Utah veterinarian under investigation after several pets die in his care

Routine checkups and visits to the veterinarian turned into miserable experiences for pet owners who went to one animal hospital in Salt Lake City.

“She was a constant in my life for a long time, longer than anything or anyone else,” Amber Pratt said of her late cat Buttercup. “It was a very hard transition to move on without her.”

A checkup for Pratt's beloved Buttercup led to a chain of events she never anticipated.

“I was taking her in for just routine blood work because her mom, who I also had had as a kitty, had passed away from kidney problems that were mysterious.”

Buttercup’s mother Clementine died years ago.

Pratt took 9-year-old Buttercup to Wasatch Springs Animal Hospital hoping to get that blood work done to see if she had any possible kidney issues.

“He was jabbing her really hard in her sides and I thought, ‘Gosh, he’s being so rough, he’s being so rough’, but then he said ‘This is how I can tell that she doesn’t have any problems because if she did, when I did this, she would be in pain. So I know that she doesn’t have kidney problems and you don’t need to worry about that. She does not need blood work,'" Pratt said. "I was about to leave and he said, ‘No, but she does need a teeth cleaning and I have a spot open right now. Leave her for a cleaning right now.'”

Pratt is referring to Dr. Michael Blotter.

FOX 13 News obtained a copy of Dr. Blotter's license from the Utah Department of Professional Licensing. He’s been active since 1991. We requested copies of any complaints that have been filed against Blotter from the department.

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Here’s what we learned.

DOPL has set a disciplinary hearing for Blotter in September. He faces three counts of violation of professional standards, two counts of false communications, five counts of inadequate medical records, one count of improper delegation to unlicensed personnel and one count of pattern of incompetence or negligence. The DOPL will consider the possibility of revoking or suspending Blotter’s veterinary license and ability to prescribe controlled substances in Utah during the hearing.

In its petition against Blotter, DOPL has listed specific statements of allegations from various pet owners.

That petition includes Pratt and Buttercup.

But that brings us back to a hesitant Pratt, who agreed to a teeth cleaning, which requires anesthesia.

She did not get the intended blood work for Buttercup.

Pratt claims after that cleaning, Buttercup’s behavior changed.

“She was just never the same again. She just never got her physicality back. She stopped jumping up on the couch or the bed as much or climbing up on our cat tower and just kind of being physical as much,” Pratt said. “She lost a lot of weight. She got really skinny really quickly.”

The Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians says the only way to assess if a pet’s organs are functioning well enough to withstand anesthesia is to perform testing first, which usually involves drawing blood.

Benita Altier, president of AVDT, says it’s part of a standard of care for vets, and blood work should be done before a pet is anesthetized — particularly for older pets.

Veterinary dentistry requires general anesthesia.

“We do not want our pets to be fearful. We cannot take dental X-rays, nor can we use sharp instruments in their mouth with them awake, so it’s extremely important to do anesthesia and to do it as safely as possible,” said Altier. “So this would be a very unusual situation, where a client is requesting blood work, in my opinion, and the veterinarian would be denying them the blood testing.”

Altier further notes that veterinarians may be general practitioners, but performing dental work on animals requires a separate license that not all vets or their technicians have.

After Buttercup’s continued weight loss, Pratt took her back to Dr. Blotter weeks later, once again requesting blood work.

She says she was told that blood work wasn’t necessary and that Buttercup’s weight loss was better for her.

Unsatisfied, Pratt took her to a different vet whom she believes overtreated Buttercup for what was believed to be diabetes.

Buttercup was on the decline, profusely vomiting.

Pratt took Buttercup back to Dr. Blotter.

“I had decided to go back to him because I knew no matter what, he didn’t seem motivated by money, because then he would’ve done the blood work,” Pratt said. “I thought, 'Even if he doesn’t trust my gut instinct, he’s not going to try to take advantage financially of this situation.'”

Pratt was told Buttercup would have to be hospitalized to finally run those tests — tests she had been requesting for a long time.

She was told to go home and come back later.

“Forty minutes after I got home, they called me and said, ‘She had a seizure and her heart stopped and we had to bring her back to life with CPR, and you better get here quick because she’s going,’” Pratt said. “He started kind of flapping her head around like he was trying to show me she died. I thought it was weird, but that was secondary to the emotions of how sad I was.”

We took a closer look at the statement of allegations DOPL listed in their report on Blotter. The document can be viewed here.

The complaint titled “Sam the cat” says Sam’s owner took him to Wasatch Springs for blood work, but Sam suffered a seizure during the blood draw.

Blotter indicated the blood test showed Sam’s blood sugar was low, but he took no action to raise it and instead gave Sam a heart stimulant before he died.

DOPL’s report says Blotter failed to administer dextrose, which is the standard treatment in such a situation.

The same day, Sam suffered another seizure and died.

Then there’s “Dozer the dog.”

Dozer’s owner took him in for teeth extractions, a task that was delegated and performed by what the report calls an “unlicensed assistant”.

During two separate interviews with the Department, Blotter indicated he had done all the extracting or some of it, neither of which is true according to the assistant.

A look at “Boomer the dog” indicates he went in for a dental cleaning in which Blotter failed to intubate him, a standard practice.

Blotter called Boomer’s owner to tell him he died in the process.

Then there’s “Valter the dog,” taken in to be neutered.

Blotter had to call Valter’s owner after Valter died on the operating table.

All the complaints end with this statement: “Respondent has no medical records or respondent’s medical records for pet are inadequate; the records do not contain accurate information.”

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The Department uses the Utah Code of Division of Professional Licensing Act to dictate why a professional’s license could be in question.

They directed FOX 13 News to these three points when they look at cases similar to Blotter’s: Is the person in question violating any statute, rule, or order regulating a profession under this title; violating, aiding or abetting any other person to violate any generally accepted professional or ethical standard applicable to an occupation or profession; or practicing or attempting to practice a profession through gross incompetence, gross negligence, or a pattern of incompetence or negligence.

Currently, DOPL has no other licensed veterinarians with anticipated hearings, but there are three licensed veterinarians on probationary status.

In the last 10 years, there have been 13 disciplinary actions taken against veterinarians in the state.

“When we look at a case, we look at, was the magnitude of the problem severe? Therefore, we’re probably going to take more rapid action, so even if it’s not as severe, if we continue to see multiple complaints, then that starts to ratchet up the priority in our division,” said DOPL’s director Mark Steinagel.

Steinagel says what they hear most often with consumer complaints is: "We just don’t want this to happen to anyone else."

That all starts with a visit to the licensing website .

The Department says sharing your experience like Pratt can save someone time, money and sometimes even a life.

FOX 13 News reached out to Dr. Blotter at Wasatch Springs multiple times via phone, email and visits to his office. He has yet to respond.

If you want to see if someone is licensed to practice in the state of Utah, you can look up a business or individual’s license. You can do that on DOPL’s website, just hit “ verify a license ."

If you’ve had a bad experience and you want to report the person, you can also do that on the Department’s website by clicking “ file a complaint. ”

Remember, when you take your pet to the vet, you are in charge, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians says if the vet suggests any type of dental work but they don’t have the capability to take full mouth X-rays, that’s a sign that maybe you should take your pet to a veterinary dentist. You may pay a little more, but you’ll know that they are board-certified to practice dentistry as well as veterinary medicine.

This story was originally published by Robyn Oguinye at Scripps Salt Lake City.