treat rabbits here Puerto Penasco. I only know of Dr. Adrian Sixto and I will no longer recommend Dr. Leon or Dr. Wong for RABBITS.
Dr. Adrian Sixto did our spay and neuter 9 years ago when he worked at Servicios Medicos with no complications and we were NOT given any antibiotic or pain medication to take home. They were eating an hour after coming home and up and moving around that night. We called his office first to see if he could fix our new rabbit. Unfortunately he does not have the equipment to do the procedure at his own practice. The risk of cancer in an un spay rabbit is 40% by 2 yrs. old 80% by 6 yrs. old. My regret and mistake is that I did not look up that antibiotic. If we would have read the side effects, we would never have given the antibiotic to her.
How it all began:
Surgery for our new rabbit was cancelled 3 times and back and forth to try to reschedule took over 7 calls and 5 weeks of waiting. I had to go to the office twice because no one would call us back. Dr. Leon canceled the 1st surgery because Dr. Wong was not in and he did not have time. Dr. Wong canceled the 2nd surgery because Dr. Leon had an emergency and was not in town. Dr. Wong explained he was not comfortable in performing surgery on our rabbit, but is fine with dogs and cats. We appreciated his honesty in wanting to wait for Dr. Leon. The 3rd surgery was canceled because of a dog being hit by a car and brought in by Barb's Dog Rescue. All were valid reasons.
My problem was not the cancelations, but that they required me to withhold food for 8 hours prior to surgery. All Exotic Vets online will tell you to NOT do this and to find another vet. A rabbit cannot vomit like a cat or dog under an anesthetic. I knew if I pushed the issue, it would only offend them. I have always politely moved on and never once acted like I know more and they are not correct.
After the 1st cancelation we took her home after her appointment, gave her food and she started eating. I brought food and water to each appointment so they could get her eating as soon as possible. The 2nd cancelation we again took her home and got her eating immediately. The 3rd cancelation they did not call me to pick her up until end of day. They withheld food for almost 18 hours this time and for the day she actually had surgery. I asked them prior to leaving her there to please give her the food as soon as possible after surgery or if surgery was cancelled. They did not. I had a difficult time getting her to eat again because of how much time lapsed by them not feeding her. Their response is she will eat. When a rabbit stops eating their health declines rapidly. GI-Stasis is deadly. A rabbit's gut has to always be moving. This is common knowledge.
The antibiotic prescribed for my rabbit is widely used in a dog or cat. Cephalexin should never be given to a rabbit because of the high risk of side effects. Side effects are Loss of appetite and severe diarrhea with high mortality rate. There are safer antibiotics for rabbits. The receptionist asked if we gave it to her on an empty stomach because that will cause her to be sick. She is missing the point it should not have been prescribed to our rabbit. Every dose we gave her, her health declined. We called and they said give her more pain medication, continue antibiotic, and force feed her. Two hours later she was laying in her litter box with severe water diarrhea which is a sign she is going to die soon.
The vet's office is now closed. I had no way of contacting them after hours. I have never been given an emergency number if she got worse.
At this time is when I knew this was not a complication from surgery and not getting her to eat. I then looked up the medication prescribed by Dr. Leon. This was the error that caused my rabbit to die under their care. She no longer would swallow food or water with a syringe. I have never had a rabbit get to this level and there was nothing I could do, but wait for them to open in the morning. Fourteen hours of watching her suffer and knowing she was going to die.
We arrived at the vet's office at 7:45 am they open at 8:00 am. The receptionist finally showed up at 8:18 am with her iced coffee and pastry to open the office. I was calm and told her she is going to die and it is from the antibiotic she needs to be seen. This is when she is trying to tell me the medication is fine, they use it all the time in cats. She is not a vet or a rabbit owner.
Thirty minutes later Dr. Wong came out and told us Dr. Leon should be out shortly that he is on a call. We showed Dr. Wong the side effects of the antibiotic and the treatment that needed to be started and that most likely she was not going to make it. He showed no urgency and said he is going to see these other people and Dr. Leon will be out to help us.
Forty more minutes pass and Dr. Leon finally meets with us. We are still calm, not accusing them or blaming them. Explained what was going on. We showed him the information on the antibiotic he prescribed and how to start reversing this in hopes of saving her. His response to me was I am not a vet and researching online (because you can find anything online) causes more harm than good between client and vet relationships.
He then proceeded to say this could be a complication from surgery because there is always a risk when doing surgery. He did not acknowledge the symptoms corresponded to the antibiotic and that they should have prescribed something else. He did not want to even talk about the antibiotic. I never said I was a vet. I did not say he does not know what he is doing for treatment of rabbits. I asked again for him to start fluids, give probiotics and give her the medication to start reversing the acid build up in her system from that antibiotic AND to please look for anything else he wants to including doing blood work. He still showed no signs of concern or urgency to get an IV in her. His concern was that we were implying we were more knowledgeable than him and he is a VET.
My experience at Servicios Medicos Veterinarios with veterinarians Dr. Leon and Dr. Wong June 2023
If you have a Rabbit, please read and share with other rabbit owners. This does not apply to Dog or Cat owners.
This has nothing to do with how well Servicios Medicos Veterinarios Dr. Leon and Dr. Wong have cared for your dog or cat. They seem very knowledgeable on treating Dogs and Cats. Barb's Dog Rescue uses them and they get paid very well so losing me as a client will not make a difference. I am sharing my experience to prevent another rabbit's death. This happened here, but it can happen anywhere with any vet. It does not matter how many years your vet has been practicing. I only want to make people aware of what happened and how this could have been avoided. If you don't have a rabbit, please scroll past and don't post comments of how well they treated your dog or cat. This pertains to Rabbits and our experience.
