Bedrock Veterinary Specialists

My Doberman Pinscher, Raven, was taken to Bedrock Veterinary Specialists in Cornelius, North Carolina, for a consultation to see Dr. Andrea Smith on March 27th, 2025.

Raven had a couple of mammary gland masses. Two other vets recommended that she should have a mammary mass removal surgery and a spay surgery at the same time. With the other vets recommending her to have these surgeries simultaneously and with Raven having von Willebrand disease and a thyroid condition, as well as with her being seven years old and overweight, we decided to take her to a specialist. We chose Bedrock Veterinary Specialists because of a referral and because of their raving reviews.

We asked Dr. Smith about doing a biopsy on the masses to find out if they were cancerous before putting her through these surgeries and she told us that it was unnecessary to put Raven through another procedure because they needed to be done regardless. We wish we would have insisted on a biopsy being done because we disagreed with her recommendation. With three vets insisting on this being the correct route, however, we caved and scheduled the surgeries for April 8th.

The surgeries were performed and Raven came home on April 9th. She seemed to be recovering well in the beginning, but over the course of a week and a half, we noticed that her incision was beginning to have small openings in a couple of places and that the area around it was looking really red. We had our mobile vet come out and look at her. On April 20th, we noticed that Ravens surgical suit was soaking wet with a pinkish, watery fluid that was leaking out of the incision.

We took her to an emergency vet and were told there that she had a seroma. The emergency vet was not comfortable with restitching the incision because of her von Willebrand disease and recommended us to take her back to Bedrock. On April 21st, Raven was taken back to see Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith said that she did not think restitching the incision or putting in a drain was necessary and that she felt that the leaking was normal and that her body would heal itself. She sent Raven back home with gauze sponges and when we got her in the house, her surgical suit was soaked again. We took it off and the incision was *** fluid all over the floor.

The fluid looked red on the floor, like blood, but looked pink on the sponges. When we called Dr. Smith and told her what was going on, she said that as long as the fluid was pinkish and not red, she would be fine. We told her how it looked and we also sent her pictures of it.

She said that she felt that it was just drainage and that it was nothing to worry about, telling us to just keep an eye on it. On April 23rd, we noticed that the incision was looking worse and that the so-called drainage was still pretty heavy. We called Bedrock again and sent them even more pictures. Dr.

Smith and her staff told us that they still did not see anything alarming and to just continue keeping an eye on it. They also said that the drainage would continue for awhile. On April 24th, we noticed that Ravens incision had opened up even more and now resembled an opening approximately the size of a nickel. We sent pictures to Bedrock and called them.

They told us to get Raven there by 11 AM and we drove an hour and a half to get her there. Not long after we brought her inside, they took her to the back. Within minutes after they took Raven back, Dr. Smith came out and said that she was in cardiac arrest.

She said that she saw Raven walk into a crate and that after she finished what she was doing, she went over to examine Raven and noticed that she was not breathing. She told us that they were currently attempting CPR. When she was asked how Raven could have so quickly went into cardiac arrest and was told that she was full of energy, very alert and acting like herself all morning, she said that she did not know and merely told us that she suspected that Raven had had a blood clot. The CPR ultimately failed and we were informed that Raven passed away.

We are devastated, heartbroken and want to warn other pet owners. BEWARE!