My worst nightmare. I visited the vet to get a general feel for the personality of the staff there as I believe animal care should be handled and provided by deeply caring and sensitive people. Everyo... Read More
My worst nightmare. I visited the vet to get a general feel for the personality of the staff there as I believe animal care should be handled and provided by deeply caring and sensitive people. Everyone I met was so warm, caring and friendly. So I booked my cat in to be seen. I knew she had a serious problem and I didn't hold much hope. I was petrified the person I would see on the day would be brusque, seem uncaring, act frustrated, but assured myself based upon my visit that there was a greater likelihood she'd be warm, caring, sensitive and explain things kindly - which a person absolutely should do and anything less would be unacceptable.
How wrong could I be.
The woman walked in, no pleasantries, no warmth whatsoever, seemed hurried and my heart sank. Took a glance at my cat and without preamble said there's nothing she can do and she should be put to sleep. No conversation just straight into putting the animal down. I was so taken aback. Not at the diagnosis, I'm not daft, the cats got a massive tumour on the side of her head/neck and she's almost 18 years old.
What disgusted me was the brusque manner of the woman. Zero humanity. Zero people skills. Zero conversation. Not remotely interested in discussing it with me. When I said I didn't brush my cats fur 16 minutes ago, her purring happily, to walk up the road and kill her she actually responded with there's loads more cats out there in rescue homes! Excuse me?! Sorry?!
The experience I had with Alison stunned me.
I mentioned regardless of whether the main issue can be resolved as my cat is quite old she's bound to have other issues and perhaps she could give her some antibiotics or something anyway. Alison then acted like 'oh for gods sake, fine I'll look at her properly' and quite frankly seemed about as uncaring, brusque and dismissive of the cat and my feelings as a person could be.
Now I have no doubt this doesn't reflect the entire surgery and staffing, but I can safely say I'd never set foot in there again and I definitely would never let someone like Alison put my cat to sleep.
I feel more like putting Alison to sleep and how I managed to leave without destroying the place I've no idea. People's feelings matter. My cat is akin to my child. My only family. Being a vet surely should involve a level of empathy and anything less is horrifically unacceptable.
It's been over 30 hours since I went there and I'm still raging and feel ill from the experience.
Totally unacceptable attitude towards care.
If anyone wishes to think I didn't like the diagnosis and that's what made me angry/have a bad experience, NO ITS NOT. The diagnosis was fine, I already knew and growing old, developing health issues is perfectly natural and a part of the circle of life. What has severely damaged me and left me furious is her manner.
Avoid Alison like the plague.
I've just reread all the above and it falls way short of even beginning to express my anger at the moment.
The experience with Alison is EVERYTHING that's wrong with the world today. I feel utter contempt for her approach and despise that she will outlive my cat. My cat brings happiness to the world, Alison brings rude, cold, brusque darkness to the world. If I were her I would strongly look at myself and question her conduct and how she comes across. Read Less