A couple in Cedar City is grieving the loss of their dog after a trip to the veterinarian office for a routine allergy shot was accidentally swapped with euthanasia. The veterinarian accidentally administered a shot that killed the dog.
Cody and Amy Zylks had arranged to take their nine-and-a-half-year-old Yorkie, Lilly, for a routine allergy shot. They had also planned to cremate one of their other pets who had just recently passed away due to old age.
Cody brought Lilly and the body of their other dog, Remmy, to the Southern Utah Animal Hospital. Cody confirmed the appointment with the front desk, and they were brought into a room where the shot was administered to Lilly.
Cody said he immediately felt their dog go limp and asked the doctor what was going on.
“Why is she going limp?” Cody said. That’s when Dr. Zachary Francisco, the one who administered the shot, told him that he had euthanized her.
“I fell to the floor because I just couldn’t believe that they euthanized the dog, and I was very upset, and I started to yell, and I just said, ‘Why did you euthanize the dog? That was supposed to be an allergy shot.”
Cody described the veterinarian’s reaction to the accident as ‘cold’ and what seemed like ‘little remorse for the incident.” The veterinarian then allegedly told Cody there was nothing he could do and that they could buy a new dog.
“And I just told him, I said, ‘I don’t want a new dog. I don’t want a replacement. You can’t replace the dog that you took from me. That is my baby, and you just- you can’t do that,’” Cody described. “I was just in disbelief that something that tragic and something that important was overlooked.”
The Zylks are now urging vets to be more careful and pay attention to the shots they are administering as well as pet owners to ensure mix-ups don’t happen again.
Author: Andrew Streeter
Photo courtesy of the Zylks family
Editor: Hannah Clove
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