Double check what your vet has prescribed for your rabbit. Check if the medication should be used as a treatment in rabbits. Make sure the dosage is correct for your rabbit’s weight. Review side effects to understand the risks before giving to your rabbit. A rabbit requires a Vet that specializes in exotic animals. We are limited to who can treat rabbits here Puerto Penasco. I only know of Dr. Adrian Sixto and I will no longer recommend Dr. Leon or Dr. Wong for RABBITS.
Dr. Adrian Sixto did our spay and neuter 9 years ago when he worked at Servicios Medicos with no complications and we were NOT given any antibiotic or pain medication to take home. They were eating an hour after coming home and up and moving around that night. We called his office first to see if he could fix our new rabbit. Unfortunately he does not have the equipment to do the procedure at his own practice. The risk of cancer in an un spay rabbit is 40% by 2 yrs. old 80% by 6 yrs. old. My regret and mistake is that I did not look up that antibiotic. If we would have read the side effects, we would never have given the antibiotic to her.
How it all began:
Surgery for our new rabbit was cancelled 3 times and back and forth to try to reschedule took over 7 calls and 5 weeks of waiting. I had to go to the office twice because no one would call us back. Dr. Leon canceled the 1st surgery because Dr. Wong was not in and he did not have time. Dr. Wong canceled the 2nd surgery because Dr. Leon had an emergency and was not in town. Dr. Wong explained he was not comfortable in performing surgery on our rabbit, but is fine with dogs and cats. We appreciated his honesty in wanting to wait for Dr. Leon. The 3rd surgery was canceled because of a dog being hit by a car and brought in by Barb's Dog Rescue. All were valid reasons.
My problem was not the cancelations, but that they required me to withhold food for 8 hours prior to surgery. All Exotic Vets online will tell you to NOT do this and to find another vet. A rabbit cannot vomit like a cat or dog under an anesthetic. I knew if I pushed the issue, it would only offend them. I have always politely moved on and never once acted like I know more and they are not correct.
After the 1st cancelation we took her home after her appointment, gave her food and she started eating. I brought food and water to each appointment so they could get her eating as soon as possible. The 2nd cancelation we again took her home and got her eating immediately. The 3rd cancelation they did not call me to pick her up until end of day. They withheld food for almost 18 hours this time and for the day she actually had surgery. I asked them prior to leaving her there to please give her the food as soon as possible after surgery or if surgery was cancelled. They did not. I had a difficult time getting her to eat again because of how much time lapsed by them not feeding her. Their response is she will eat. When a rabbit stops eating their health declines rapidly. GI-Stasis is deadly. A rabbit's gut has to always be moving. This is common knowledge.
The antibiotic prescribed for my rabbit is widely used in a dog or cat. Cephalexin should never be given to a rabbit because of the high risk of side effects. Side effects are Loss of appetite and severe diarrhea with high mortality rate. There are safer antibiotics for rabbits. The receptionist asked if we gave it to her on an empty stomach because that will cause her to be sick. She is missing the point it should not have been prescribed to our rabbit. Every dose we gave her, her health declined. We called and they said give her more pain medication, continue antibiotic, and force feed her. Two hours later she was laying in her litter box with severe water diarrhea which is a sign she is going to die soon.
The vet's office is now closed. I had no way of contacting them after hours. I have never been given an emergency number if she got worse.
At this time is when I knew this was not a complication from surgery and not getting her to eat. I then looked up the medication prescribed by Dr. Leon. This was the error that caused my rabbit to die under their care. She no longer would swallow food or water with a syringe. I have never had a rabbit get to this level and there was nothing I could do, but wait for them to open in the morning. Fourteen hours of watching her suffer and knowing she was going to die.
We arrived at the vet's office at 7:45 am they open at 8:00 am. The receptionist finally showed up at 8:18 am with her iced coffee and pastry to open the office. I was calm and told her she is going to die and it is from the antibiotic she needs to be seen. This is when she is trying to tell me the medication is fine, they use it all the time in cats. She is not a vet or a rabbit owner.
Thirty minutes later Dr. Wong came out and told us Dr. Leon should be out shortly that he is on a call. We showed Dr. Wong the side effects of the antibiotic and the treatment that needed to be started and that most likely she was not going to make it. He showed no urgency and said he is going to see these other people and Dr. Leon will be out to help us.
Forty more minutes pass and Dr. Leon finally meets with us. We are still calm, not accusing them or blaming them. Explained what was going on. We showed him the information on the antibiotic he prescribed and how to start reversing this in hopes of saving her. His response to me was I am not a vet and researching online (because you can find anything online) causes more harm than good between client and vet relationships.
He then proceeded to say this could be a complication from surgery because there is always a risk when doing surgery. He did not acknowledge the symptoms corresponded to the antibiotic and that they should have prescribed something else. He did not want to even talk about the antibiotic. I never said I was a vet. I did not say he does not know what he is doing for treatment of rabbits. I asked again for him to start fluids, give probiotics and give her the medication to start reversing the acid build up in her system from that antibiotic AND to please look for anything else he wants to including doing blood work. He still showed no signs of concern or urgency to get an IV in her. His concern was that we were implying we were more knowledgeable than him and he is a VET.
