This might be a somewhat lengthy review but I want to explain why I am not just arbitrarily leaving a bad rating:I adopted a 3 year old cat from the Leon County animal shelter and brought her in for a... Read More
This might be a somewhat lengthy review but I want to explain why I am not just arbitrarily leaving a bad rating:I adopted a 3 year old cat from the Leon County animal shelter and brought her in for a recommended veterinary visit. At this visit I was told that my cat needed to come in for a dental cleaning, and that the clinic was having a discounted special for such cleanings in the month of September. I scheduled an appointment for her and brought her in, and was told that the cleaning would amount to around $500, WITH the discounted pricing. I was also told that the clinic recommended doing blood work before the procedure. I agreed to have the blood work done, and left in expectation that I would pick up my cat that afternoon after her cleaning. I am a graduate student who was in class and so missed the two phone calls that I received from the veterinarian. When I was finally able to contact them I was told that they had not performed the procedure. Apparently when they first took my cat's temperature it was elevated, which the vet admitted was most likely attributed to her being stressed as she had just been dropped off. The veterinarian said that they had run blood work on my cat and the original results came back with all sorts of weird levels. The veterinarian took my cat's temperature again and it was normal, ran the blood work again and it came back normal, and said that she exhibited no physical signs of being ill. She also admitted to me that they have been having trouble with their blood work machine, and so there was really no certainty as to the reliability of the results. They decided not to perform the procedure "just in case" but recommended that I bring her back in in a month to have more blood work done, and then back in another time to perform the dental cleaning procedure. Although this was frustrating I was led to believe that this was in my cat's best interest. When I picked up my cat from the vet, I was informed that I would be charged $60 for the (unreliable) blood work that had been done that day, and $60 more whenever I brought her in again per their recommendation for more blood work. Keep in mind that this situation would not have been necessary were they to maintain their machines in proper working order. I expressed to them that I saw no reason why I should be charged twice for blood work when it was their machinery producing varied results. The veterinarian refused to be flexible about the charges, and so I essentially spent $60 to be told that something could possibly be wrong but probably wasn't, and to wait. Mind you if I had declined to have the blood work done, I would have been saved the $60 and my cat would have received her dental cleaning that day. I find this sort of business practice very unethical, and want to warn people about a practice that is clearly just looking to take advantage of any opportunity they can to make money. As a graduate student I have an extremely limited income, and cannot afford to just keep throwing money at the clinic without receiving any benefit from it. I found the veterinarian's refusal to acknowledge their fault in the situation unreasonable and her attitude towards my being extraneously charged extremely dismissive. I was visibly upset, and was told by other members of the staff once the veterinarian left that they would let the owner know about the situation and have them contact me. It has been almost a week and I have received no such call. DO NOT TAKE YOUR PETS HERE. Instead I would recommend finding a veterinarian who is interested in providing animals with the care they need, as opposed to nickel and diming people however possible. Read Less