The Story of Norris
Our little Black and Tan Norfolk Terrier
Born 1st July 2013 but taken from us far too soon on 15th April 2025.
We know Norris wasn’t a Westie and didn’t have Westie Lung but feel his story needs to be told on our site, not just to emphasise how wonderful a breed Norfolk Terriers are, but to tell our story of what again has been bad experiences at vets and how they are getting away with it.
The Fun & Excitement – back to 2013
Having lost Austin in 2012 and not having a dog in our lives, something was missing. We had gone a year without Austin and were still on a waiting list for a Lindenka bred Westie.
On visiting the Leeds Championship Dog show where we originally were introduced to Frazer, who eventually became our next Westie, we were taken aback by a pen of adorable Norfolk Terriers and we were then hooked by the breed.
A chance look on The Kennel Club web site we saw one puppy being advertised. He had only been uploaded that day so we were very lucky. This pup became known as Norris. He was only 3 weeks old when we went to see him, probably a bit young really as he wasn’t up on his back legs as he was so heavy. There were only 2 puppies in the litter so little Norris had the full milk bar nearly all to himself, he was a really big chunky boy. We had never seen a Black and Tan Norfolk before, and Norris was nearly all black when he was tiny.
We never realised at the time how lucky we were.
Norris was bred by Bob and Jean Shannon in Glossop who used Cathy Thompson Morgan’s Ch Belleville Lord Angel to sire him. He changed our lives from the moment we brought him home at 8 weeks old, the fun, the laughter, his endearing ways, nothing can compare with the joy he brought to our lives. A totally different character to any Westie so much more of a terrier in lots of ways.
He was utterly worshipped and he just knew that. He had us wrapped around his little paws!
Everyone he met just loved him, he had a fantastic large tail that never ever stopped wagging. Such a happy little boy who always wanted to please everyone he met.
By the time he was 6 months old the solid black colour had dispersed, and he became a beautifully marked Black & Tan. As we were still on the waiting list for a Westie, we were offered Frazer in February 2014, who by then was 14 months old and had had a short but very successful Show career.
Norris and Frazer became the very best of friends and definitely needed each other. Norris needed a playmate as his energy levels needed reigning in, plus Frazer was quite timid and shy so having a very confident Norris with him worked very well.
Norris was a “Jekyll and Hyde” dog, no one really knew the real Norris …. only us. When he was at home, he was soft, loving, but very playful and very wise. When out and about he loved people and just turned into a lively excitable little lad. With other dogs he could be hard work, as he had a habit of going in like a bull in a china shop with no manners. It was just the way he greeted other dogs ….so very eager to muscle in! Sometimes other dogs weren’t ready for his over exuberance. Frazer on the other had just stayed in the background and let Norris take the flack!
Norris was always on the big side ever since being a puppy, but he carried it well and could always give the taller graceful Frazer a run for his money. When Norris was a few years old, we were made aware by the vets we were with at the time that he had a slight heart murmur but it wasn’t severe and were advised just to keep it monitored over time. Frazer the westie also had a slight murmur which also caused him no issues.
Norris was the love of our lives we were so proud of him.
The years passed without any real health issues with Norris. He went for regular check ups at the vets and no real issues gave us or the vets any cause for concern. He was a big strong healthy boy, very powerful and not for the faint hearted!
Then the Vets got Involved
When he was about 8 or 9 years old, we noticed that his breath smelt a little, and we noticed he had a cracked back tooth. Norris let us clean his teeth so it was unusual his breath was like this.
On visiting the vet, which was a different vet to the one we normally saw, a young recently qualified girl called Gemma Davies at Northwich Vets, it was advised that the cracked tooth was going bad and needed to be removed.
Norris was put on antibiotics and a bit of pain relief for a week before his procedure.
There was nothing wrong with any of Norris’s other teeth but this young vet started to talk about removing others at the same time ……to which we said firmly “No, please do not”. Leaving your dog at the vets when they are out of sight and can’t talk always worries you as to what goes on.
The young vet did as we asked thankfully and only removed the offending tooth, but for some reason seemed reluctant for us to collect Norris until right at the end of the day as he was still on a drip. When we questioned this, the vet just brushed it off and then delivered some other utterly shattering news which as you will read below was utter rubbish.
