What would you say? Would you be upset?

[GreatLakes]

Have you spoken directly to the vet or only through someone else? If it is the later speak directly to the vet. I would let them and the rescue know you still expect to have first crack at the adoption and plan to take him home to do a house trial post surgery if that is what you want.

If you are ok with the vet keeping him just be an adult and speak with the vet directly. Let them know you are more than happy to consider the surgery a donation but since the vet is keeping the dog you would like to know if they can eat the surgical fees either in total or part.

The majority of problems/misunderstandings can be handled with a direct conversation.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

So, question:

Let's say you were going to foster the dog but had no plans on adopting. Would it still have been your responsibility to pay for the surgery?

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

I haven't read everything, so this may have been brought up already. Does the vet own the practice? I wonder what it would have cost HER to fix the dog's leg (ie if it had been a dog that she already owned who needed surgery). It seems like the difference in her cost and what you paid should be reimbursed since this is now her dog.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here's the way I would look at it and I may be in the minority in thinking this:

If you didn't know any of the backstory of the vet and whatnot this would have just been the case of someone voluntarily paying for medical care for an animal in hopes that the animal gets the best chance at a meaningful life.

You say "wouldn't begrudge a penny I've spent to give an animal a better life" but then you also say "I think she should have paid for her dog herself." (the dog wasn't hers when it was brought in though-far from it actually).

Also when you say "I could have used the money to help another." you don't know that the vet isn't actually doing the exact same as you or has done the exact same thing as you in the past by paying out of their own money for medical care for another animal. Might be kind of a 'pay it forward' viewpoint if you will.

I think this is more of a case that you are saddened that this dog you may have gotten attached to was quickly snapped up before you had the chance to really evaluate if the dog would end up working out at your house. That is completely understandable to be saddened by that.

I think if you just look at it that you provided an animal with medical care and a chance at being happier and leave it at that it might be better. There's a lot of focus on what the vet did but reading through your comments I don't think it was made clear that you wanted the dog from the beginning, you wanted to have the dog for yourself and it was defacto your dog. And at this point in thinking about what's in the best interests of the dog the vet may very well be the best place. It could have been presented more loosely in your connection with the dog, other than financial backing. That's just my take based on your comments. If anything the miscommunication almost seems to be more focused on your friend and you not the vet and you.

By all means though have a good open and honest discussion with the vet regarding it if you want to; can't see the harm in that.

 

[Pink Partridge]

I would be upset. It seems a bit underhanded for the vet to charge someone for his services and then take the dog. Weird.

 

[kaddjr]

If the dog is still at the vet recovering my response to the vet would be “I’d like to take the dog home and see how well he and my other dog get along. If there are any issues, I will call you and you can have him”. In that scenario I wouldn’t expect reimbursement because you would have had the chance to adopt the dog and it didn’t work out.

If your friend released the dog to the vet because she considered the dog to be part of her rescue/rehome business, then you have a bigger problem. I’d leave the friend out of it at this point and speak directly to the vet. Because realistically, you have no idea what your friend told the vet. Tell your story with the end result being that your intention was that you would pay for vet care because it was your intention to adopt the dog and the only way you wouldn’t have adopted/kept the dog is if it didn’t get along with your dog. So I’d ask the vet to either give me the dog or reimburse me the $ because otherwise, effectively what the vet did is allow someone else to pay them to care for their own dog, which I would imagine is an ethically “gray” area as far as veterinary medicine goes and if they have a state organization that oversees veterinary practice I might be contacting them.

I totally agree with this. OP you need to have a conversation with the vet.