Winnipeg veterinarian correctly diagnosed dog's illness, regulatory body says following complaint

A Winnipeg veterinarian who was the subject of a complaint to a regulatory bodycorrectly diagnosed a dog's illness, according to a recent decision from a complaints committee that alsodetermined the animal could have been treated as an outpatient, which would have cost the owner less than thetreatment the veterinarian proposed.

Dr. Wenchao Zheng of Animal Hospital of Manitoba on Main Streetwas the subject of a complaint to the Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association filed last August byDavid Strickland, who tookhis dog Chewbacca to the vet hospital because the animal vomited and had diarrhea.

Zheng proposed a plan to treat the dog in hospital for two days at a cost of nearly $2,000.

Strickland said he couldn't afford that, so after some initial work done at Animal Hospital of Manitoba, hetook his dog to a different vet practice. He paid $277 for services from the second veterinarian. The dog was treated as an outpatient and recovered.

In his complaint, Strickland had alleged that Zheng incorrectly diagnosed Chewbacca with parvovirus infection, a highly contagious and potentially fatal illness for dogs.

But a review by aManitoba Veterinary Medical Associationcomplaints committee found Zheng's diagnosis was correct.

"The diagnosis of parvovirus is often made with a physical exam and a canine parvovirus fecal antigen test kit, as was done with Chewbacca," says the decision, dated Jan. 2.

"If an unvaccinated dog has the symptoms of parvovirus and has a positive test result, a diagnosis of parvovirus is confirmed. As such we agree with Dr. Zheng's diagnosis of parvovirus," it says.

The three-person complaints committee appointed by the MVMA to review the case was made up of two veterinarians and one public member.

'Should serve as a cautionary note': vet

In response to the findings, Zheng said in an email to CBC News the committee's six-page decision"judged that my diagnosis and treatment of the dog was correct."

"Furthermore, the explanation of their findings should serve as a cautionary note because it underlined the complexity of diagnosis and treatment of parvovirus," he wrote.

"I feel I am an experienced small animal veterinarian and a caring community member. I did not do anything unethical, unprofessional or wrong in the Strickland case."

Strickland says he's "disgusted" with the outcome.

The complaints committee is "there to protect vetsThey're not there to help the public with their concerns," he said.

"I think I'm going to appeal, but I don't think that will get me anywhere."

Manitoba's Veterinary Medical Act gives 30 days to file an appeal with the association.

'Treatment plan was appropriate': decision

After confirming the diagnosis, the second issue the complaints committee dealt with was whether the care plan proposed by Zheng was appropriate.

"Overall, we felt that Dr. Zheng's treatment plan was appropriate," the decision says, but the committee concluded "it would have been possible to treat Chewbacca as an outpatient."

The report says clients can be taught to give an animal injections of fluidsat home to reduce the cost of treatment, and the animal could be given oral antibiotics.

The committee noted that an animal being treated at home still needs to be monitored daily because some do not respond to outpatient treatment.

"While there is no way of knowing at time of diagnosis which patient will respond to outpatient treatment, this is something that should have been discussed as an option with the client," the decision says.

Strickland says he called some other veterinarians and learned about an at-home treatment for parvovirus.

"This wasn't discussed with me. I was told the dog had to be hospitalized, no ifs, ands or buts," Strickland told CBC.

"There was him telling me what had to be done, what was done, and that was it. There was no discussion."

Zheng told CBC in his email that a client is not obligated to accept a treatment plan proposed by a veterinarian if cost is an issue.

"For example, if I go to buy a car and I don't like the price, I go somewhere else. This should also be true for acquiring veterinary services," Zheng wrote.

Caution over use of medication

The committee's decisioncautioned Zheng over giving the dog a medication called metoclopramide, which stimulates contractions of the gastrointestinal tract and has some anti-nausea properties.

"The complaints committee would caution Dr. Zheng that the use of this medication, even once, can lead to complications if a gastrointestinal obstruction has not been ruled out, such as in this case," the decision says.

The committee also found that the use of fresh frozen plasma, a blood product that Zheng had proposed for Chewbacca, has been shown in recent studies to make no difference in speeding up patient recovery.

"There is also a (low) risk for a transfusion reaction, so patients must be monitored closely at the start of the transfusion adding to the cost of the procedure. In this case, we do not feel it was an indicated treatment as there does not appear to be evidence of a clotting disorder, nor low blood albumin," the committee found.

While an MVMA complaints committeecanimposea range of penalties, such as sending acomplaint to an inquiry panel or issuing a formal caution censuring the veterinarian,the committee in Zheng's case directed that no further action be taken, effectively dismissing the complaint.

CBC News had reported last fall that Zheng already had 11 rulings against him under the MVMA before the complaint filed by Strickland.