We really wish at the time that we had taken this further, but we just changed vets as our trust in them had gone.
When we went to collect Norris from Northwich Vets very late in the day, Gemma Davies told us that she had done a blood test and unfortunately Norris was in Stage 2 Kidney Failure! We were completely taken aback as Norris has never portrayed any symptoms of the sort. When we questioned this, she basically had no answer and said that she was very sorry and gave us a bag a Renal Dog Food and told us to monitor him etc.
We still questioned this and the Head Vet at Northwich Vets, Patrick Murphy (who was the vet we used to treat Frazer’s Westie Lung) didn’t like us questioning his young vets’ diagnosis and basically advised us to find another vet as Northwich Vets were obviously not the vets for us!! Absolutely they were not. All we wanted was a competent vet who knew what they were doing, but clearly Northwich Vets were not able to do this!
The stress caused to us by this vet (both Gemma Davies and Northwich Vets) was totally unacceptable.
We sought a second opinion at a new vet’s practice that had just opened namely Sands Vets in Tarvin and with a vet called Fiona Wall. We knew of Fiona as we had seen her mother with 2 Norfolk Terriers of her own, and so thought she would be a good choice (how wrong this turned out to be).
Norris had another blood test at the Sands Vets with Fiona Wall a week after his dental at Northwich vets and this time his Kidney readings were absolutely fine. No sign of Kidney Failure at all!! The explanation that Fiona Wall gave was that doing a blood test whilst Norris had a bad tooth and was on medication was a point in time where his readings would be a little haywire with all the bacteria from his tooth and the meds in him too.
This was such a relief and we realised what a very naïve vet Gemma Davies from Northwich vets was. We know vets have to start somewhere and learn from mistakes but they should be appropriately supervised by the Head vet, and Patrick Murphy should have realised this but chose to ignore it.
The stress and worry that this caused us for a week was unreal, letting us think that our boy Norris didn’t have long left when all along it was a big error by a vet. If we weren’t savvy pet owners, we could have just accepted this information and started to feed Norris on a Renal Diet which would have made him pile of weight and just not be good for him. Northwich Vets never even offered a second follow up blood test to rule this out. Simply not good enough.
So now we decided to stay with Fiona Wall at Sands Vets, as she seemed very personable and had a love for Norfolk Terriers just like us. So, we moved our other Norfolk, Isla, and our cat, Pixie, over to them too.
Norris, ever since he was a young lad, always had one testicle that was a bit larger than the other; no vet really commented on it as it can be normal. Norris always had large testicles as he was a big lad anyway. Fiona Wall at the Sands vets just said he had one testicle that was larger than the other and we will keep an eye on that. Nothing more.
Following that sometime later, there was a very strange episode with Norris one morning when he was in the garden, when he just fell over on his side. It was so very quick but he immediately got back up and was “right as rain”. We luckily had the footage on our security camera and so showed it to Fiona Wall as we took him to get checked out. Norris was his usual excitable self and difficult to examine or listen to.
Fiona Wall just told us to keep an eye on him, but he seemed fine and his murmur was no worse. She half heartily mentioned we could go down the route of a cardiologist but only if we felt we wanted to.
We now understand the hesitancy of her referring expensive treatments of which we will come to later.
The months passed. Norris was enjoying life, doing his thing, being an imp. At 11 years old you wouldn’t ever know it as he was still as naughty and playful as a puppy. We introduced an 18 month-old Norfolk Terrier boy called Travis to try and fill the huge hole that had been left by Frazer the Westie following his passing in September 2023.
Norris was very good with Travis and took him under his wing, he taught him the pecking order and how to behave, and Travis soon became very calm and moulded into our “pack” and way of life.
When you have an 18-month-old and 2 others both at 11 you can certainly notice the older ones slowing down. Living with 2 older Norfolks was good for Travis’s training but not good for long term companionship.
The demise of Norris, the horrific experience and yet again another bad vet experience but this time with Sands Vets Tarvin.
In February 2025 Norris was due his annual Booster, so he was booked in with Fiona Wall at the Sands Vets. The biggest regret ever in our lives was asking her to clip his claws while there. We have always done his claws ourselves at home in stages as he never liked it but we managed it okay with very little stress just doing one or two claws a day.
