Couple Claims Vet Tried to Steal Their Puppy
By: Mitch Carr
Updated: August 13, 2009
Raul Hernandez and Nicole Saunders took their four-month-old rottweiler puppy Grace to the vet when she got sick. They were unable to pay for the treatment at the time.
But, they say, a friendly veterinary technician at the Animal Hospital of Lubbock stepped in and offered to help pay for the dog's treatment.
That's where the stories diverge.
Hernandez and Saunders say they were promised that they would get their dog back after her treatment.
"She said, 'Well as soon as the dog gets well, I'll give it back to you.' I said, 'Is your word good? Do i need to sign? Do we need to put this down?' She goes, 'No, I'm not like that,'" Hernandez said of his conversation with Animal Hospital employee Christy Willis.
Willis says she made no such promise
The dog was treated and released to Willis, but when Hernandez and Saunders checked, they claim Willis told them their dog was dead and that she had been disposed of at the local dump.
They later found out that Grace was alive and well, and living with Christy Willis.
The two were devastated and then angry.
"[Nicole] missed a day of work. I missed a day of work because she was distraught. What kind of people do that? What kind of veteranarians do that? And the more we thought about it it was like, 'Well what if we're not the only ones they've done that to?'"
Hernandez and Saunders now have Grace back, and Head Veteranarian Jay Jones says this is the first and last time something like this will happen at the Animal Hospital of Lubbock.
"There will not be any other arrangements like this. Obviously, employees will never do anything like this," Jones said.
