A New Jersey animal health technology firm is facing allegations of fraud and deceptive business practices following the death of an 11-year-old dog that was misdiagnosed by an artificial intelligence diagnostic tool, a new lawsuit alleges.

Columbia Veterinary Hospital filed the complaint Thursday in Wasco County Court against Zoetis Inc., seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

According to court documents seen by The Oregonian, veterinarians at the hospital in The Dalles, Oregon, used the company’s Vetscan Imagyst system in October 2025 to evaluate tissue samples from an 11-year-old Belgian Tervuren brought in with a rapidly growing neck mass.

Although the AI software identified mast and spindle cell features linked to cancerous tumors, it ultimately categorized the growth as an inflammatory lesion rather than cancer.

Relying on the software’s analysis, staff at the clinic surgically removed the mass. However, a later tissue examination conducted by the Oregon State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab confirmed the growth was an aggressive form of cancer.

Because the initial procedure failed to extract all the malignant tissue, the dog was required to undergo a second surgery and later died from post-operative complications, according to the lawsuit.

“The patient’s death resulted directly from the need for a second invasive surgical procedure, particularly within such a short amount of time from the first, which would not have been required if Imagyst had properly identified the tumor as cancerous as Defendant Zoetis represented that it would,” the plaintiffs state in the lawsuit.

The hospital claims it bought the system in 2024 under the impression it delivered expert-level diagnostics.

The filing alleges Zoetis falsely promoted the device as “the world’s most capable veterinary AI analyzer” capable of accurately detecting specific cancers, while omitting known operational limitations.

The suit further alleges that Zoetis modified the initial AI diagnostic report after clinic staff reported the error. Following notification of the misdiagnosis, Zoetis requested a conference call in which company representatives apologized, admitted responsibility and acknowledged that similar errors had occurred with other clients using the Imagyst platform, the complaint states.

The Independent has contacted Zoetis Inc. for comment.