Worst--Client--Ever!

[twosoakers]

this had yet to show, so i thought i'd show it. my worst experience with a client was hearsay (i was in the next room). but one of the assistants came out, stating that the client was drunk and belligerent and had just thrown a container of dog feces at her.

top that.

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[FishHick]

Thats pretty bad! We had one a few weeks ago that slapped one of the technicians across the face, really for no reason other than she had to wait to see the doctor.

 

[Emio]

ha! great thread... no drunken monkey behavior here, but i had a presumptuous (assuming he was human med) owner insist on doing the blood draw in the exam room and proceeded to show me where the vein was on his Great Dane's leg, while holding incorrectly. obviously, the other assistant just moved in and replaced his hold before i even attempted to find the apparently inconspicuous vein.

the same guy then vehemently demanded a re-fax of the patient's vaccine history because we had "misspelled" Bordetella, and "clearly had been spelling it wrong for years, then." it was re-faxed with the same spelling and the doctor's signature, lol.

to infiniti.

 

[silverelf]

i think my winner goes to the lady who called me a f***** a****** c*** because we hadn't seen her cat in three years and wouldn't ship her animax for its ears. (no she didn't just want it put up, she wanted it shipped to her house!)

 

[twosoakers]

wow...f...a...c...that's just....wow.

 

[sundoggie]

I had a woman call the clinic once to ask that if, hypothetically, she ever ran over an animal on the road how should she go about killing it the rest of the way. Should she go back and run it over a few more times to make sure it was dead or not? I asked if there was a particular animal she had hit and if she wanted to bring it in, but she said no..she was just asking for future reference.

 

[Hollycozza]

my friend lives in a clinc and they had an irate client yelling at them in the middle of the night, and they had to hide inside until the police scared him away........

 

[ratbandit]

Off the top of my head I can remember a couple of things from working at the SPCA. Specifically, a women flipping out at us because we were apparantly "anit-muslim" because we wouldn't let her "trade" her sick cat that she didn't feel like taking to the vet for a "new" kitten. Oh yeah, and then there was the women who brought in her two 10 year old mastiff's b/c she got hardwood floors and they were scratching them w/ their toenails. I love the people who bring in their St. Bernards because they got too big and then ask if they can adopt a puppy. My favorite excuse is the adults who bring in their kid's guinea pig b/c "they won't take care of it" HELLO are you not responsible for you child?! I love my job I love my job I love my job...

 

[rexosaurus]

anna nicole smith, in the middle of the night (ER), wanting us to allow her cameras in..... absolutely ridiculous

note: no disrespect to the dead

 

[wivet2011]

Also not a personal experience, but a fellow humane society volunteer got a call from a guy inquiring about surrendering a litter of kittens. When told about the small "surrender donation" (meant for helping with care costs, not to empty pockets) the guy flipped out and said he was going to just send the kittens through the wood chipper. He hung up before she was able to tell him to just bring the kittens in, no donation needed. I can only hope that he thought better of that idea...

 

[lazyjayn]

I've always been fond of people who have to get rid of their dog because they're "moving to a state that doesn't allow pets". This list of states includes but is not limited to: NJ, MS, CA, AZ, NY, VT, NC, GA....

Funny, until then I'd been under the impression that the only state with any real dog/ cat import rules was hawaii- and they just require quarantine.

 

[soxbox]

one time at our clinic we had a phone call from the daughter of a client of ours who had just passed away. She had said that her mother had requested that when she died, we euthanize her dog (at the time a VERY healthy 4 year old maltese) so the dog could be cremated and buried with her as she loved the dog so very much... Our vet said no though she was not 100% sure if wasnt bound in some sort of legal way to do it... we talked to her about other options that all involved the dog getting to live... not sure what finally happened to that poor dog....

 

[eventualeventer]

Gosh, y'all make horsepeople sound sane, which is quite a feat. Maybe it helps that the owners aren't present some of the time -- the barn manager or trainer holds the horse. Also, assistants aren't alone behind closed doors with clients usually. Generally, clients are clueless and/or annoying and distrusting (and occasionally drunk), but I've never heard the likes of throwing dog poop.

