On May 9, 2022, around 6:30 pm, Bean, an 8-year-old rescue throwback pomeranian, was attacked by a large dog on the street of Philadelphia, PA, right outside of his home. He was quickly rushed to BluePearl South Philadelphia where they accepted Bean into their care.

After reviewing his radiology, the team at BluePearl decided that Bean could wait for surgery until late the next morning, 14+ hours away. He had puncture wounds in his neck and a tear in his trachea. He was stabilized upon arrival and they tapped air out of his chest. They initially quoted $6-8k for treatment.

By midnight, within a few hours in their care, his lungs collapsed and he needed to be intubated in order to breathe. Due to his continuous decline, they offered to keep him intubated until the next morning. They had little faith that he would make it through surgery with anesthesia. They quoted $10-12k to continue treatment and encouraged us to euthanize him. Since we had waited hours for surgery, we now risked the chance of him passing as he waited or while he was under anesthetics. They still wouldn’t schedule the surgery for several hours — until the surgeon came into the office at 8:00 am.

Every second counts during a medical emergency. Had BluePearl 24/7 Pet Emergency Hospital operated quickly, Bean would have had a fighting chance.

To anyone outside of the veterinary field, claiming to be a “24/7 Pet Emergency Hospital” indicates that they can provide the same emergency treatment as a human emergency hospital, which includes emergency surgery, such as repairing a torn trachea before the condition deteriorates. Bean did not have a torn trachea due to genetics, it was a torn trachea due to acute trauma via high-pressure dog bite to the neck.

Companion animals are more than property; they are family. Join us in our fight to improve the veterinary system. We aim to put pressure on corporate BluePearl and Mars Inc. to change their systems; to end their advertising as a 24/7 Pet Emergency Hospital until their vets are available to implement emergency surgery at all hours of the day, to save the lives of companion animals, and to protect families from the avoidable emotional trauma that comes with losing a pet to inaction.

Learn more about our story at designcrft.com/beanie-fan-club.