Amos had spinal surgery at Pride Veterinary Referrals on 11 June 2026. He went back twice, in June and in July, and each time it was within a day of a course of antibiotics that Pride had given or prescribed running out. Four days after his July discharge he spent six days at another practice. A week after that, a third hospital diagnosed severe discospondylitis, an infection of the spine. Four months, one formal complaint, one subject access request and many emails later, I’m still waiting on records and answers.
28 July
On 28 July 2026 my local vets at the time Gatehouse, Bingley took three x-rays of Amos's spine. A left lateral at 16:20, VD at 16:23, a right lateral at 16:26. He needed a general anaesthetic for them. Sedation alone wasn't enough.
Two specialist centres read those three images within forty-eight hours of each other. Here is what each of them wrote, in the order it was written.
The images
Seven weeks after surgery. Two rods, six screw heads, a facet screw each side. The disc space between the last lumbar vertebra and the sacrum sits under the middle of the construct. If you don't read x-rays, hold that spot in mind. There's a picture further down you won't need training for.
Pride's record, 17:34
Pride is the referral hospital that operated on Amos on 11 June. I had made a formal complaint about his July admission the day before, on 27 July, and had told them in writing on 21 July that he would not be going back there.
Their clinical record for 28 July has one entry.
Gatehouse's record, 17:47
My vet's practice was Gatehouse. It is owned by IVC Evidensia. So is Pride. Gatehouse's record of the same call is timed 17:47 and was written by a nurse:
Liverpool SATH - 30 July
Review of radiographs performed at Gatehouse Vets: lumbosacral endplate destruction, collapse of the disc space and periosteal reaction
Liverpool performed a CT scan on 30 July.
The lumbosacral disc is severely collapsed and there is ventral subluxation of the sacrum. The endplates adjacent to the lumbosacral disc show severe lysis… the bolt connecting the screw are extending further out cranially and caudally on both sides (cranial R 9.3mm, previously 6.1mm, caudal R 7.4mm, previously 6.8mm, L 6.2mm, previously 3mm).
CT DIAGNOSIS:
- Lysis of the endplates with adjacent sclerosis at the lumbosacral junction, collapse of the disc space, periosteal reaction at adjacent bones (DDx: severe discospondylitis)
- Slipping of the bolts of the implants and secondary collapse of the disc
- Possible mild motion of the left facet joint screw
In case these words don't mean a lot to you, the image I promised at the start.
What you are looking at is discospondylitis: an infection of the disc and of the bone on either side of it. Bacteria get into the disc, usually through the blood, and the disc has no blood supply of its own to fight them, so they sit there and multiply.
The body's answer is inflammation. White cells pour into the endplates, the bone surfaces that face the disc, and the chemical signals they release switch on the cells whose normal job is to remodel bone.
Those cells start dissolving it.
The bone is not the target. It is the ground the fight is on, and it loses faster than it can be rebuilt. Pus and bacterial enzymes do the rest. The smooth, dense plate becomes ragged, pitted, moth-eaten.
Around the edge of the damage the body lays down extra bone trying to wall the infection off, which is the brighter, thicker rim you can see on the right.
With the endplates gone the disc space has nothing to hold it open, so it collapses, and the sacrum drops.
Screws anchored in that bone are anchored in something that is being eaten. They loosen, and the rods slide in their clamps.
That was happening inside Amos from the end of June: bone dissolving around the screws, a construct working loose in it, and him standing on it.
The following video is from 14 July, Pride discharged Amos 11 July.
You'll need sound. Fair warning, it's not nice to listen to.
Here is what was being written about him while it did.
Pride, 12 July, 12:45, the day after discharge:
Overall, Amos appeared uncomfortable at home, but the origin and severity of that discomfort could not be reliably determined remotely because pain, anxiety, urinary urgency, handling-associated behaviour and the cumulative sedative effects of several medications were occurring simultaneously.
12 July 14:02, about a call with a vet I'd seen for an emergency appointment:
We agreed that, although some degree of postoperative discomfort is entirely expected following the recent events, the overall clinical picture did not appear consistent with severe uncontrolled lumbosacral pain. We also discussed that behavioural factors and the owner-patient interaction may currently be amplifying Amos’ clinical presentation.
12 July 14:14, email to me:
Following our discussion, we agreed that the next step should be to simplify the medication as his recovery progresses, rather than continuing to escalate analgesia indefinitely.
Following our discussion, we agreed that reducing the codeine back to the standard prescribed dose appears reasonable.
Pride, 24 July, 19:46, the head of service, CRP at 50:
I cannot identify objective evidence suggesting that Amos requires emergency neurological reassessment at this stage.
Gatehouse to Pride, 28 July, 17:47:
Amos isn’t appearing like a dog in pain with us.
Pride, 28 July, 17:34:
RVS reported that Amos in their assessment is doing well
Both Gatehouse and Pride are owned by IVC Evidensia.
Since July I have asked Pride, and then IVC Evidensia, many times, for Amos' records and for some answers.
It is 21 October. I still don’t have them.