Probably the worst was when I came back to the clinic one summer and saw that one of the vets had a splint on one of his fingers. When I asked what happened, he said that he was trying to get a closer look at a horse's face (eye?) and had his hand through the halter to steady it when the owner hit the horse in the head with a twitch, causing it to rear up. Smart, really smart.

One of the infamous stories around the clinic, known simply as the "Firstname Lastname story", involves a mare who was turned out with a very studdish gelding who would, um, more than just mount her very frequently. She had a horrible uterine infection; when they told her she had to separate the two horses, she asked if she could just wash his penis every day. Where's a forehead-slapping emoticon when you need one?

Yes sirree, in order to be a vet -- heck, to deal with the world -- you have to make peace with the fact that there are a lot of real rocket surgeons out there.

 

[4theanimals]

Gotta love shelter work. Two that immediately come to mind. The guy that tied his dog to the bumper of his truck and drove away. Drove about a block before a woman in another car got him to pull over. She was obviously pregnant. Guy got out and threatened her, thankfully another bystander stopped. We get the dog with his legs just totally destroyed. The next day the guy called and asked when he was getting his dog back?! Then there was the guy who brought his pit bull in to relinquish it to the shelter. When questioned why the guy says the dog bit his two year old. Person doing intake questions owner about dogs visible wounds. In return for bighting his kid he had burned the dog all over with a cigar. And of course while in the medical center these were two of the sweetest dogs who put up with everything we had to with them. Arrgghhh...

Oh and upon further investigation the child didn't have a scratch.

 

[CookieBear]

When I was still a newbie at the clinic, I waited with another staff member one night for a client to show up to pick up medication. We waited for 40 minutes past closing time, then finally closed up and went home.

The next day, I had the guy in my face across the counter, yelling, "What did you have, some hot date?"

I thought it couldn't get worse than that.. but I was only 17 at the time, and boy, it can!

I had a stool sample, in a specimen bag, thrown across the counter (towards me, but not actually at me) years ago. The test wasn't paid for. I threw it out.

Am I the only one who has found stool samples taped to the front door, for the morning crew to find upon opening? With a note to please run it... but no name?

I wasn't in the clinic the day it happened, but an irate client pulled down our entire Hill's food shelf display, bags and all. The police were called, but of course the guy was long gone by the time they showed up.

 

[Angelo84]

Ah yes the fecal fairy!! Ours usually have a pet's name but really "Max" isn't all that helpful.

 

[zygote]

Gotta agree about the shelter work. I work in a low cost spay/neuter clinic and here are a few highlights:

The woman who called a year after her surgery to say that her cat had gotten fat and was convinced it was due to us leaving a surgical sponge in her cat...and recently we had a woman call in frantic because there were sutures in her cat that she could not remove, she had been picking at them with tweezers and the cat was beginning to bleed, turns out she was picking at the cats spay tattoo!

 

[AuburnPreVet]

A few that come to mind:

- an older guy who unloaded his chow mix from the trunk of his 80's Cadillac to get a rabies vaccine

- someone who tied their OLD little yorkie mix dog to the chain-link fence using several plastic supermarket bags... as a "donation" to the clinic

- a woman who brought her cat in covered in blood, turns out the owner was the one bleeding.... (scary!)....

The delightful world of small animal private practice... in a lower income 'hood.

 

[sMiles44]

The first case I saw shadowing an equine vet in rural pa...

monday morning the clinic gets a call from a farmer who says one of his horses has been down since friday evening (he didn't want to pay for a weekend visit).

when we got there, the belgium was 98% dead from botulism. he was caked with mud and had dug trenches around himself thrashing around for the weekend.

The vet offered to euthanize the horse (treatment costs more than buying a new one), the guy said no, he had a shot gun.

thats about the time i decided i did not want to be an agricultural vet. (i grew up around "sport" horses so the experience knocked my socks off)

 

[mistifical]

What can I contribute...

-A woman came in saying her dogs tit was swollen... and the receptionist wrote this on the routing sleep.

-A nurse brought her dog in that was bit by another dog. She insisted that because she was a nurse, all she was there for was to get some suture material so she could stitch the dog up herself. How the doctor convinced her that this was not an option, I don't know... The dog had SEVERAL drains placed.

