Dog Boarding Facilities in Georgia

Karen Lieber says:
2010-05-14 13:32:10

My 2 German Shepherds were boarded here long-term while I tried to re-home them. On 4/12, after 2 months in their care, I was called and told that my male had started vomiting that morning and appeared to have lost weight. They were 'offering him yummy foods' but her was still vomiting. They said he had no diarrhea, was definitely not bloated and had just became sick that morning. I am a registere... view full comment

My 2 German Shepherds were boarded here long-term while I tried to re-home them. On 4/12, after 2 months in their care, I was called and told that my male had started vomiting that morning and appeared to have lost weight. They were 'offering him yummy foods' but her was still vomiting. They said he had no diarrhea, was definitely not bloated and had just became sick that morning. I am a registered vet tech with 25 years experience, so I told them they should NOT be feeding a vomiting dog, and to withhold food for the rest of the day. If he was still sick in the morning they were to call me at work and I would come immediately to get him and take him to my vet. The following morning, I had not heard from them by 10:30 am, so I called and was told 'he couldn't stand up this morning so we took him to our vet' after they apparently called and left a message on my cell ophone, not the work number I had specifically told them to use. Whe I spoke with the vet and found out that my formerly healthy, 4 year old, 105 pound boy was weak, dehydrated and only weighed 78 pounds I totally lost it. I immediately authorized testing and treatment to be started and left work to make the 1 hour drive up to see him. He looked terrible, and was wet (the kennel bathed him before they took him to the vet!?! How filthy was he???) and I could feel every bone in his body, even the seams in his skull! We developed a treatment plan and I left him in the vet's care and went immediately to Pet Lodge, where I removed my female from their care and told them how appalled I was that they hadn't noticed he had lost so much weight. The insisted that he was 'fine' on Sunday, April 11th; I guess in their interpretation of the word 'fine' that a loss of 15% of his original body weight was not cause for concern... The manager told me they do not even own a scale!! And then they told me about all the extra walks and bathis they had done for my dogs at no charge, as if that would make it fine that they had neglected to notice the weight loss. I pointed out that if they were actually handling them as much as they said that it we even more inexcusable that they hadn't noticed the weight loss. I paid my bill and was given an envelope containing their collars and leashes, along with the 3 months worth of heartworm and flea preventative I had left with them, still with the card taped on indicating the dates they were to have been given; the package was NOT EVEN OPENED! They neglected to give the preventative for 2 months! I pointed this out to the manager and her only excuse was 'the girl that checked you in was new...' My boy bloated the following morning at the vet hospital and died when they decompressed him; we hadn't even had time to diagnose why he had become so sick. In my professional, highly experienced opinion, if Pet Lodge had not allowed him to become so debilitated before they noticed he was sick, he would have had a much better chance of surviving the bloat. I have no evidence that Pet Lodge caused his illness, but I have more than enough evidence that they neglected to notice a chronic illness that had caused extreme weight loss until it was too late for anything to be done for him. This facility does not any practices in place to ensure the health of long-term boarders, despite the fact that they are aware of the possible problems. They told me 'long term boarders often lose weight' I guess as an excuse for their negligence. From that one statement, I make my case: THEY ARE AWARE THAT PROBLEMS SUCH AS WEIGHT LOSS CAN OCCUR, YET THEY HAVE NO PRACITCE IN PLACE TO ENSURE THE HEALTH OF THE PETS ENTRUSTED TO THEIR CARE. THEY DO NOT EVEN OWN A SCALE! Boarding at this place is very dangerous for the health and safety of your pets! Stay far, far away!! view short comment