Vet hurt my animal, and i dont know what my options are

[KaprikaAZ]

so i took my gecko in for a exam on a lump. a harmless seeming one, she had it since i got her some months ago (there is a story but for the sake of keeping this short. just know that it was looked into)


so anyhow. i take her in to see a vet. now, in the past ive taken another gecko in. and she gave kinda bad advice. i didnt take it of course because no able minded reptile keeper would take the suggestion to "go outside and catch some bugs for him to eat". so i didnt have confidence in her as far as more complicated issues were concerend, but the lump to me seemed like a pretty simple "cyst" diagnosis. all she had to do was look at it and schedual me a surgery (she wouldnt be doing btw). i thought "she has to at least be compitent enough for THAT"

well, apparently not. because she man-handled her. i had a friend with me and even HE was uncomfortable. my gecko was flailing and writhing and doing that clicky gurgle and took a chomp on her. rightfuly so! the lady made me so nervous with how she was squeezing her i took her out of her hands and held her myself.
we were terrified she was gonna drop her tail. SURPRISINGLY she didnt

but the next day, i checked on her and she was super protective of her side, would recoil away and felt limpish to nudging. shes behaving the exact same way my other gecko did when he took a bad fall once, and hes never been the same.
i sincerely think she broke something on her



ive called their management, and they just deflect me, told me "i didnt respect them" and refused to even apologize.
i was polite and all i wanted was that they foot the cost of a x-ray and some pain/infalmmatory meds for her.
they clearly think im full of it, and im pissed.

what should i do?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I worked for a vet for several years and have manhandled my share of pissed off animals. The key is to be gentle yet firm and not allow them to think they can get away with things. If you can hold on through the initial "fight" the rest of the exam tends to go much more easily. Most of the time we would remove the animal from the owners presence so that the owner wasn't distressed by their pet's brief discomfort. At my own exotics vet here, I've squashed my own gecko to hold him still while my exotics vet removed a prolapsed hemipene. He wiggled and fought but a firm grip behind the neck and over his rear legs held him still while the unpleasant but necessary to save his life operation was completed.

That said, I can see how an animal may be hurt with rough handling but it would have to be extreme. There are two things I think you'd need to show before you can unequivocally say it was the vet's fault:

1. You'll need to be able to show that your gecko has actually been hurt. Videos, pictures, and a report from a different vet saying there is an injury consistent with what you describe happening to her seem like they would be be needed. I think the vet report would be the most important piece of proof.

2. You'll need to be able to show that there wasn't a preexisting issues that caused her to get hurt very easily. if she's suffering from some condition like bone cancer or MBD it may cause her to be injured more easily than a healthy gecko might.

Even if you can prove both of these things I'm not sure what the recourse would be if she really did harm your gecko. Sadly pets are considered property and I think the most you may be able to claim is medical bills and/or the value of your gecko. A receipt showing what you paid if it was a lot is probably something good to show as I would think that most judges may not believe a $1000+ gecko.

Good luck and sorry for the frustration!! I hope she recovers quickly!