-New Years Day, a woman brought her cat in. He was blocked. She was still drunk from the night before and decided that she would put him down. The doctor had her call a friend to help her with this, etc... The woman was in the exam room deciding what to do for several hours. Constantly going outside to vomit. She decided to take the cat home and let it die naturally. Of course we did not recommend this and had her sign a refusal of treatment form.

-A woman rushed into the clinic with her dog in her arms. She had no pants on. Got out of bed and didn't bother getting dressed when she rushed her dog in after it had a seizure. She wore a surgical gown the rest of the night.

-A woman brought in her yellow lab to be euthanized. They weren't clients of ours, so we had no history. The dog was young and appeared healthy, so we wondered why she had decided to euthanize. According to her, the dog had kidney disease. Had this been diagnosed by a vet? No, of course not. We gave her the option of doing bloodwork, etc. She refused. Insisted that her dog had kidney disease because her other dog had it and now this dog acted like he had it too.

That's all I got for now...

 

[RazorDoc2010]

readings some of yalls reminds me of these...

1. a guy asked if he could just stitch up a gaping wound with a needle and yarn. I kinda laughed, and then realized he was still looking at me seriously.

2. another guy threatened me over the phone that he was coming to our clinic to "kick my a*s" and drop his dying, tick-ridden dog on our doorway for us to take care of

3. the people who brought in a dog in a heat stroke and then declined treatment bc their money "was 'sposed to be for booze" and took the dog home to shoot it

I wasn't there, but it's infamous at the clinic...

1. a lady comes in about a tick problem and when the vet comes in, she drops her pants to show him her "tick problem"

 

[CookieBear]

-A woman came in saying her dogs tit was swollen... and the receptionist wrote this on the routing sleep.

I like that.

What is the actual condition of having pus? 'Cuz, guess what, the receptionists never do write "purulent", right? They write what the client says...

 

[akitavet]

I like that.

What is the actual condition of having pus? 'Cuz, guess what, the receptionists never do write "purulent", right? They write what the client says...

HAHAHA we have a rule about writing that word on the board at work. we have to write purulent. We were just talking about it the other day!

 

[Wisco]

I always think this one is funny, we had a ex-racing greyhound come in with several bite marks and the owner said he was walking his dog when a group of chihuahuas "jumped" and attacked his dog, lol. the funny thing was its true. and this is in suburban long island.

 

[thomphea]

Ha!!! That always makes me laugh!

 

[thomphea]

I like that.

What is the actual condition of having pus? 'Cuz, guess what, the receptionists never do write "purulent", right? They write what the client says...

Ha! that always makes me laugh!

 

[alliecat44]

This is the most awesome thread. Wow. I'm dying laughing, shaking my head in comisseration, and trying to think of some of my own stories....

--the naked hispanic gentleman who came into our clinic, speaking not a word of English, at 2pm on Saturday afternoon. Reeking of alcohol, he had apparently decided to wash the clothes he was actually wearing at the laundromat a few doors down. My clinician tried in vain to throw her labcoat around him and protect his modesty before the police arrived.

--the woman who left her 2-year old golden in the car during a 100+ degree heat wave in July...while she was getting her hair highlighted. A good Sam broke the window, called the police, and they rushed the seizuring dog to us. His temperature was over 108, and he had begun sloughing his intestines...the woman came into our hospital screaming at us to save her dog. Paid over $5,000 to have the dog die about five hours later. Charges not pressed because hubby was a big-time lawyer. Only good thing: she showed up with her hair still in foil and wearing her plastic apron thingy. I'm sure her pricey hairdo was ruined...

--the marijuana toxicity confessed over the phone in a whisper by an embarrassed teenager. Though present at the intake, he and the mother swore they knew of no toxin. He made us promise not to tell mom.

--the guy who brought in his dog for a cocaine toxicity, himself high as a kite. Alternated between sleeping and screaming in our waiting room. Thank god it was 2am.

--the ditzy trophy wife who, when told that her dachsund didn't need an E-collar after back surgery asked, "What's an E-collar?" "Oh, like an Elizabethan collar? [gestures] You know..." "Oh! I LOVE Elizabethan history! Does it have like pearls?"

