If you love your pet, please don't even think about taking your sick or injured animals to Cat's Meow, especially if you feel it is an emergency. If you have a hurt or sick pet, please don't call and... Read More
If you love your pet, please don't even think about taking your sick or injured animals to Cat's Meow, especially if you feel it is an emergency. If you have a hurt or sick pet, please don't call and ask them what you should do, take them to a vet you trust or a pet hospital instead. In my brief experience with them, I found them extremely unprofessional bordering on irresponsible. Please don't make the same mistake we did.Our cat had been missing for almost 6 days when she suddenly showed up at our door, obviously dehydrated, and with a nasty looking animal bite that was almost certainly infected. My wife called me at about 1pm, explained the situation, and we agreed she should try to get to the vet as soon as possible. Being new to the area, my wife called Cat's Meow at roughly 1:30 pm to make sure they were open and could see our cat. She explained the cat had been missing for close to 6 days, looked dehydrated, with a large animal bite and asked if she could come in ASAP. Whoever answered the phone asked if she had eaten or drank since we found her. Since the cat had eaten a little and drank a little whomever was on the phone at Cat's Meow explained "she's probably fine, since it really doesn't sound like an emergency to me let's book her for tomorrow at 9am". Never did they recommend visiting a hospital if she was unsure, never asked any further questions about the extent of the cat's injuries.My wife, being very worried because of the length of time she'd been missing, reiterated there was a bite, that she thought it was an emergency, was there any possible way to get her in as early as possible. The person on the phone again said "no, it does not sound like an emergency". My wife called me and explained how the nice people at Cat's meow had reassured her the cat would be fine until morning, that it wasn't an emergency. I felt relieved.I arrived home at 6:30pm excited to be reunited with our feline friend. Less than 10 minutes after I walked in, she began to have difficulty breathing. I found an open hospital, quickly described what I was seeing and hearing, they told me to come in right away.I arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later, 5 minutes later she went into cardiac arrest and was gone. Septic shock - infection from an animal bite. We were shocked, my wife was in tears for days, blaming herself for not ignoring the advice of Cat's Meow to stay home. The cat had been acting seemingly fine and deteriorated so rapidly, I continued to try and reassure her there was no way anyone could have known.The next morning, I called Cat's Meow to cancel my appointment, and very politely explained it was because the cat had succumbed to her injuries and passed away. In no way was I attempting to blame them or anything like that. I must have been talking to the same person my wife did the day before, because she knew exactly what my wife had said the day before, she immediately became defensive and essentially began blaming us, saying "that's unfortunate, if the bite was bad you should've brought her in sooner, especially if you thought it was an emergency". I politely reminded her that my wife had told the person on the phone she was really worried and thought it was an emergency, essentially exactly she (the person on the phone) had just told me. I also asked if Cat's Meow considered an infected animal bite an emergency. I was told "How could we possibly know or diagnose how bad it was over the phone?".Excuse me ma'am, my wife couldn't accurately describe or assess how bad it was over the phone, because you know, SHE'S NOT A VET, which is why she was BEGGING you to get her in ASAP.At that point, the lady on the phone began raising her voice and telling me first they "weren't even open at that time, there are plenty of 24 hour hospitals in the valley". When I asked if they were open at 2pm which was when my wife called, she told me "well thats just unfortunate, we're a one doctor clinic, there are dozens of pet hospitals in this area, you should've taken her to one of them."You know what, next time, if I have a sick or injured animal I care about, you can bet I will be doing exactly that. I sure won't be calling Cat's Meow.It was our fault the cat got out and got lost. The wounds were also serious enough that it would've almost certainly been too late even if we had gotten her into the clinic when we discovered her. We accept that. In no way do I blame the Cat's Meow for what happened to our cat and our loss. I'm just utterly shocked at the indifference, complete lack of professionalism, compassion and empathy displayed during my interactions with them, especially considering the situation. I would never, ever even consider taking another pet here again, would not recommend, and most certainly will not be calling to ask for guidance on what to do if my pet were to have a health issue. Read Less