I took my cats to Irving Pet for more than a dozen years. I will never take them back. There have been so many changes in staff that care is inconsistent. The drop off in care started a few years back. One doctor said the cat had lipoma, so no reason to remove it. When the cat was due for a teeth cleaning the next doc insisted it was cyst and we should remove it while she was under. I agreed to the surgery only to have the surgeon, after the fact, tell me it was just a lipoma and she was surprised that I had it removed. So the cat had undergone unnecessary surgery which all because one doctor did not bother to read her chart carefully. \r
Recently I took my older, arthritic cat in to talk about an increase in his pain and trouble walking. Yet another doc examined him. She misread his chart. Because of this she argued with me that I was overmedicating him and causing him harm. I was actually giving him less medicine than had been prescribed. She prescribed a different drug that is typically used for short term extreme pain issues. She never checked the cat to determine if his walk had changed, if his joints were warm to the touch or if there were any other indicators of his pain levels and the causes for it. The new drug turned him onto a drooling zombie cat, who routinely hurt himself because he was so out of it. The doctor called a few days later to tell me he needed to be on thyroid medicine. I told her his pain was not improved. She recommended increasing the dose of the new meds and giving him the old medicine also. I informed her we were almost out of the old medicine but I would try. Within a few days he couldn’t get up without assistance. I stopped the new meds (we were out anyway) and was now out of the old meds. I called the vet and left a message explaining the issue calmly and clearly. No call back. I called the next day and left a message. The receptionist was very friendly and apologetic. No call back. I called the third day. At least now the cat could walk, in pain, but he wasn’t so drugged that he couldn’t do anything. No call back. On day four I called and said I wanted them to print a copy of both of my cats charts. I would be taking them elsewhere. Now Dr Fong was willing to talk to me. He never admitted they hadn’t returned my call; he was willing to prescribe the old pain med and have them copy my charts. However he was purely focused on covering his ass rather than making sure the cat was effectively treated. In essence I was choosing the best treatment for that cat, not a trained vet. To cap it off, his notes in the chart, which I presented to the new vet, make me sound like an irrational bitch that lost it for no good reason. I like my new vet but I am very carefully building a relationship because it is already poisoned by the notes from Dr. Fong. The cat is now doing pretty well for a ragged old guy. Seems that by not actually examining him carefully, they missed that he had injured his back leg.
Pros: Few
Cons: Revolving door of vets. inconsistent care, unable to reach
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