 

[thomphea]

The client who called asking if we could prescribe sedatives for his dog, after explaining several times that we couldn't prescribe without seeing the dog first....he admitted to experimenting.... with his wife and the dog! No...SERIOUSLY!

 

[kate_g]

You might think it would be really cool to have the editor of a well-known pet magazine as a client, right?

What if said editor's pet came in as an emergency, later died, and they blame the clinic for an "obvious" lack of appropriate care?

...*And* they are not terribly shy about throwing around their job title and threatening to publicly defame the clinic in the magazine?

 

[pressmom]

I was shadowing at an exotics clinic, and a new client brought in a baby new-world monkey. The exam was going fine until she asked the doctor when the monkey was going to start walking. He said, "Well she's walking now." The owner said, "No, I mean on two legs." Uh, yeah. I guess she did a lot of research before getting the monkey, huh?

The sad corallary to this is that there are a couple of non-vet people that I have to explain that monkeys don't walk on two legs!

 

[bakaduin]

Ive got a few as well!

- Had a guy whose dog was ready to be euthanized from cancer and he said " I dont want to see my dog go out in a vet hospital, can you meet me at midnight in this golf course behind my house so we can euthanize her their?"

- A person who came in crying profusely with a dead cat in her arms, Why did the cat die? It had been sitting in the dryer and she had accidentally turned it on to do a load of laundry. Now im no rocket scientist, but Ive put my shoes in the dryer and it makes quite the loud sound. So I imagine that if my cat was i the dryer, (not that I can imagine how my cat would get in the dryer in the first place, but if by some stroke of unluckiness it happened, I figure Id hear it! But thats not even the worst part. She wanted her pet buried in a pet cemetary and we only use a cremation service. Our receptionist said she would try to find out a number for a pet cemetary but didnt know one off hand. The lady proceeded to berate her and call her every name under the sun because a "real receptionist would know this information". Boy what a 30 minute verbal tirade that was!

 

[mistifical]

A person who came in crying profusely with a dead cat in her arms, Why did the cat die? It had been sitting in the dryer and she had accidentally turned it on to do a load of laundry. Now im no rocket scientist, but Ive put my shoes in the dryer and it makes quite the loud sound. So I imagine that if my cat was i the dryer, (not that I can imagine how my cat would get in the dryer in the first place, but if by some stroke of unluckiness it happened, I figure Id hear it! But thats not even the worst part. She wanted her pet buried in a pet cemetary and we only use a cremation service. Our receptionist said she would try to find out a number for a pet cemetary but didnt know one off hand. The lady proceeded to berate her and call her every name under the sun because a "real receptionist would know this information". Boy what a 30 minute verbal tirade that was!

That reminds me of my moms cat, Oliver (yes, orange tabby). When we first got him always liked to follow the clothes into the dryer when you were loading it. One time my mom didn't realize he'd hopped in there and turned the dryer on with him in there. Fortunately he made those awful thuds and she opened the dryer immediately. He was fine and hasn't been near the dryer since.

 

[Angelo84]

The worst experience I had involved a little old lady whose cocker spaniel we had euthanized. The woman stayed for the euthanasia and then left with the dogs' leash but left the collar. The cremation service asks us to take all collars and tags off. So we removed the collar and put it in the laundry pile. The woman came back in the next day because she wanted the collar back. We asked her to wait while we went and got it. It had gotten lost in the laudry pile so we couldn't find it immediately. I came back upstairs and told her we were looking for it but it was likely in the wash she started yelling at us that it was a new collar that didn't need to be washed and since we couldn't come up with the collar we must have sold her dog to a laboratory to do experiments on... I don't quite follow the logic but she was absolutely convinced that this is what we did. She continued alternately crying and yelling at us. Finally I was able to explain that we have a company that cremates all the animals and that they don't take collars so we wash them. I got her to sit down while I went through the entire laundry pile, the washer, and the dryer and finally found the collar under the sink. That is one experience I do not want to repeat!

 

[flokemahe]

two women come *running* into the clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, saying "are his whiskers going to grow back??" We eventually extracted this story from them.

