my experience may not be typical - but I know when I'm cruising Yelp for feedback on anything from hair salons to happy hours - I want all the info I can get so here goes.We have had a young cat/old k... Read More
my experience may not be typical - but I know when I'm cruising Yelp for feedback on anything from hair salons to happy hours - I want all the info I can get so here goes.We have had a young cat/old kitten, Riley, for several months now and she just started yowling like crazy day and night, rolling on the floor. putting her butt up in the air all the time with her tail to the side - so yes, you guessed it - we figured she was in heat.OK, she's in heat. BUT supposedly she was spayed!?! I had paperwork from the lady who rescued her originally (and then sold/placed her with some ASU students who thought they could provide a forever home, but only had her for about 7 months and then we found her through Craigslist cause they couldn't keep her). So anyway - I google google google, and I find out it's possible that when cats are spayed early they might have some left over ovarian tissue that was missed cause they're so tiny.I totally would have taken the cat to the Scottsdale Cat Clinic (which sounds amazing btw!), but Companion Pet Clinic had done the original spay and kitten vaccinations. And I ended up in this whole back and forth with the original rescuer and the Companion Pet Clinic. They agreed to do exploratory surgery on her for free since the spay didn't take and I felt silly insisting on taking her somewhere else just cause they had a better Yelp review. :)Well guess what? She was never spayed in the first place. Her records at Companion Pet Clinic showed she came in with a ton of other kittens (20?) and there was a question mark next to the word "spay".Also, because this was just a 'followup' visit (although I'd never been there, and Riley hadn't been there in almost a year) I never met the vet or anything. And frankly the woman was so busy at the front desk they didn't want to answer all my questions.After all the research I did online when I was shopping for places to take her for surgery I came up with just a few differentiators: laser vs scalpel (I still don't know what they use here, but it's one reason Scottsdale Cat Clinic interests me), pain management, and good pricing / efficiency for rescues. laser vs scalpel - don't knowpain management - A++. They have a little sign at the sign-in desk saying they keep up with the best practices in pain management and that all surgery patients will go home with 4 days of medication. Believe it or not, but the *majority* of pet places don't do this. It's like in the bad old days when babies weren't thought to feel pain and were just circumcised or whatever without anything for pain. Ouch! If your cat is quiet and hiding somewhere after surgery it's because she's in pain! People seem to think this is a good thing (oh, then she won't rip her stitches cause she knows she's injured) - bah! that's terrible! Cats don't show pain by whimpering because in the wild that would mean sure death. And by the way - folks who don't medicate their animals after surgery - they heal faster without the trauma of feeling so much pain! So A+++ for pain meds at Companion Pet ClinicGood pricing for rescues etc - A+/F- - Ok, I'm sorry Companion Pet Clinic people, but I know you're great folks and you clearly help tons of rescues. But out of one group of kittens you know RIGHT NOW that two kittens were probably not spayed - one for sure which was mine! Laser or scalpel - exterior stitches or glue - whatever the differentiator - just *not* doing the surgery is a bad thing. And yes, the paperwork shows that a spay was paid for originally - just never completed. A+ for being cheap and nice to rescues. F- for not actually spaying them! Read Less