Dr Dan McDougall responds to claims of ‘no ventilators’ in Gympie vets

A lead veterinarian has reassured Gympie residents the region does have ventilators on offer, the only issue is the treatment will set pet owners back around $4k per day.

The lead veterinarian at Gympie Veterinary Services has responded to claims from a resident who said he wasn’t offered a ventilator because there were none available in Gympie.

On Wednesday last week, Richard Whalley told The Gympie Times he took his dog, who had been affected by two ticks, to Gympie Veterinary Services for treatment.

He was later told his furry companion Winny would need more than an oxygen tube, but that there were no ventilators in Gympie so he would have to travel to Sippy Downs.

“I was shocked and in tears, I just didn’t know what to do and you just don’t want your pet to suffer,” Mr Whalley said.

“If there was a chance for one, I would’ve taken the chance,” he said.

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Dr Dan McDougall shut down the claims of there being no ventilators in Gympie, clarifying there are five machines on offer across the city’s two surgeries.

“Not having the ventilator isn’t the problem, it's the client being willing to pay for it and being able to staff it,” Dr McDougall said.

“You have to have a nurse and a vet in attendance to keep that dog under anaesthetic; you’ve got to be giving them the drug, checking their oxygenation levels, the cost of that is about four to four and a half thousand dollars a day.”

Richard Whalley with his beloved dog Winny that had to be put down due to tick paralysis.

Dr McDougall said they often tell their clients to head to Sippy Downs if they want the best possible 24-hour emergency treatment and offer to drive the pets there and ventilate them on the way.

“We tell them to go to Sippy Downs because we can’t staff it properly … the owner has to be willing to pay for it,” he said.

Dr McDougall said their practice lost 13 per cent of dogs to tick paralysis, in comparison to seven per cent of snake bites.

“Get your dogs on tick prevention,” he said.

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During tick season every year, between June and November, Dr McDougall saidhis practice treated about 20 dogs every week for tick paralysis.

“The last two years we’ve treated about 200 tick cases per year, of those, one each year was on tick prevention,” he said.

Mr Whalley stands firm that he was never given the option to put Winny on a ventilator in Gympie no matter the cost and reinforced that the treating vet told him the “nearest option”for ventilation was Sippy Downs.

Originally published as Dr Dan McDougall responds to claims of ‘no ventilators’ in Gympie vets