Vacationing in S Lake Tahoe, I realized my dog had just eaten grapes, which can be toxic, or fatal to dogs within 24 hours. The receptionist at Carson Tahoe Veterinary Hosp responded blithely: ""Oh, that's not an emergency"" even after I'd spoken with my local San Francisco ER vet and a national dog poisoning hotline and Both said that I should seek treatment immediately. I insisted on bringing my dog in whereupon my dog was treated for possible grape poisoning, but then subject to a myriad of other diagnostic tests that ran up a bill of $1600. I felt ill-informed of what was going on the whole time, but I was willing to do what ever it took because I love my dog. When speaking, the vet used as much medical jargon as possible, which was alienating. Then after two days, when the vet called to say our dog could be picked up, we took the 45 minute drive to go get her and upon arrival was told she was not ready to come home, please come back later. Disorganiziation! They also overcharged us $600 but did spot the mistake and credited us the overcharge. I do not recommend, but in case of emergency, what can you do?
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