My dog has just died at a boarding kennel

[Orc]

Looking for advice. We are on holiday and my dog has just died at a boarding kennel.

We have been using this kennel for years. They phoned me at 9.45 to say he had shallow breathing. And that they would normally take him to the vet straight away but they were short staffed and could not.

So they phoned my emergency contact, my sister, who lives 40 minutes away. By the time she had got there he had died. They said “ideally we like emergency contacts to live closer”, whilst also admitting that they had failed him.

I am so shocked and angry. We trusted them. I also feel like I have let him down as I was not there when he needed me.

I’m not sure how to process this but I feel like they could have done more to help him. What should I do?

DSis is taking him to the vet so we can find out how he died.

edited to add: he died about an hour after they first called. My sister did tell them it would take her 40 to 45 mins to get to them. The kennels are a 15 min drive from the vet.

I’m so sorry for your loss, what a dreadful shock for you

I’m so sorry.
this happened to us and the kennels paid for a post mortem and shared the report with us. They’d not done anything wrong, it was an unknown medical emergency that could have happened at any time.
they also
paid for a cremation and return of the ashes to us.
the staff were devastated

I'm so sorry. It's so hard to deal with and even more difficult when you don't have the complete picture.

Oh how very sad. I’m so sorry.

To not have enough staff to cover an emergency vets trip is dreadful (I’d be roping all my friends and family in to kennel sit while I took the poorly dog personally). And to then try and make your sister feel guilty is really low. Really poor behaviour. But it does sound as though he wouldn’t have made it to the vets and as though the car journey may have been painful by then. It also sounds like he needed to go when they first noted his shallow breathing earlier on. They don’t sound capable imo, and whatever the results of the PM they need to own their poor care and learn from it.

The op has been using the kennels for years, obviously they must have trusted them. To leave a bad review because a dog sadly collapsed and died which does happen would be very unfair. Many kennels have 30plus dogs and minimum staff they can't just pop off to the vets immediately if one is suddenly ill.
It's the risk we take when using kennels.

So sorry for your loss

kennel definitely hasn’t handled it well at all but it looks like handling it better wouldn’t have led to a better outcome

I hope the postmortem brings answers

i’d probably not communicate with the kennel again until you have some news

Thanks again for the replies … the rules about emergency contacts are that they have to be in the uk. We obviously didn’t expect anything to happen to him this young, but my assumption would have been that they’d take him to (or call) a vet and let the emergency contact know. Our vets are pretty good and always make time if it’s urgent (and they were open this morning). When my sister went in and explained what had happened they were very shocked as he had only had his routine 6-month health check and vaccinations a month ago.

I am so sorry @Orc What an utterly dreadful thing to happen. You must be all over the place right now. I hope you get some resolution from this, and some closure.

I am honestly wondering where this was/is, as something similar happened to someone I know. 2 years ago now. (Their dog died at a boarding kennels, aged only 5, with no underlying conditions). It was a dogs and cats boarding kennel, not far from us, and we used to take our 2 cats there, and my BFF used to take her 2 dogs.

Each time we picked them up, they seemed a bit nervous and jumpy, and felt lighter/thinner. We only used them 3 times over 1 year or so, (3 days, 5 days, and 8 days.) After the third time I was not happy to leave them there again, and at the time they were the only one within striking distance. (7 miles away... The next closest one was 20 miles away.) So we started using a sitter.

My friend stopped taking her dogs too, as they were the same when she picked them up. She also used them 3 times. We put the weirdness/jumpiness down to them being in a strange place, and them losing weight being down to them not liking the food. But something felt 'off' so we stopped taking them, and got 'sitters' in our home thereafter.

Then about a year and a half to 2 years ago, 2 dogs and a cat died on their watch over a few weeks, and an investigation team (not sure what they're called sorry) came to do a random spot check after someone complained, and they shut them down, while they investigated. They started looking into them and their practices, and the kennels and cages. The animals all lost weight while they were with them, and their 'pens' were grubby and cold. It was November, and 4 degrees C in the day (minus 2 at night) and none of the cages/pens - all outside - had any kind of heating on. (Though the dog and cat owners were promised it for their pets.)

Also, they found a number of dogs in the same pen, quite cramped, and not from the same owner. So 3 dogs in a pen the size of a small bathroom (like 7 x 6 feet,) all from different owners. Yet the owners had paid for and been promised their dog would have its own pen/cage. They discovered the same thing happened with a few cats, (although not so many cats, as cats fight a lot more with other cats than dogs do with other dogs.)

