On 04/05/21 I brought my cat into the office to be seen for abnormal breathing, not eating or using the bathroom, and his change in behavior noticed the Saturday evening prior. Now I can understand a full schedule and the difficulties that come along with that, but when an animal is in distress, specifically compromising his breathing, is that not an emergency? Does that not take precedence over elective procedure or annual exams? Would you not put a person who is in respiratory distress ahead of someone coming to get their physical? I sure would hope so, but apparently not at Critter Care. I was told that they would try to squeeze him in between appointments, and to just drop him off for the day. I dropped him off around 10:30am and around 1:30pm I got a call stating the obvious, your cat is in distress , body temp down 10 degrees, and we need to do bloodwork and chest X-ray. I agreed for them to be done and was told it would be completed and results communicated to me within the hour. It was now 2:41pm and I still have not received a call with an update, so I called the office and was told the dr was in with him now, they’ll call back shortly. 3:30pm hits and I finally get the call with the results. His labs came back relatively normal and his chest X-ray showed fluid in his chest. They jumped to the conclusion of congestive heart failure. Didn’t think of or rule out any other issues, just made and assumption and went with it. They gave him medication through injection in the office to drain the fluid in his chest. Was told that he’d have to take 3 meds once daily to help, but most cases, the meds help the issue even though it’s not curable. Even mentioned to me that after the injection you provided him, he was up walking around and doing better. I was told to give him his meds, make sure he eats (even though YOU knew he didn’t eat in 3 days already), and to come back for a follow up with the medicine on Thursday 04/08/21. When I picked him up at 4:30pm on Monday, he was still in the same shape that I took him there in. I know medicine isn’t magic, but you just told me that he was up and moving around, and the cat I got back could barely lift his head up. So you’re a liar! Despite all that, cause I wrongly trusted the competence of the staff and doctors here, I gave him his medicine and tried to provide as much comfort as possible which included trying to get him to eat and drink, but failed to no avail. Well it is now Wednesday 04/07/21 and my cat passed away early this morning. He showed no signs of improvement in the time that he came home up to his last breath. If he was in that much distress and you couldn’t get his body temperature up, you had a duty to observe and take care of him. YOU FAILED!!!! Any respectable hospital or office would have held him for further status and care/treatment. YOU DID NOTHING! This office and its doctors failed my cat and now I have lost my furry friend. I will not be taking my other pets back to this establishment.
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