Thank you Dr. Palmer, from Tara and Potter

Loyal SooToday reader Tara Champagne sent us a letter lauding the efforts of local veterinarian, Dr. Gary Palmer, veterinarian/ practice owner at the Sault Ste. Marie Animal Clinic on Third Line.

Quite frequently we hear all the negativity behind some vets in the city not taking emergency calls from pet parents if their pet goes to a vet out of the city.  

Well I would like to share my story.

My mother's dog, Potter, recently had a very close call after eating something he shouldn't have.

My mother arrived home to find him very sick and was terrified.  

At 5 p.m. she called her vet who happens to be an American vet.  

They told her to give him Pepto Bismol and to call back in the morning.  

She followed their instructions but Potter threw it up almost instantly, she called back and left three messages because he was only getting sicker.  

Out of desperation she called the emergency vet line, they told her they would page the vet on call and they would contact her as soon as possible.  

In the meantime she called her American vet several more times.  

Finally after 20 minutes of waiting the Canadian vet called her back, after speaking with her and realizing how frantic the situation was he advised her that if Potter didn't have medical treatment right away he could likely die.

Dr. Palmer of the Sault Ste. Marie Animal Clinic told her to bring Potter in to see him right away.

This was at 9 p.m..  

Dr. Palmer opened his office and after looking over Potter said he was in shock, had an extremely bad infection in his stomach and if she hadn't gotten him there so fast most likely would have died by the morning.  

He admitted potter to his clinic where he stayed for four days till he was good enough to go home.  

The next day the American vets called back to see how he was doing and when she told them what had happened they said it was a good thing a Canadian vet saw him since he most likely would have died on the bridge anyway, but they were glad he was going to get better.  

My mother is so grateful to Dr. Palmer and his clinic without them her dog would have died and she would have been devistated.  

The compassion and sincerity that Dr. Palmer showed my mother was remarkable, even considering that he knew that she dealt with the American vets.  

I thought I should share this story with everyone since we always hear how terrible the service is, yet in this instance a Canadian vet through the emergency line went above and beyond with caring and compassion to help an obviously distressed animal when the American vets did nothing.  

I believe Dr. Palmer deserves a lot of recognition for truly helping when we needed him most.

Thank-You Dr. Palmer you are truly an amazing, caring, professional and I am truly grateful to you for saving my mother's dog.

Sincerely

Tara Champagne

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