2 Dogs Named Ziggy Were In Surgery; Utah Vet Euthanizes Wrong Pup

SUNSET, UT — The death of Andrea Martinez’s dog, Ziggy, is as confounding as it is heartbreaking. When Ziggy’s breathing became labored and he couldn’t keep his food down, Martinez rushed him to the vet’s office.

Ziggy needed surgery. The cost put a dent in the family budget, but Ziggy was family — “our baby … my daughter’s best friend, my dog’s best friend,” Martinez told news station KUTV. With such strong bonds at stake, “money wasn’t an issue,” she said.

Five and a half hours after they rushed Ziggy to a Davis County animal hospital, the family got a call from the veterinarian saying Ziggy didn’t make it through the surgery.

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

Although Ziggy was in bad shape, Martinez certainly hadn’t expected him to die. But the veterinarian had every reason to think she knew that was a possibility — after what turned out to be a devastating mix-up.

As it turned out, the surgery team euthanized the wrong dog. Another dog named Ziggy was having surgery that night, and that dog’s owner had given the OK on the phone for the dog to be put down.

The vet “apologized and said, ‘I’m so sorry that this happened, we got confused and ended up calling another dog’s mom,’ ” Martinez said.

She gets it, and there’s no way of knowing if Ziggy would have made it out of surgery, she said. She also pointed out the apologetic staff at the vet’s office waived the bill and gave her family a plaque and Christmas ornament with Ziggy’s paw print.

» Read the full story on the KUTV website.