A heartbroken woman has been left furious after her 13 ‘healthy’ puppies died at the vets following a cesarean operation on their mother.
Alina O’Malley, 26, said: “My whole world has been shattered when I took my beautiful Arizona for a C-section on 27th April.”
"This disaster C-section resulted in 13 healthy puppies dying within two hours of the C-section,” she claims.
The woman opted to breed puppies from her XL American Bully, named Arizona, knowing that the offspring could be worth thousands of pounds due to such high demand for the breed.
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According to Alina, who lives in Derby, the mother did not have any health issues, with the labour appearing to be progressing as normal, while at least eight healthy pups showed up on the scans.
However, the dog owner was worried that Arizona could become fatigued during labour due to the size of her expected litter, so she looked into organising a C-section for the dog.
Handing her dog over to the vet, Alina then left the surgery office for the operation to begin.
While she was away, she was called by the receptionist who asked to administer fluids to her dog due to delivering the large litter.
She was then told that all 13 puppies and her dog were doing well, with Alina then beginning to research and buy special milk for the pups to support hand-feeding them.
Just two hours after the positive phone call she received however, at around 8.00pm that evening, a member of staff then called to inform her that all 13 of the pups had sadly died.
She said: “The vet, to my absolute astonishment, said all 13 puppies had died. At this point he offered an explanation that there was liquid in the pups and that’s why they didn’t take their first breath and that no pups took a breath.
“However upon arrival [at the vet surgery], this changed to many different reasons. He discussed that actually, two puppies did take breaths so they concentrated on those two puppies but then they didn’t survive, changing from the earlier story."
Alina alleges that she received next to no advice on the operation beforehand, or alternative options for her beloved pet.
“Then they discussed that the general anaesthetic may have made it difficult for them to take their first breath because they would have been drowsy. This was never mentioned as a risk or possibility.”
She now believes that there were not enough qualified members of staff carrying out the procedure and looking after her litter following the operation.
"I would have understood losing a couple of puppies, but a whole litter tells me something went drastically wrong, especially after that initial phone call that stated all puppies and mum were healthy and well," she added.
She is now worried about her dog, who does not seem to be coping from the grief of her lost litter very well.
“She has been a completely different dog since she got home, no wagging her tail, just constant pacing, crying and digging.
She cannot stay still, she doesn’t know what to do with herself, all her hormones are telling her to nest and protect, but she has nothing to do that for. My dog will never be the same again. I definitely will never be the same again.”
LADbible has reached out to the veterinary surgery for a comment on the matter.
The vets previously told the Mirror: “It is not our policy to comment on individual patients. The welfare of the animals we treat is our top priority [...] and we take any allegations of substandard delivery of care extremely seriously.
"On this occasion, the client did not follow our clinical advice. We offer our condolences for their loss.”
Gabriella Ferlita