Pet Vet's low-cost clinic isn't perfect, but they have good service. Last year my cat was urinating blood; I assumed it was a urinary tract infection and ended up taking her to three places before a vet observed that she was far too young for a UTI and said it was just a build-up of crystals in her bladder from free-ranging and eating only dry food.
Pet Vet's vets didn't figure this out, but they rank above the more expensive vet I went to on MacArthur near Mills College. I had thought, in my classism, that I should go to a "real" vet now that I could afford to and that my cat would get better care there than at Pet Vet. In fact, that doctor not only just took me at my lay word that she had a UTI, and charged a ton for the antibiotics, but didn't even mix them for me. I had to take them home and mix them myself - and did it wrong, and they were overdiluted, and it was just terrible.
Pet Vet said "of COURSE we're going to mix them for you!" On the other hand, they left out the steroids the first time, and the second time when they mentioned steroids and I questioned them about it, the vet was like "Well we certainly SHOULD have put steroids in it the first time, because if I was going to prescribe only one thing it would be steroids to make the swelling go down." And, of course, they didn't notice that it wasn't a UTI either.
I wouldn't necessarily take a cat there for major health problems, or at least I would read something like The New Natural Cat first so that I understood what might be going on. Of course, that's true now for any vet. (That book totally had my cat's number - it didn't explain that she couldn't have a UTI, but it did tell me what else it could be and what to do about it before the third vet even entered the picture.)
But Pet Vet is good for shots and basic checkups, and you'll save a lot of money by going there for those more routine things. They are fast, even with the crowds in the office, and there are lots of nice cats and dogs to meet while you wait. Their failings are mainly those of any mainstream medical clinic, whether for pets or humans; the most important thing is to educate yourself about your pet's health so that you can know where to take them.
Their clinic is open Sundays and Mondays, I believe from 1-4, but by all means call to make sure first.
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