At the vets he was with in his early years, he had his claws clipped in the consulting room with us present and he seemed fine. For some reason, and when later questioned, Fiona Wall of Sands Vets couldn’t explain why she did this, she quickly took Norris out of the consulting room before we could even realise, to give him a booster and clip his claws in the back room. We thought it was strange that a supposedly competent vet didn’t have the confidence to do this with the owners present.
We always felt Fiona Wall had a different approach to Norris as if she felt him a bit over exited. Her approach with Isla our other Norfolk seemed of more interest to her as she was a lot calmer. Fiona Wall always seemed on edge when Norris was in the room, we thought. Maybe she didn’t like the two of us being in the consulting room? Some vets just like one on one but we always like a second pair of ears basically a result from years ago when Harry our Westie was diagnosed with Westie Lung.
Norris, we felt, was probably very nervous at the vets but hid it very well by looking exited, panting, wagging his tail and seemingly wanting attention … that was Norris all over. When Fiona Wall eventually brought Norris back into the consulting room, we were in total shock. He was panting heavily and we noticed his tongue was a purple colour.
He had clearly been in a lot of stress in that back room. Of course the vet Fiona Wall just brushed it off saying “He‘s ok. I had to give him a bit of oxygen but he’s fine now”. (Why the hell would he need oxygen from having a booster and a claw clip ?!!). Fiona Wall then in a jokey manner said “He bit me, the little bugger“.
I know all dog owners say this but Norris had never ever bitten anyone, so in order to do this to a person other than his owner he must have been hurt or extremely frightened in that back room. Why did they not see this or ask for help? We took him home and that then started the worst 7 weeks of ours and Norris’s life.
He was very quiet for a day or so from the shock of the vet visit, not like him at all, but eating fine and he was soon apparently okay. After about a week we noticed his fur started to get a bit thin on his back end, and his breathing seemed a little laboured. His stomach was going in and out more when he was asleep from more laboured breathing. We thought this was an effect of the shock of his experience at the vets. We emailed Fiona Wall our concerns about him having after affects and it being shock but her flippant reply was that she doubted it (she only “doubted” though – she wasn’t sure or certainly was not committing to anything that Sand Vets might have directly caused).
We were still concerned about his stomach going up and down a lot. This was something that would never show when Norris was in other people’s company as he was always quite giddy and excited.
Having kept numerous dogs over the years and especially 3 westies with pulmonary fibrosis, we started to question if this was a lung issue.
So that Fiona Wall at the Sands Vets could see our concerns, we emailed her a video of Norris sat up at home when his stomach was moving quicker. Her emailed reply was “it’s not that bad for an older lad“. What an incredulous remark for a professional person. She brushed it off completely with that remark.
She mentioned about his heart and his murmur and said he could be in heart failure. She seemed blinkered on Norfolk Terriers having heart failure as it’s a common trait in the breed that they can have mitral valve disease. Fiona Wall even said one of her own Norfolk was on Pimobendan or Vet Medin for her heart. So, she discussed with us about starting Norris on those in the near future.
Norris had his good days where you wouldn’t know anything was wrong and then he would have a time where the heavier stomach breathing happened again. He also seemed to be getting more tired. His BPM (breaths per minute) when sleeping was starting to get higher. He went on the heart pills and we never saw any real improvement in his symptoms. We mentioned his lungs again to Fiona Wall and she suggested a scan. She was very nervous over anaesthetising Norris because of his age and weight, and so did a scan on him after he had been lightly sedated. She said the scan showed no tumours in his lung, but just emphasised heart failure again. She was clear that there was no tumour, in her opinion.
She mentioned that as Norris had quite a bloated stomach, she could test for Cushings Disease, but before that suggested that we should think about ending his life soon because of the heart failure!! Where had that come from? She had given up. She actually said or rather barked at us “These little dogs don’t last forever you know … they are not Jack Russells. I’m probably going to lose my old girl in the next year.”
Fiona Wall was utterly horrible, showed no compassion or thought for us as pet owners and was certainly not the cheerful pleasant vet we came to 16 months ago. We were disgusted by her sudden change in attitude and lack of empathy.
