Utah woman says vet euthanized wrong dog

SUNSET, Utah — When Ziggy started having breathing problems and difficulty keeping food down, Andrea Martinez acted quickly.

“It kind of scared us, and so we took him to the vet around 9 p.m.,” she said.

They went to a Davis County animal hospital and learned he’d need surgery — a bit pricey, but Ziggy was part of the family, she says.

“He was our baby,” she said. “It was my daughter’s best friend, my dog’s best friend. It was ours. Money wasn’t an issue.”

They left Ziggy and say they were told they’d get a call after surgery later that night. It came at 2:30 in the morning.

Ziggy didn’t make it.

“He kept beating around the bush about it, but he was saying it like I should’ve known,” Martinez said.

Groggy and confused, Martinez says she was put on hold.

“Then he got back on there, and he apologized and said, ‘I’m so sorry that this happened. We got confused and ended up calling another dog’s mom,'” she said.

The other dog’s name was also Ziggy.

As Martinez understands it now, the vet got permission to put her dog down, from the other Ziggy’s owner.

“They were still in the middle of surgery when they called the other person asking, ‘It’s going to be more expensive. It’s going to be a more extended surgery. Do you want to continue it, or do you want to let him go?’ They chose to let him go,” she said.

Ziggy was in bad shape, and it’s hard to say what his life would have been like if the vet had been given approval to keep trying, but “I just wish we would’ve had the say. I wish we would’ve been able to say we tried everything that we could have,” Martinez said.

The vet has been very apologetic, she says, waiving their bill, and giving them a nice urn, a plaque and a Christmas ornament with Ziggy’s paw print.

“She said there is no making it right, but this is what we can do to show that they are sorry,” Martinez said.