'Kids are heartbroken" Family dog dies after surgery at FSJ vet clinic barred from providing veterinarian services

FORT ST. JOHN -- A pet owner is furious after he unknowingly took his dog to a veterinarian clinic in Fort St. John that is facing disciplinary action from the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia. (CVBC)

On May 24^th, Aaron Tydeman took his 18 month old dog Taco, to the Gentle Pet Clinic in Fort St. John for a surgical procedure.

The Pomeranian - Chihuahua mix was booked for a spay procedure even though the clinic was not allowed to provide veterinarian services at this time.

A notice on the CVBC website says that effective April 22^nd, the Gentle Pet Clinic has “Limited Accreditation” and cannot perform veterinarian procedures.

Tydeman claims the clinic went ahead and performed the procedure anyways. “My wife spoke to them multiple times on the phone before she was dropped Taco off at 10:30 in the morning. And at no time did they explain to my wife that they were not actually allowed to be doing any procedures on dogs,” said Tydeman

The Tydeman’s picked Taco up from the vet around 6:00 that evening. “We were told she'd probably be out of it for about 3 hours. She didn't come out of it until probably 6 or 7 hours later. Her appetite died off pretty quick the next day. She was still drinking water,” said Tydeman.

Over the course of the next couple of days, Tydeman says things started to go downhill for Taco

Aaron tried to get a follow up appointment with Gentle Pet to see what was wrong with Taco. That's when his wife saw a notice on Facebook stating the clinic was facing disciplinary action.

However later that night, Taco passed away from a still unknown ailment.

“This guy had no business touching our dog. He had multiple times where he could have backed out and said no, I'm not able to perform this at this time. He refused to. Clearly, he picked money over what was right. And here I am, five days later with a now dead dog and I got kids that are heartbroken, myself included,” said Tydeman.

In the past, Dr Harpreet Dhaliwal, a vet at the Clinic has faced disciplinary action from the College of Veterinarians including a warning, fines and other related costs.

The College says Dhaliwal failed to co-operate with their investigation looking into 7 different complaints.

This comes after numerous complaints from residents in February 2020. A woman spoke up after she said she wasn’t pleased with the care of her deceased cat and pet post-mortem practices.

Dhaliwal was also accused of allegedly abusing animals in his care. Multiple employees left the clinic after the allegations. However, Dhaliwal responded that he was aware of the rules on handling animals.

CJDC TV News called Dr. Dhaliwal for comment. He did not return our call. Tydeman says the College of Veterinarians has opened an investigation into Taco’s death.