We were in a state of utter shock that this had been suggested as Norris was in front of us wagging his tail and being his usual excitable self. How can you even consider killing your dog on a day when he was full of life and seemingly not in any distress? Unforgivable.
She hastily arranged a Cushing’s Test but half way through the two blood tests said “I’m not sure why I’m doing this as his urine is okay”. Maybe it was just a money making exercise or doing something else just to pacify us?
Fiona Wall was floundering in our presence and for the first time, other than suggesting euthanasia, said to go to the cardiologist (Fiona Wall just wanted to have it confirmed it was a heart issue). So we took Norris that afternoon to Cheshire Cardiology, seeing a lady called Emily Dutton. Norris by this time was very tired but still was wagging his tail and wanted to be fussed by Emily. We explained that Fiona Wall had told us that he was in Heart Failure and that had suggested we euthanise him. Emily rolled her eyes and said nothing. Of course, she wouldn’t dare say anything detrimental about any vet as that’s where they get their business from … Vets Referrals.
So Fiona Wall would get a referral fee for this as well. Vets are always the winners.
Emily took Norris though to get him settled for his scan, and we were allowed through to be with him and watch. Norris was actually stood upright on the table and not lay on his side like most cardio scans. He was still wagging his tail!!! But he seemed tired as he had had a long day at the vets.
We could clearly see the mitral valve not closing off properly on the screen. Emily also pointed out that he had 3 other leaky valves but his heart was working fine. She confirmed that Norris was NOT in heart failure. Fiona Wall got that wrong!! But she never admitted it.
Emily said it was more likely to be a lung thing and asked had he been tested for lung worm. She duly tested for lung worm and confirmed that was all clear. As she was only a heart specialist, she couldn’t advise any further and suggested to tell the vet Fiona Wall at the Sands to start to look at treating the lung starting maybe with an MRI scan.
As it was late on the Friday afternoon nowhere was available to contact about MRI, Emily advised Fiona Wall of what she had discovered and advised accordingly.
Staggeringly, there was no apology or admittance from Fiona Wall at the Sands Vets. Maybe she quietly realised she had been barking up the wrong tree for several weeks assuming and solely focussing heart failure, she gave out some antibiotics for a lung infection on the Saturday morning. Norris was very up and down, still his usual self but quite tired and his stomach was moving in and out a lot more.
We still took him with Travis & Isla on a little walk but he just sat and watched. He had quite a restless night on the Saturday night, but had a good day on the Sunday where we stayed in and he slept soundly for most of the day. He still ate all his meals.
We were just accepting that the medication he had been given would take a little time to kick in and were praying to see some improvement.
Monday was pretty much the same. In the evening he actually picked up a pigs ear and wanted to play a little. We had some genuine hope that he was improving.
Tuesday, he woke up and was not good. His stomach movement had got worse so we took him back to the vet Fiona Wall. She was now in what we believe was some kind of panic mode, not knowing what to do.
She saw Norris in the car park in the car as we didn’t want to stress him inside the vets. She watched him wander around the car park and she could see his demeanour. He was trotting around, still wagging his tail but his head position was more forward, something we know about with Westie Lung. Norris was starting to struggle a little. We knew all along it was a lung issue but our concerns were ignored and ignored time and time again by the senior vet Fiona Wall. You should trust a professional vet, but after weeks of ignorantly passing off our concerns, we felt that Sand Vets and our so called experienced vet had been letting us and our beloved boy down with what we believed to be incorrect diagnoses and treatment.
We know Fiona Wall wanted to put him to sleep there and then, but after the weeks of going down the wrong path of diagnosis wondered if she had got this wrong also. We had no faith in her. She was pressuring and rushing us to make a decision on Norris’s life there and then in the car park ….
The woman, in our eyes, was out of her depth. Having wasted weeks going down the wrong diagnoses, she had lost vital and precious time that what we felt a competent vet should have used much better. Backed into a corner, she then suggested doing a proper x-ray on Norris as the scan she had done was only under sedation. She wanted a better look at his lungs (TOO LATE!!) also suggesting that he may not survive the anaesthetic.
Something just didn’t sit right with us, as we knew this was her get-out to put him to sleep. So we made the excuse that we just needed to get home to let the other dogs out and think about what she’d said. We just wanted to keep on trying for our boy and not give up by trying to get further help and a second opinion at a better-quality vet specialist. Sands Vets had let us down.
