Dr. Kristin M. Wendelburg is a gifted brilliant surgeon with a fairly disappointing bedside and post-surgical bedside behavior (put it this way, if an MD did that to a human, they would lose their license). Dr. Kristin M. Wendelburg has done 3 airway surgeries for us, the first one was an amazing success, full stop! The second dog surgery did not go well, the dog apparently undid the airway surgery soon afterwords and we kept complaining about it to Kristin, who felt our complaints were unfounded. The second surgery also took place at a facility that returned our dog covered in shit to us (without any apology or explanation). We felt that the surgery did not work, and Kristin largely dismissed our concerns. Being honest, in Dr. Wendelburg's favor, an independent doctor Out of State DID agree with her when we brought dog for second opinion. What I was unaware of till the 3rd surgery, is Dr. Kristin M. Wendelburg gave us an official notice that 30% of the airway surgeries fail, something that was not told to us before the other 2 surgeries. Additionally, because Dr. Kristin M. Wendelburg is kind of a traveling doctor, she probably has less control over a facility for follow up and discharge care. The 3rd Surgery, our airway dog was discharged with pneumonia and significant breathing problems because the facility SWFVR was full and we needed to come get our dog to make space? The dog was out less than 8 hours and had to go back to emergency room where pneumonia and aspiration were officially diagnosed. Attempts during the post-discharge to contact Dr. Wendelburg were unsuccessful. Overall, my advice is, Dr. Wendelburg is still a brilliant and gifted surgeon (you would be hard pressed to find better), **BUT** you need to ensure the facility she performs in is going to be reliable, caring, clean and safe. Ensure you NEVER do a airway surgery on Friday, many facilities have ZERO surgical staff on weekends, and work out IN WRITING that Dr. Wendelburg will be reachable post-surgery as well as you are entitled to one free follow up visit to ensure surgical success.
