Our family cat got sick on a Saturday, throwing up and became really lethargic. Sunday was very bad, she was throwing up bile and almost didn't move most of the day. Monday morning, at 8 am I called the cat clinic to see if I could get her in (first time, since we moved here recently). They said I could get her in that morning, so I drove in there immediately. I dropped her off and they said they would call later that morning. I didn't hear from them and it was about 2 pm, so I called to see how the cat was. I was informed that they had done a exam and some x-rays, but had not determined what the issue was. The woman told me they wanted to do a series of tests to find out more, she listed off a few diseases that they wanted to check for and then informed me of the cost. She explained that the bill was already about $250 and that the other tests would run about another $900. Now, I am no vet, but it was obvious to me the cat had an infection and was seriously dehydrated from all the throwing-up. I asked if they had treated her at all and she said no, they wanted to do more tests.
I have to admit, I was more than a little mad. I felt like I just got whacked by some Veterinarian money making seminar. The fact that the cat was obviously in a lot of pain and very ill was not an issue to these people, only how much money they could squeeze out of their clients. I couldn't believe they just let our cat lay there in pain and didn't do anything to help her all day. I informed them I would be picking her up in 30 minutes (the time it took me to get there).
I made a call to another vet on the way there and explained my situation and they told me to bring her in right away. I had to wait in the Cat Clinic's office for about an hour for them just to bring our cat out. I paid the $250 and drove to the other vets place. I arrived at about 5 pm, almost their closing time. The vet came out and took our cat immediately in to examine her, didn't even wait for me to fill out any paperwork, I did that after they started looking at her. After I filled the paperwork out, the vet came out and informed me that the cat was very ill, mainly dehydrated and that they had started an IV to get some fluids in her. They said they would treat her and call me in the morning. They called me twice that same night, updating me on her condition and informing me they gave her some antibiotics for her infection. The cat ended up staying there for two nights and most of the last day. My total bill was less than $350. Our little cat is doing great, but we almost lost her because of the Cat Clinics approach to putting profit ahead of care for their animal clients.
I didn't mention the other vets name because I am not writing this to promote them ( I would like to tell you who they are, but that would probably invalidate my complaint).
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