1) ladies lounging by the pool. Cat saunters up, they find a big fat tick on said cat, on the back of his head
2) one gal's dad is a doctor, so she is totally qualified to remove this tick.
3) smearing vaseline on tick will get it to back out, right? Doesn't work
4) Dousing tick in alcohol should kill it, right? This does not work either
5) applying a hot match tip to the tick will surely piss it off and cause it to back out... you can see where this is going, right?
6) Follwing the application of match tip to cat with vaseline & alchohol all over the back its head, cat catches on fire
7) cat runs away (smart cat!) because clearly these ladies are CRAZY, and it is ON FIRE
8) ladies catch flaming running cat, toss it into the pool to extinguish the flames

thankfully, the cat wasn't seriously hurt, apart from some burnt ear tips and a lot of singed hair. But on the back of its head, we found one fat, dead, charred tick!

 

[wivet2011]

two women come *running* into the clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, saying "are his whiskers going to grow back??" We eventually extracted this story from them.

1) ladies lounging by the pool. Cat saunters up, they find a big fat tick on said cat, on the back of his head
2) one gal's dad is a doctor, so she is totally qualified to remove this tick.
3) smearing vaseline on tick will get it to back out, right? Doesn't work
4) Dousing tick in alcohol should kill it, right? This does not work either
5) applying a hot match tip to the tick will surely piss it off and cause it to back out... you can see where this is going, right?
6) Follwing the application of match tip to cat with vaseline & alchohol all over the back its head, cat catches on fire
7) cat runs away (smart cat!) because clearly these ladies are CRAZY, and it is ON FIRE
8) ladies catch flaming running cat, toss it into the pool to extinguish the flames

thankfully, the cat wasn't seriously hurt, apart from some burnt ear tips and a lot of singed hair. But on the back of its head, we found one fat, dead, charred tick!

Wow

 

[jnt179]

We had a very psychotic owner at our barn. She called me one night at 11:00 to go get her horse out of the pasture because it was raining. It was one of those wonderful summer rains that the horses love. Her horse was not the only one out. Every horse on the premises was in the pasture. But she was SO sure her horse was upset because it was raining. This was the sweetest old mare. Too bad her owner was a fruitcake!

 

[hoodle]

two women come *running* into the clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, saying "are his whiskers going to grow back??"
...
8) ladies catch flaming running cat, toss it into the pool to extinguish the flames

OH MY GOD
laughing so hard
POOR CAT
SO FUNNY

 

[Bill59]

Dog with coagulopathy and we ask the client if there's any possibility of rat poison. "Oh yea, now that you mention it I saw him eating some two days ago. The label said it was poison to rats but since he's a dog I didn't think it would be a problem."

Client who wanted a second opinion when I told her her dog was dead on arrival and had been for some time (rigor).

Client with appointment to see when she should get her dog spayed. Answer: 63 days ago. First puppy's head was half out of the vulva.

 

[wivet2011]

Client with appointment to see when she should get her dog spayed. Answer: 63 days ago. First puppy's head was half out of the vulva.

I hope she wasn't serious...

 

[Emio]

7) cat runs away (smart cat!) because clearly these ladies are CRAZY, and it is ON FIRE

wow... that cat is so lucky they caught it fast enough to throw it in hte pool.

but i lol'd so loud at #7! hahahaha

 

[giles]

Well written! That really is hilarious.

two women come *running* into the clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, saying "are his whiskers going to grow back??" We eventually extracted this story from them.

1) ladies lounging by the pool. Cat saunters up, they find a big fat tick on said cat, on the back of his head
2) one gal's dad is a doctor, so she is totally qualified to remove this tick.
3) smearing vaseline on tick will get it to back out, right? Doesn't work
4) Dousing tick in alcohol should kill it, right? This does not work either
5) applying a hot match tip to the tick will surely piss it off and cause it to back out... you can see where this is going, right?
6) Follwing the application of match tip to cat with vaseline & alchohol all over the back its head, cat catches on fire
7) cat runs away (smart cat!) because clearly these ladies are CRAZY, and it is ON FIRE
8) ladies catch flaming running cat, toss it into the pool to extinguish the flames

thankfully, the cat wasn't seriously hurt, apart from some burnt ear tips and a lot of singed hair. But on the back of its head, we found one fat, dead, charred tick!

