A Tulsa pet owner said his dog, a Black and Tan named Harry, was mistreated while he was euthanized.
“I knew I had to put him down,” said pet owner, Tom Perry. “Harry was 15-years-old, he was having strokes and he was half blind. My mother and I took him into see our vet Dr. Grogan, who we had been seeing for 20 years, a few months ago to put him down.”
Their experience was more than awful.
“He gave him something through his leg at first that did not work, so then he shaved another part of him and then Harry started convulsing. It was like he did not want to let go. I started to cry, my mother started to cry too.”
Perry has had to put down pets before.
“We have put down a German Shepard and a cat before. That was a long time ago and with different veterinarians. I had never seen or heard of a dog being put down like my Harry was put down. It was a horrifying experience.”
Perry reported the incident to the Oklahoma Veterinary Board. They looked into Dr. Grogan’s record. Executive Director of the board, Cathy Kirkpatrick told FOX23 News they took Dr. Grogan’s license away from him eight months ago.
Kirkpatrick said it started with a tax issue. Per state law, a veterinarian must be tax compliant for the board to renew his license. When Dr. Grogan went to renew his license in 2011, he was found to be non-compliant. The Veterinary Board made numerous attempts to work with him to get him compliant over the course of a year.
In June 2012, they held a hearing on it. He didn’t show or issue a response and they revoked his license. A part of that includes confiscating all of the medication he has in stock.
They found he continued to practice and serve clients after that date, leading to false prescriptions charges for Phenobarbital.
The board found out what Grogan used on Perry’s dog Harry.
In November, he administered two doses of Anased also known as Xylazine, to Harry in a euthanasia case. According to Kirkpatrick, the procedure went very wrong and more complaints were filed. Anased is not the drug that is supposed to be used to euthanize an animal.
According to another south Tulsa veterinarian, Dr. Rodney Robards, Anased is used to sedate a dog, like a muscle relaxer.
“The drugs I use are given to me through the State board,” said Dr. Robards. “They are called Fatal Plus, Beuthanasia, and Euthasol. You can only obtain those medications if you have a license.”
“I just do not want any other pets to ever have to go through what my Harry went through right before he died,” said Perry as his eyes filled with tears. “I never had an agenda against Dr. Grogan but he should never have been practicing on my dog or any pet without a license.”
Dr. Grogan is 83-years-old and has been practicing with a license since 1956. The board said he has never had a reported problem until this week.
He was arrested Friday morning on several counts including, animal cruelty, false prescriptions, and practicing without a license. He bonded out less than two hours after he was arrested.