When we got home, we frantically tried to find somewhere who would do an MRI scan as Emily Dutton had suggested on the Friday. The Sands Vets advertised proudly on their web site that they had a MRI scanner come in but having spoken with Michael on reception this was out of date and incorrect information on the site as they don’t do that now! Sands Vets in Tarvin, Cheshire are a disgrace.
We spoke with Oakwood Referrals who were only 10 minutes away. They were so helpful and realised the emergency situation and told us to get Sands Vets to immediately refer Norris over to them. The Sands Vets would be closed anyway after 6pm so Norris would have had to be driven miles away to their Out of Hours vets.
When at Oakwood Referrals, Norris was excitable as usual, but it heartbreakingly, it was all an act as he was so poorly and tired we knew then he was deteriorating. A nurse came and took him through to get him on some oxygen, something that Sands Vets never offered anytime.
We then went to chat with the Internal Medicine Specialist, Alenka, who had examined Norris and explained he had been sedated and was now comfortable on oxygen. If he was stable the next morning, they would do an MRI scan on him, as she really needed to see inside his lungs, even though Fiona Walls’ scan had showed up nothing.
For the first time in weeks we actually felt as if Norris was finally being looked after correctly and not by someone who was basically pussy-footing around saying we could try this and that, using pathetic language like “he’s not bad for an older lad”, being totally hesitant over every suggestion, probably deep down wondering if something Fiona Wall did had triggered something. Sands Vets failed Norris. Badly.
We went through to see Norris at Oakwood Referrals where he was sound asleep sedated and just looked like a baby puppy, very comfortable. Alenka said to us that Norris was very poorly and whatever was happening in his lung was making his heart work that bit harder. We were asked if we wanted DNR if the worse should happen. Not wanting Norris to suffer if he did have a respiratory arrest, we agreed on that.
This was to be the very last time that we saw little Norris alive as only 2 hours after we left him, he had a respiratory arrest and passed away.
We got a call at 6.30pm and rushed down to collect him. He was still warm and was brought out to us wrapped in a blanket. He never got to “tomorrow” to do the MRI scan. The very comprehensive report we got back from the specialist Alenka was that Norris had a pulmonary neoplasia (basically a tumour in his lung).
Fiona Wall never picked up on this even after her x-ray, nor did she account for any lung issues and actually stated he didn’t have a tumour, but just kept focusing on Norris having heart failure. His big heart did give way in the end but only because of the increasing lung issue which was never diagnosed by Fiona Wall at Sands Vets.
We were obviously utterly heart broken and beside ourselves from losing Norris and still are when writing this a year later, but more so angry and let down by a vet we trusted. Even when we emailed Fiona Wall to inform her of Norris’ fate, there was no compassion in her reply, just an offer of someone she knew who does pet cremations. Staggering! Just a business head these days.
After a couple of weeks of reflection and still having Norris with us in a casket at home we wrote a very lengthy letter to the Sands Vets. We wanted answers as to the treatment of Norris and why things were not picked up on.
We got a written reply from Fiona Wall back after a week. It was written in a way that read as if she had done it off her own back without the Practice vetting it. It seemed unprofessional in parts. She kept emphasising Norris was a risk because of his age and weight and she didn’t want to take too many risks in his treatment.
Also, she brutally questioned and pointed the finger of blame on us for not having dog insurance which now we realise explained her tentative attitude to offering expensive tests. It is quite clear now to us that the Sands vets have a different approach to insured pets, a 2-tiered approach.
One staggering comment in her letter is that she kept mentioning Norris had a testicular tumour!!!
She never ever said anything of the sort in any of the consultations we were both in. She only ever said (as we have mentioned earlier) that one testicle is larger than the other and to keep an eye on it. She was now back tracking and coming out with all sorts of scenarios that were never portrayed to us ever.
She made us feel like bad owners trying to put blame on us! Unbelievable.
Mrs Fiona Wall apparently has a good reputation, but any vet can come across lovely when things are going their way. Norris proved to be a challenge for her and she failed him.