 

[Hollycozza]

bump!!!!

 

[DrDRBaker2B]

I love all these stories and thought I would share a few. These might not be bad clients but some funny stories.

A client came rushing in with her golden retriever that had been HBC. She is sobbing uncontrollably and at first couldn't even get a story out of her. After the dog is in surgery for a while we finally calm the client down enough to get an answer. Her husband, who was a doctor, got an emergency call and rushed to the hospital. In his rush, he didn't see the dog behind his truck and ran it over. He called his wife inside the house and told her about the dog and went on to the hospital. The dog was fine after surgery and had a broken leg. The woman the doctor was seeing had a beautiful baby girl.

A client came in with an older hound that he used for hunting. He wanted to get the hound neutered because there was a special going on that month. The surgery was completed and the next day the guy picked the dog up. Two days later he brings the dog in because "his balls are swelling". When the dog gets into the clinic it has a sac the size of a grapefruit. The dog is walking very widelegged as you can imagine and has a very sad face. When we ask the client why he didn't bring the dog in sooner, he said that he thought it was normal for them to swell. So the vet drains the sac and sends the dog home. The next morning they are back and the sac is swollen again to about a baseball size. We then keep the dog overnight and put a drain in it. 2 days later it goes home happy and walking normally.

Client brings in puppy to get neutered. Vet explains that the dog will have to be cut open to find the other testicle because they haven't both descended. When vet opens up dog, she can't find the other testicle. She looks around and sees a uterus!!! LOL. Turns out the dog had one testicle, a uterus, and one ovary. When the owner comes to pick up dog, we inform him of what we found. From then on, the dog was known as the "it dog".

 

[conservationgal]

In the summers, I worked at a wildlife sanctuary and a veterinary clinic that is located in a beautiful mountain town. The town unfortunately attracts many 'high-class' extremely wealthy people. One woman brought in her dog one day and was talking to me about the wildlife in the area and then she asked me, "So what time of the year do the deer turn into elk?" I was speechless.

 

[wildfocus]

One woman brought in her dog one day and was talking to me about the wildlife in the area and then she asked me, "So what time of the year do the deer turn into elk?" I was speechless.

how did you recover from that one?

 

[kate_g]

A client came in with an older hound that he used for hunting. He wanted to get the hound neutered because there was a special going on that month.

Wow, I'm kind of surprised. The shelter I volunteered at a while back did rabies clinics for license renewal. The license fee was lower for altered animals. We'd get a lot of good ol' boys in with their packs of beagles, and when we asked "...are they neutered?" the most common response by far was "hell NO they ain't neutered!"

The common wisdom was that intact dogs track/flush/retrieve/whatever they're supposed to do *much* better than altered ones. I personally think that theory was largely constructed to protect the masculinity of the hunters...

(To be fair, the hunters were some of our most regular customers. I think you might need to prove licensure of your dogs when applying for a hunting permit, but they'd be there every year and never complained about paying extra for their intact dogs.)

 

[eventualeventer]

- Had a guy whose dog was ready to be euthanized from cancer and he said " I dont want to see my dog go out in a vet hospital, can you meet me at midnight in this golf course behind my house so we can euthanize her their?"

Clue, anyone? I think it was Colonel Mustard, on the golf course (times have changed, they inherited another fortune and put some links out just outside the conservatory window, near the tennis courts), at midnight, with the syringe of pink juice.

 

[twosoakers]

you guys have ALL put me to shame!

 

[horsybaby]

[ "two women come *running* into the clinic with a dripping wet, slightly singed cat, saying "are his whiskers going to grow back??" We eventually extracted this story from them."

Hilarious

 

[silverelf]

not about a bad client, but the singed cat story reminded me of this...

we had a wife and husband who were clients...Super nice people, but slightly rotund....they came running in one day with their mini poodle in their hands, who wasn't breathing...they were both in hysterics and we started CPR and put the dog on O2. Long story short, the dog came out fine (with a few broken ribs), and when we finally calmed them down enough, the wife told us that the husband had sat in a chair, which broke, and he squashed the unsuspecting mini poodle sleeping under the chair. i had a really hard timing not busting out laughing in front of the client...but once i was back in the break room...oh man