I will never recommend anyone to Dr. Donald Calaceto. A month ago, a close friend had referred me to Dr.C and I thought why not give it a try. My cat was very sick, probably started sometime in Feb. By March, he has lost half of his body fat. Drastic weight loss in such short period of time (2months give or take) is an obvious indicator that an animal has a serious problem - and that does not require vet school to know. So, Dr. C hospitalized my cat for 3 days, put him on IV, charged me a TON, ran some blood work and a bunch of other tests in which he never explained to me exactly what they were. All of that amounted to about $1000. Picked up my cat , took him home and he was STILL refusing to eat and drink, still vomiting everyday, and at this point it has been almost 2 weeks that he hasn't really ate anything. He was prescribed anti-biotics (Dr thinks is a bacteria- inflectional problem) and was told that pill must be crushed n mixed with wet food. Well, that wasn't useful because my cat for the fifth time refused to eat. another week went by, he had lost more weight. I was basically watching him starve to dead. i began force feeding with a dropper. Contacted Dr. C told him about the situation n he got mad at me for not following his instruction when none of it made sense. the anti-biotics were going to waste, cat wasn't eating or drinking, n he scold me for force feeding ! I told him i believe my cat has a bigger problem - perhaps cancer or something of that severity. He goes something like I am telling you, Mao's situation is not that bad. I even requested for him to do an x-ray, when that should have be done already since he has acknowledged that the doctor prior did not do it and found nothing with just a simple blood sample. At this point my cat has lost about 80% of its body fat. Yeah, not good. last Saturday, took him to another doctor because I honestly do not believe Dr. C had a clue what was going on. Dr. Robb (my new doctor which i love) was nice, tender, and understanding. he knew by first glance that my cat has cancer and he was at his final stage. He did an x-ray and found tumors in the intestines and lung. my cat passed away 2 days ago. I would have been able to try cancer treatment if a month ago, Dr. Calaceto listened to me and went ahead and x-ray my cat. My cat would probably be living at least for another couple of months if not more. Not only did he fail to recognize a number one death causing illness in cats, he also failed to empathize to my concern and follow what i asked for - a simple x-ray ! instead of both of those things, he scold and made me feel bad for not following his ""instructions"" when they were clearly useless and wrong. So, I serious question the credibility of this doctor. Cancer- simple, I don't have a vet license and I knew by seeing my cat's condition, it got to be something serious of that sort. Finally, not to mention that the clinic is run down, i also question how sanitize the place and equipments are. When i picked up my cat after 3 days of hospitalization, he smelled VERY bad and he never smelled before. It took over a week to get that awful odor off of him. I WOULD NOT suggest anyone going to this doctor. I am deeply sadden and offended for the time and money i put for some so call diagnosis that explained nothing nor improved my cat's condition. If any, worsen and wasted a month of his life where he could have been treated by other ""real"" , valid, compassionate-animal loving vets out there. Oh last, when you actually need to contact him, he is always never to be found and can surely guaranteed that he won't return your call or message.
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