Posted on 05/24/2012 9:30:27 AM PDT by Army Air Corps
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A local vet is under scrutiny once again after a new complaint has been filed.
Kelley Floyd filed a complaint against Lubbock mobile veterinarian Dr. Penny Kelso due to her treatment of a Labrador retriever named Spooky.
"Someone else might call her and lose a beloved pet," Floyd said. "That's what we're trying to prevent."
Kelso has been reprimanded by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners five times. In 2008, Kelso had her license suspended for two years.
This most recent case involved a house call that Dr. Kelso made to Patricia Mott's dog, Spooky.
Spooky was a stray Labrador retriever. Mott took her in last December and they became inseparable.
Mott didn't realize that Spooky was pregnant at the time. She gave birth to six puppies on Easter Sunday. Mott saw that something was not right with Spooky. She would not feed her puppies and continued to pace back and forth.
That's when Mott called Dr. Penny Kelso to her home.
Dr. Kelso said Spooky had not fed her other puppies yet because she still had two puppies inside her. Kelso gave Spooky a shot to force the onset of labor, but it didn't work. After trying what she could at Mott's home, Kelso took Spooky and her pups away for surgery.
Mott had no address for Dr. Kelso and she had no idea where Spooky's operation took place.
"During that time, Pat asked where she was located. She was so attached to Spooky, she wanted to see her," Floyd said. "She wanted to see the puppies and Penny Kelso would never divulge where she was located."
After the surgery, something still was not right with Spooky.
Mott received a second opinion from Dr. Susan Bozeman, but Spooky's condition only worsened.
So Mott called Dr. Kelso once again, when she thought Spooky had a temperature.
According to Floyd, Dr. Kelso dismissed the fact that Spooky had a temperature. Within the same hour, Mott took Spooky to a third doctor. Dr. Kathy Crouch said Spooky had a temperature of 105 degrees. Dr. Crouch then decided that Spooky needed surgery.
Floyd said when Dr. Crouch first opened Spooky up, she said Spooky reeked of a toxic chemical called formalin.
Spooky's uterus was extremely swollen and the tissues had already started to disintegrate - from the formalin.
"We had asked our physician that we work for here about the formalin," Floyd said. "He more or less said once Spooky was flushed out with formalin, it signed her death certificate."
After kidney failure and a loss of movement, Spooky was put down May 2, 2012.
New questions were raised after KCBD NewsChannel 11 obtained a copy of the complaint filed as a result of this story,
KCBD NewsChannel 11 wanted to know more about Kelso's record with the Texas Board of Veterinarian Medical Examiners and how her record compared to other veterinarians.
We checked records dating back to 1969. 187 veterinarians had been disciplined in that time frame and five other veterinarians in Lubbock were on that list. On average, only two vets in the entire state are reprimanded each year. Kelso has been disciplined five times in the last eight years.
KCBD NewsChannel 11 tried reaching Dr. Kelso for a comment, but our calls were not returned.
We also reached out to Dr. Crouch to hear what she saw first-hand and to explain Spooky's condition in more detail, but she would not comment.
Spooky's story is an ongoing investigation and no formal disciplinary action has yet been taken. KCBD NewsChannel 11 will continue to follow this story.
Please note, most veterinarians are willing to make house calls, so if you have a trusted vet you can ask them about their services.
Copyright 2012 KCBD. All rights reserved.
This is sort of Obama-Care for pets.
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