Okay, getting the weather wrong I can deal with. But, getting my dog's health issue wrong? Not so much.

I often wonder how is it that people can have jobs that they’re bad at. Let me rephrase that, not “bad” at, but, able to hand out wrong information, as if it’s fact and still maintain their employment. You’ve all read my ranting post on meteorologists and my utter confusion as to how they can tell us that it’s going to be sunny and mild, and we end up with a foot of snow.

Okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating at tad, since “mild” and “snow” don’t normally go hand in hand, but hell, I’m a writer I manipulate words for a living to create drama and intrigue.

On a more serious note of not getting your job right happened with us and Kohl on Sunday. First may I begin by letting you all know, especially those of you who reside in, or any where near the city of Toronto there is one emergency clinic you should never step foot in. That one clinic is VEC SOUTH 920 Yonge Street Suite 117. They honestly could have given less than zero fucks about Kohl and his health on Sunday. We had half hoped since we had just been there in December seeing one of their specialists with Mack, we might have some “existing client leverage.” We couldn’t have been more wrong. I mean we assumed that an animal emergency hospital wouldn’t be much different than a real hospital. But we were there for hours. We didn’t even approach the front desk to check in on his status until we had been there for two hours. At that point we were told “he’s next, as long no other animal comes in more critical than him.”

We proceeded to watch a woman come in with a small dog, who appeared to be at least as “well” as Kohl, but carried in. That woman’s dog went next. Before Kohl. Yannick approached the counter and asked the question again; “how long until Kohl is seen by a doctor?” There was a new woman at the desk by this point, and let’s just say she was anything but polite, caring, or friendly. She was downright rude, and came across as if she hated animals, their owners, or both.

Another forty minutes go by, this time I approach the desk. None of the other pets in the waiting area have yet to be seen. There was even a mom dog there who’s dog was actively pooping blood, and not even that dog was considered to be “critical.” I was losing patience, and wanted to know not IF Kohl would be seen, but more like WHEN. Her response; “well he is next in queue, so he’ll be next.”

“Yes I know that. We’ve been being told he was next to be seen for close to two hours now. We’re trying to determine just how long from now that might be since he hasn’t even had anything to drink since last night.” It was approaching 5pm.

“When one of the doctors becomes available he will be seen. Maybe 45mins, maybe an hour, maybe more.”

Wow. So helpful. Thanks for that incredibly detailed and informative response.

We looked at Kohl. We looked at each other, and decided we would go to another emergency clinic. One that we’d been to before, but the attending vet ate dog treats in front of us, and then a different one misdiagnosed a condition of Mack’s. Neither of these outcomes when going to that clinic were what we were hoping for, hence our hesitation in ever stepping foot in that clinic again. But, we were desperate. Kohl was not well. He had been vomiting on and off for a week, dropped a pile of weight and was incredibly lethargic. With him being a boxer, and having just lost Mack three weeks earlier we weren’t in the mood to gamble with Kohl’s health.

So off we trekked.

We were met with yet another vet. Not to worry I told myself, it is an emergency clinic after all, what are the chances of getting the same vet again. Slim. But, his accent was so thick both Yannick and I had a very difficult time understanding what he was saying to us through most of the consult. With the language barrier, we knew two things for sure.

1. Science doesn’t lie, so let’s run some tests, blood work being the most obvious. Although I do wish we had done x-rays and ultrasound too. But whatever, we had an appointment with our vet for Tuesday.
2. No matter how many times this vet explained to us what he thought was going on with Kohl we’d never fully understand him.

You would think that science and blood work would be absolute conclusions to the mystery that is Kohl’s health situation.

Well. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Even with the blood work, this particular clinic gave us another bad diagnosis. Telling us that in no uncertain terms Kohl had pancreatitis and needed IMMEDIATE hospitalization, for anywhere from forty eight hours to seven days. The grim prognosis continued, we were told that his life would never be the same again. The type of and amount of food he would be allowed to have, along with the distribution of it…it went on and on and on. Never mind the conclusion of the diagnosis that “if not managed properly, he would most certainly end up with diabetes, and possible blindness.”

WTAF???

How can this be? What happened to our boy?

Well, after a full day at our regular vet, Oakpark Pet Hospital in Oakville, and Dr. Matt Croskery running every test he could possible run, with x-rays and ultrasounds we’re not any closer to having an answer about what was wrong with Kohl these past ten days. But I will tell you what we do know. He doesn’t have fucking pancreatitis VETS Toronto & Kingston Road Animal Hospital.

Jesus. A dog treat eating vet, and TWO misdiagnosis. Maybe they should take up grooming pets, instead of diagnosing them. Just saying.