Utah family left devastated after veterinarian mistakenly euthanized their dog: 'He was our baby'
DAVIS COUNTY, UTAH: A Utah family has been left devastated after a veterinarian mixed up the details and mistakenly euthanized their dog.
Andrea Martinez rushed their family dog, Ziggy, to a Davis County animal hospital after he started having breathing problems and had difficulty keeping his food down, according to KUTV, and were told he would need expensive surgery.
While they were scared and the cost was significant, they did not want to spare any expense if it would save his life. "He was our baby, it was my daughter’s best friend, my dog’s best friend, it was ours. Money wasn’t an issue," Martinez said.
The family left Ziggy at the hospital and were informed that they would get a call after the surgery later that night. However, when the call came in at 2:30 am, they were told that Ziggy had passed away during the operation.
Martinez said the vet "kept beating around the bush about it" and was telling them the news like they "should've known," but that he then put them on hold after realizing something was very wrong.
"Then he got back on there and he apologized and said, 'I’m so sorry that this happened, we got confused and ended up calling another dog’s mom,'" Martinez revealed.
It turned out another dog named Ziggy had been admitted at the hospital at the same time and was also scheduled for surgery, and that the other dog's owner permitted the vet to euthanize what they thought was their dog.
Martinez explained that, in the middle of Ziggy's surgery, the vet realized that it was going to be more expensive than he had initially figured and that it was going to be an extended operation. The vet then called who he thought was Martinez to ask if he should continue or let the dog go, and was told he could let him go.
"I just wish we would’ve had the say, I wish we would’ve been able to say we tried everything that we could have," she said.
She said that while there was nothing that could be done now, the vet had been very apologetic and had waived their bill, given them a nice urn, a plaque, and a Christmas ornament with Ziggy's paw print.