DOG OWNER WARN OF DPETS CENTRE @ BUKIT PANJANG. REPORTED TO AVA

It is every fur parents’ nightmare to come back from an overseas holiday to an injured dog who cried in pain until he almost completely lost his voice and his eyes stained with yellowish discharged. To make things worse, you do not know what happened to him and how long he had suffered in agony.

My dog, Mocha, was dropped off for boarding on 25 Nov at Dpets Centre, Bukit Panjang Plaza. He was a normal happy healthy dog then. When we returned from an overseas trip on 4 Dec, his left hind leg was injured and he was limping in pain on the remaining 3 legs. Unfortunately, we got our helper to pick up Mocha from Dpets Centre one day before our return. When my helper asked (the boss and the lady assistant) why the dog was limping, they didn’t answer her. Helper being in a less privileged position and not knowing what else to do, left the shop with a limping mocha.

On 4 Dec when we returned, I called up the boss and asked what exactly happened to Mocha and whether if he needed medical attention, the boss assured me that it was a minor injury he got when he was scratching the cage and it’d heal in a few days. I also asked why there was yellowish discharged and he almost completely lost his voice, the boss kind of brush it off. Knowing my dog could overreact to pain and thinking that he was probably whining for a long time and hence lost his voice, I decided (and foolishly so) to wait for a few days before seeking medical intervention.

Fast forward 7 Dec, I brought Mocha to see Dr Lennie Lee at The Animal Clinic in Clementi. He immediately suspected that Mocha might have suffered a joint dislocation. Mocha was X rayed. My heart sank when Dr Lee confirmed that Mocha had a joint dislocation at his left hip. And to add a thousand tons to my already heavy heart, Dr Lee told me quietly that such joint dislocation didn’t happen easily. To cause such an injury, there must be great impact like he fell from a very high place. I couldn’t imagine the excruciating pain Mocha had suffered (joint dislocation, without pain killer and GOD KNOWS FOR HOW LONG). Poor Mocha, unable to expressed his pain, cried till voice became hoarsed and eye stained with tear marks plus yellowish discharged. And who knew what else happened in his stay in Dpets Centre. After administering GA, Dr Lee tried to push the dislocated hip bone back in place but couldn’t as too much time had lapsed and the muscles around the joint had stiffened. So Mocha was brought back to The Animal Clinic the next day for a surgery by Dr Hsu Li Chieh. According to Dr Hsu, there was also fracture (shown on x ray) around the hip bone. The only possible treatment was to file away the protruding bone and let the muscles and tissues strengthened around the joint. So technically Mocha’s leg would not be in the hip joint (with one leg shorter than the other), he gotta depend on his muscles soft tissues to hold his left leg in place. Dr Hsu assured me that as Mocha is small, it should not affect his walking in the long run (I’m keeping my fingers crossed). Again, Dr Hsu confirmed that to sustain such injury, there must have been trauma to it. So what exactly happened in Dpets Centre? I could only take comfort that Mocha was well taken care of during his treatment in The Animal Clinic by 2 very experience vets and a great team of nurses.

So who was responsible for this ‘great impact’ and ‘trauma’ which caused a poor defendless dog to suffer tremendous pain alone for days (my heart literally bleed at this thought). Why wasn’t he given the necessary medical attention straight away? Was it a one off accident or was Mocha being abused throughout his stay? We went down to the Dpets Centre for answers. The boss was there. He denied responsibility (as expected), gave lots of justifications and suggested that Mocha’s injury was caused after he left the shop (and probably by my helper). And as usual for drama purposes, the cctv in the shop was spoilt. Luckily for us, there was a cctv right outside the shop and many cctv along the way home. My husband told the boss that if the cctv outside the shop showed a limping Mocha upon him stepping out, Mocha had to be injured in the shop. We approached the mall management and requested for them to review the cctv and let us know if my dog was limping immediately when he stepped outside the shop. According to the mall executive who watched the cctv, Mocha was limping on his right hind leg (which meant left hind leg injured) when he left Dpets Centre. So nothing to deny already right? But the boss still refused to admit that Mocha was injured under his care. We told him that we were going to file a police report on suspected dog abused and he simply told us that he intended to close down his shop anyway. No apologies, no attempt to investigate, no intention to assume responsibility (or maybe he was the one who abused Mocha?) Such obnoxious attitude. Him closing down the shop or not, I just had to share this experience because it was too painful for any dogs and dog owners to go through. We do not wish another dog to suffer under the care of Dpets Centre.

By sharing this story we hope that:
1) No fur baby would go through the same ordeal as Mocha.
2) No fur parents would go through the guilt that we were experiencing.
3) Dpets Centre would own up to their mistakes if it was an accident.
4)Seek justice for Mocha if he was indeed being abused.
5) Any potential witnesses of the accident or abuse would come forward. (Mocha is a mid size poddle. He was under boarding at Dpets from 25 Nov – 3 Dec. He was picked up by my helper between 6-7pm on 3 Dec)

A police report will be filed later today or tomorrow. To be frank, I doubt I can find the real culprit and exactly what had happened. But I do wish to inform all dog owners to be careful when sending your precious babies to Dpets Centre. Feel free to share my post so that more people can be informed of my experience at Dpets Centre and hopefully the post can reach the potential witnesses.