We waited a few weeks as we were too upset over Norris’ passing, but more and more we felt we and Norris had been treated awfully. We looked into taking our case to the RCVS (the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons), the veterinary governing body. When we raised our thoughts and concerns on a reputable Norfolk Terrier group we are in, a lot of owners said the RCVS are a waste of time and you will get nowhere, but a few said we need to do something if nothing else to try and get some justice for Norris. Plus, it was an opportunity to make the vets life uncomfortable knowing she was being investigated. So we contacted the RCVS.
I think the reason people don’t take things any further after being let down by their vets is that it is such a tortuous and long drawn out procedure in filing in pages and pages on a portal. It then can take up to 8 months before the first stage of investigations ends. But we were determined to at least try, so we raised all of our concerns, attached the vets letter, attached video evidence, copies of emails and basically everything we thought would present a very good case.
It was never our intention to have Fiona Wall of the Sands Vets struck off, but merely wanted the whole thing looked into maybe to offer the Practice advice on its treatment of Norris. Getting an apology or some empathy from Fiona Wall to actually see if she did have a heart would have been something. Fiona Wall is a very hard faced and more of a business-minded vet now that she has financial interests in The Sands Veterinary Practice. The views we had of her from others were from a time when she was employed by another vets practice. How pressure and money interests can change people!!
We were contacted by a Maria McCalla-Smith from the RCVS who was an intermediary case manager between us and the people looking into the case (2 vets and a lay person). We were spoken to on the telephone to go over all the facts and really felt that we were getting somewhere. They seemed very thorough and presented a promising outlook.
We were under the impression that the RCVS actually visit the vet practice and the vet in question, but no, they have absolutely no powers at all currently. So its basically your word against theirs and the vet just squirms their way out of things in nearly every occasion. Pets cannot talk to provide evidence and the Vet Practice just closes ranks. It’s gross negligence or nothing – that’s all they look at, and in Norris’ case, Fiona Wall, despite all her dreadful judgement and dismissals, got away with this one …she thinks.
All as we wanted was for the RCVS to offer Fiona Wall advice over her awful and unprofessional conduct, but the RCVS proved useless here.
Something that is potentially changing is that the RCVS is seeking to expand its powers, which obviously has raised concerns from the Veterinary profession … no surprises there. The RCVS are looking at Power of Entry which would permit RCVS inspectors to enter practice premises. This is will need to be agreed as part of the legislative process carried out by DEFRA.
The sooner this happens the better for all.
Vets have carte blanche to run their practices as they wish … it needs to change.
The one thing that seems to be the norm is that we all take it as acceptable that we just sign our pet over to the vet for a procedure, exonerating the vet from all blame if your pet comes to any harm or dies. Where is the responsibility of the vet taken into account? Clearly, they can do what they like?
Dogs, Cats or any pet are not just a commodity, they are a part of the family and should be treated accordingly.
Footnote
It is such a shame that the story of Norris has been mostly taken up with vet talk.
Norris lived a full, happy and healthy life for over 11 years and brought so much joy to us.
We are doing our very best to remember the lovely times and happiness he brought to all who knew him, but just can’t get away from the “professional” people you need the most when he was ill, who let him and us down. It will haunt us forever letting him out of our sight just for a routine booster and nail clip.
The last 7 weeks of Norris’ beautiful life were tainted by someone we put trust in and who is a very well-paid professional who, like many other vets, repeatedly get away with making wrong decisions in their work without any recourse. The RCVS has no influence or control how practices are run, they just look at individuals and look for negligence that can be proven, but it has to be so extreme, that basic errors never get punished.
So Gemma Davies and Fiona Wall will remember their mistakes, and just brush over them but nothing will ever go on record. Nor will any pet owner be aware when seeing these vets with their pet, know the mistakes they have made on past pets.
Dogs can’t tell their owners what went on behind closed doors.
More and more pet owners need to report these things to the RCVS and not be put off by the procedure. We didn’t get anywhere with Norris’ case but someone else might.
You would do it if it were a child and fight for what you felt was right.
Norris, we know now that you had a lung tumour and would have eventually left us, but if it were not for the inadequacies of an experienced vet Fiona Wall at The Sands Veterinary Practice, Tarvin we may have had you for longer, maybe a lot longer.
Our dear Norris, we loved you so much and you will be forever loved.
Always our Baby Boy.
Sleep tight
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