I don't know if they re-opened. (This was in the West Midlands...) Where are you @Orc ?

If they had 2 members of staff I'm at a loss as to how one couldn't have left for the 30 minutes it took to bring your dog to the vet then return to the kennels. Ideally they'd stay with him but just getting him there would have been enough. Yes it might mean the days routine was all up in a heap etc but that wouldn't matter in the circumstances. There may have been nothing that could have been done but they should have tried
I'm so sorry OP

What an awful thing to happen, you must be devastated.

@BatchCookBabe that sounds horrendous! I’m in Surrey so definitely not the same place. DDog quite liked the people in the kennels but I’m so sad they let him down. They did say to me on the phone they had “failed on this occasion” but words don’t really cover it tbh.

Perhaps it would have happened anyway but I just don’t understand how he could have gone from fine to very much not fine, and he wasn’t that old, as far as we knew. We only had him for 5 and a bit years.

Sorry for your loss op.

I would say don’t let them blame you about the emergency contact.

Even our nursery has a policy of someone needs to get their in 30 mins, so they can’t quabble with you about 10 mins of difference there.

You were paying for a service therefore you would expect better and them to have back up provisions or as a PP said, to call out an emergency vet. No idea why they couldn’t do that.

That’s heartbreaking, sorry for your loss

So sorry OP. You must be devastated. I guess you wait for the post mortem and work out your next move.

I’d be furious with the kennels though for not taking him to the vet , whether or not the outcome would have been the same.

They look after dogs for a living. They should have had enough people to look after the dogs, and if they couldn't take a dog to the vets, they should have paid for a vet come to them. I don't understand how people running kennels don't have an excellent black book of emergency vats and temp staff.

You didn't leave your dog with a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere and can't drive. You paid for a professional service, and they didn't deliver.

I'm so angry and sad for you, @Orc. I'm so sorry for for your loss. I hope the vet's report brings you some answers.

They say they were inadequately staffed. Are they council-registered? If they are there’ll be rules about staffing numbers. If they weren’t up to the right numbers they’re probably not safe for other dogs either

They did waive the fee but didn’t offer to help in any other way.

When I was on the phone to them devastated asking why they hadn’t tried, they asked if my sister was coming to get him. Maybe they didn’t mean it to sound like that (probably me misinterpreting) but it sounded like they wanted to get him off the premises and out of their hands.

Yes, they are council registered, and they have a 5-star rating!

if it was bloat/ a twisted gut, it’s very sudden. My Old English Sheepdog died of it, she was fine the night before, became unwell overnight and died on the vet’s operating table in early hours of the morning. She was only 8. It’s a dreadful condition and again I am so sorry for your loss x

'Perhaps it would have happened anyway but I just don’t understand how he could have gone from fine to very much not fine, and he wasn’t that old, as far as we knew. We only had him for 5 and a bit years.'

If he died within an hour without an injury like a bleed etc then it really must been unsurvivable. If they'd got him to a vets within 30mins nothing would have changed the outcome. He had shallow breathing so was obviously in a state of collapse due to cardiac or respiratory problems.

For your own sanity try to accept that even young healthy dog can collapse and die. You will obviously be upset that you weren't with him, but he was in a place familiar to him so he won't have been distressed.

Somehow posted on wrong thread. Cant delete

What a terrible shock for you. I’m so sorry. Sounds like it all happened quickly. You must be devastated.x

Im sorry for your loss, I was with our dog when he died, the shallow breathing came at the very end ( final hour) and he died as we picked him up ( to put him in the car to take to emergency vets to be put down,we had been in denial and not realised he was dying,i would have got him there sooner had i of known). I know it is no consolation but I think he was likely dying and getting him their sooner wouldnt have changed anything.

That aside the kennels should have tried and the fact they couldn't take the dog to the vets is a serious concern. A company providing this kind of service should be able to do this.

Im very sorry for your loss xxx

I'm so sorry for your loss, OP. ❤️

It's inexcusable that they didn't take him to an emergency vet, and doubly inexcusable that they're telling you that they would have done ordinarily, but they were shortstaffed. Where were the owners? Had they stepped in to cover?

I'm glad you're getting a PM. It would be good to know if veterinary intervention could have saved him.

I think they're being defensive and trying to shift some blame onto you and your emergency contact because they know they could end up in deep shit because of this.

If it were me and my boy, I'd be considering my next steps.

I’m so sorry about your dog.