OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — A Mid-South family wants answers after their dog died hours after a trip to the vet.
They say their 2-year-old Rottweiler, Chop, was healthy when he went in for a couple of shots Friday morning, but within hours, he was dead.
“I’ve had him since six weeks. I just don’t know what happened,” said Chop’s owner, Randy Rayford. “He was just laying around with his tongue out like he was having a seizure.”
Rayford said his daughters took Chop to the Cat and Cow Veterinary Clinic in Olive Branch for two vaccinations – rabies and DHLLP – shots he’s had before at the same clinic with no problem.
“After they gave him the shot, they told us everything was good, we could go,” said Rayford’s daughter, Tiffany Holt.
They dropped Chop off at home and said he seemed fine.
“Everything was good,” Holt said. “He got out, he ran around like he usually do, he used the restroom, he was good.”
But less than five hours later, Rayford said he came home and found Chop sick. He called the vet and was told to bring him back in to be checked out, but by that time, it was too late.
“When I got to load him up, he was vomiting and messing out the back and he passed away right then,” Rayford said.
AT 5: A Mid-South family wants answers after their dog died after a trip to the vet. They say 2yo Chop was healthy when he went in for a couple of shots, but within hours he was dead.
"He was just laying around with his tongue out like he was having a seizure." @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/d9ts9iORt3
— Nina Harrelson (@NinaHarrelsonTV) July 14, 2018
It’s not unusual for a dog to have a bad reaction to vaccines, but the family said they never expected something like this.
“I can’t get Chop back, and he was part of the family,” Rayford said.
Cat and Cow Veterinary Clinic has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and only one complaint from nearly two years ago.
The family tells WREG the clinic offered to have a necropsy done on Chop, but those results will take time.
In a statement, the owner of the clinic, Dr. Lee Allen, said:
“This is an extremely unfortunate situation and we are devastated by what happened. I am actively working to find out exactly what happened. I immediately sent the patient to a board-certified pathologist and am awaiting the results. Until the report is sent back to me, that is all I can comment on at this time.”
Necropsies can take anywhere from days to weeks to be completed.
