I have been a responsible pet owner for over 30 years. My pet was recently in Brittmore Animal Hospital for a biopsy, under the care of the Dr. Matt Dikeman. Dr. Dikeman was leaving on vacation the following day, so I was told I would be contacted about how my cat was doing the following morning, and when I could pick him up. This was the first time my cat had been to see Dr. Dikeman, but I had taken others to him in the past. The following morning, I received a call from a young lady asking about my cat's vaccination history. This is information I tried to give them the afternoon before, when I was there with my cat. No one seemed to want it. I asked her how my cat was and she said she did not know, and would I like to speak to a vet. She put Dr. Jim Reiman on the phone, who proceeded not to tell me how my cat was doing following his biopsy surgery the evening before, but in a very loud and aggitated voice told me that my cat had bitten one of his staff members. Because I had let his Rabies vaccination expire, my cat would have to stay in quarantine for ten days at their hospital to make sure he did not have rabies. I had explained before to their staff that I no longer give my indoor cats vaccinations because one of my cats died of a Rabies vaccine related sarcoma. It spread quickly through my cats body and she had to undergo several surgeries at Gulf Coast Veterinary Hospital, and died just a few months later. In order to avoid this tragedy happening again, the head of oncology advised me to give my cats only their initial vaccinations and no more if they were indoor cats. Which is what I have done, and I had explained this to several staff members at Brittmore on many occasions. Dr. Reiman had spoken to me in this rude manner one other time in the past, and I was not going to deal with him again. I told him I was very concerned about my cat, and he replied that he was very concerned about his staff member. He showed NO concern at all about my animal, said he did not know how my cat was doing he would have to look at his chart. I told him I wanted him off my cat's case, and he hung up on me. My husband and I went to the hospital to get our sick cat, and we were told that if we took our cat home, they would report the incident to the City of Houston Animal Control. With the attitude at the clinic we were experiencing, there was no way we trusted anyone there to care for our cat. We took our cat home and they immediately reported it. Fortunately for our cat, the animal control officer was extremely sympathetic (a hundred times more than Dr. Reiman), was surprised that Brittmore and Dr. Reiman had reported the bite, and understood that our cat had just had surgery and wanted the best outcome for our cat. We called to speak to Brittmore and asked about the technician who was bitten, but they refused to give us any information on who it was or how the bite occurred. We asked them to call Dr. Dikeman to just inform him of what happened, and they refused. They said it would make him mad. Dr. Reiman has spoken to me twice over the past 12 years, both times he was rude, heartless, and uncaring. Avoid this veterinarian if you value the life of your animal.
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