Business ProfileforLowcountry Pet Wellness Clinic, Inc.

wanted to share my experience, more so my dogs experience on Tuesday August 10th 2021. My dog was scheduled to have a large mass removed by Lowcountry Pet Wellness in North Charleston on August 10th 2021. They had previously looked at it a few weeks prior, which is part of their policy before scheduling a surgery to ensure it's something they are capable of doing. My dogs mass had ruptured the 5th of August, so I had taken him to the emergency vet. They bandaged him around his midsection and stated to have it changed by his regular vet by Saturday August 7th, which I had. When I had him dropped off at Lowcountry Pet Wellness at 0800 which he still had the bandage on him from Saturday, along with a muzzle ( I asked for them to put on to protect not only them but him as well as he is not comfortable with strangers) and he also had a plastic cone on to prevent him from licking the mass. They called me around 11 am August 10th and said they were unable to remove the mass as it had gotten bigger since they had previously saw him and he needed to be seen by an emergency vet or his regular vet to have it removed. I was happy they were honest about it, however when I arrived and taken back to the kennel area and saw the condition of my dog, I broke down in tears. It looked like a murder scene inside the kennel he was put in. They had removed his bandage (obviously to prepare for surgery) however they did not rebandage him and left him in the kennel for hours with an open wound bleeding. He had his cone on, no muzzle and no bandage. He had blood all over him, his kennel and his cone. I was absolutely devastated to see him in that condition. How was it ok to leave a dog actively bleeding in a kennel for hours. I was not allowed to pick him up until 4 when pick up hours were. I tried to call, left a message and also sent an email prior to 4 PM with no return call or email. I had also shown up at approximately 2 PM in hopes of being able to talk to someone face to face, only to find lights off and no one there. They had stated to me he was too aggressive for them to be able to do anything, however they were able to remove the bandage AND the muzzle! After I left there I drove him to the emergency vet in Summerville and that's when the decision was made for a surgeon to remove it. I asked them if he was aggressive at all while he was there and they stated he was weary at first, but warmed up to staff and became social. I want to prevent other animals from going through what my dog did. This is absolutely appalling. I honestly don't even want to leave 1 star!

As a low cost spay and neuter clinic, we do not keep bandage materials on hand since spays/neuters and mass removals that we routinely perform, do not require bandaging. As recorded in your pets exam and on your receipt, our veterinarian did not recommend bandaging the mass as it had become infected and necrotic. Bandaging masses in this condition encourages serious infection, so immediate removal (with a specialist) was recommended. We apologize that your pet was not as clean as we would have preferred when you came to pick him up at our regular discharge time. Since muzzles are not safe to be kept on for extended periods of time, we removed the muzzle once we determined that we would not be able to perform the surgery. Once the muzzle is taken off of a potentially aggressive pet, we are not able to handle the pet further for the safety of your pet and our staff. We apologize that we were not able to meet your expectations, however under the extenuating circumstances (a potentially aggressive pet and a mass that had grown and ruptured unbeknownst to us), we offered you the services that we could as a low cost spay/neuter clinic.