We knew Dr. Warner for over 10 years until 2010, and trusted him implicitly with our pets' care, until an incident with our Australian Shepherd in the latter part of 2010. It was only because of the friendship we had with Randy, that we did not go to the Veterinary Board to complain.\r
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In Sept. of 2010, our young dog had slight scabs on the top of his muzzle. We took him to Dr. Maureen Adams (All Creatures), who took a skin biopsy (not cheap) & sent it off to a lab. The report came back that our dog had a skin allergy & she suggested feeding him out of a glass, rather than an aluminum bowl. We did that for two weeks & the scabbing became worse. Adams was irritated when we asked her why he was getting worse & she told us to be patient. The dog got even worse & we asked her to exam him for other skin problems. She looked for mites, dermatitis, etc. & said we were just not being patient about him getting over his allergy to an aluminum bowl. Frustrated, we went to Randy Warner, DVM & asked him for a diagnosis. By that time, we'd done a lot of research on-line & were positive he had pemphigus foleacious - a HORRIBLE auto-immune disease, very easy to diagnosis just from visual examination & easy to see in a biopsy. Warner said he couldn't have PF because the biopsy didn't find it. He gave us a steroid salve to apply to our dog's scabs, which we did faithfully for weeks, with little improvement. We asked every weekly visit, if this was PF & Randy swore it wasn't & to be patient. We asked, ""Should we take our dog to UC Davis?"" and were told, ""No!"" Finally, on the day after Christmas, when our dog was in TREMENDOUS pain, with a fever & COVERED with scabs & blisters over his entire muzzle, eyes, ears, pads, & underarms, we took him to UC Davis. The biopsy there EASILY confirmed he had PF & of course, IMMEDIATELY the vets saw on examination he had that disease. Warner knew we went to Davis because we called the office & asked that our dog's records be sent there. Warner told us, ""Don't go! You don't need to go to Davis! Just come for your appointment this week!"" He wanted us to just continue to put salve on our dog's scabs! We would have had to BATHE him in the salve at that point! The dog could have NEVER recovered with that protocal. He needed intense oral steroid intervention. Both Adams & Warner were inept beyond belief. This is not a hard disease to diagnose, & NEITHER called to see how our dog was doing. Adams even stood up for that bogus biopsy when we called her to tell her it was a rip-off. She did not give a damn about our dog. Randy, whom we've known, and considered a friend for years, NEVER called! A firm trust was absolutely ruined......We would have thought he & Adams would have at least wanted to know how Rave was treated. You'd think they'd want to know, just so they wouldn't make the same mistake in the future, but no....
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