New vet purchases Rehoboth Animal Hospital

When veterinarian Tim Dabkowski purchased Rehoboth Animal Hospital last fall, it was a dream come true. Being his own boss at a beachy, hometown veterinary hospital is something he has been working toward for years.

In the months since, Dabkowski has discovered taking over a well-established practice has its nightmare moments.

Recently, in phone calls and letters to the Cape Gazette, Dabkowski has been accused of inhumanely euthanizing two animals that had lived at the practice for years, without telling anyone of his plans and without even trying to find the animals new homes.

Asked about these accusations in an interview, Dabkowski said he euthanized two animals he inherited when he bought the practice, but only after deciding both had health and behavior problems that left him no other choice.

Dabkowski says since late September, when he purchased the 30-year practice of the retiring Dr. John Boros, he’s purchased modern equipment, computerized patient records and updated an old, leaky building, all while seeing more than 2,000 patients.

He also had to decide what to do with a cat and a dog he acquired when he purchased the practice. Neither Boros nor other employees wanted to take the animals, he said.

Both were seriously incontinent; both also had behavior problems, together making it difficult to find homes for either of them, he said. Dabkowski said Squeaks, the cat, was 13 or 14 years old and had been completely declawed, leaving her defenseless if she went outside.

“It would be inhumane to send her outside,” he said. The dog, a pit bull Dabkowski said had been hit by a car and suffered a broken pelvis, had long been confined in a 4-by-5-foot indoor kennel at the rear of the Route 1 property just north of Dewey Beach, on the Forgotten Mile.

Dabkowski said even after he doubled the size of Cain’s kennel, confining the dog to that space was, in his view, inhumane. “In the end,” he said, “it’s my dog and my cat – if I don’t think the quality of life is fit for an animal, I have to euthanize.”

Dabkowski said he asked friends and staff if anyone wanted to adopt the animals; staff members said a pit bull rescue had been contacted, but even the rescue declined to accept Cain.

Dabkowski also consulted a website for veterinarians; all who responded supported his decision to euthanize, he said.

Secret decision

Critics say Dabkowski euthanized the two animals after everyone had left for the day, without telling anyone of his plans. Dabkowski said everyone on staff was aware of his decision and of when he intended to put the animals down. Two people stayed to be with him and the animals that night, which Dabkowski called one of the worst of his career.

“I’m a vet. Do you really think I’m in business to kill animals?” he said.

Dabkowski said some of Boros’ longtime clients are upset because he doesn’t know their pets or the problems they have long been treated for. Some have been dismayed he asked them to schedule an appointment before he renewed prescriptions, but Dabkowski said he has to see the animals before he can treat them. He cited one case in which an owner was improperly dosing an animal, which as a result was not getting better. “I’m trying to do things the right way, not the easy way,” he said.

Preparing for future

Dabkowski also said he intends to work with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and local feral cat rescue groups to assist with their spay-and-neutering programs, but he is still getting his surgery set up to handle the number of animals such programs can bring in.

As he gets to know old patients and meet new ones, Dabkowski is making improvements to the building and has updated examination tables and equipment for anesthesia and wound care.

“I’m here trying to make this place a clean, healthy environment for everyone, our clients, the animals and the people who work here,” Dabkowski said. “I want this place to be something I can be proud of.”