WORST VET EXPERIENCE EVER.I brought my cat in after I had noticed he had not been eating for a day or so, vomiting up his food, and was very lethargic, as a growing kitten he was typically always runn... Read More
WORST VET EXPERIENCE EVER.I brought my cat in after I had noticed he had not been eating for a day or so, vomiting up his food, and was very lethargic, as a growing kitten he was typically always running around. So I take him to ACC (that has been seeing him since he was adopted) before I had to go off to work pretty early in the morning. I get there it is so loud with dogs barking (I understand typical sounds at the vet but this was a little much) scaring my cat even more to the point where he was shaking so bad I had to take him to the car to wait. We get back to the exam room the doctor comes in for 5 minutes, says we need to admit him, and the tech hands me a quote. It was almost $800 up front for his 1-day stay, x-rays, fluids, IV, etc. At this point I was willing to do whatever I had to to get him to feel better so I paid it and left for work, very distraught. They call me an hour past the time they said they were going to, to tell me that his x-ray looked normal and that they were going to give me some laxatone (a sticky substance that helps coat the GI to move stuck objects through) and some bland food because they thought there might be something in his GI that he ate. So I picked him up later that day, paid more for the medicine and took him home. The next day comes and he is still not eating and is vomiting up bile plus now he has stopped drinking as well so of course I got worried and called the clinic again. They told me to bring him in again and they would run more tests including new x-rays. As a nursing student, I know that if he has something in his stomach that was not made of metal then it would not resonate on an x-ray, so I requested an ultrasound. I take him in drop him off and go to work. They call me in the middle of the day saying they still cannot figure out what is wrong and they want to keep him overnight for observation and IV hydration therapy. I asked about the ultrasound and find that they had not completed one because it was much more expensive than getting x-rays, and since I was a college student they wanted to save me money. But took it upon themselves to run more blood work and do more x-rays and in turn neglected my wishes to do the ultrasound. I made a payment over the phone of another $600 for his work that day and I was about $1400 in the hole for no results. While on the phone with one of the staff they had the nerve to say "Wow, I am surprised you can afford all this work being in college. Most people would have just put the pet down". I was livid to say the least.With that being said I refused to keep him overnight because they were not getting my any results, being disrespected because of my age, and my cat was getting sicker and sicker (he had lost 5 lbs at this point).I pick my cat up that day, pay the rest of my bill and drive him over to Richmond Road Vet Clinic where they do the ultrasound (which took a whole 15 minutes to complete) I had begged for at Animal Care Clinic. There they found the portion of a rubber Cat Kong toy that had been lodged in his small intestines (moving from the stomach with the help of the Laxalone) almost perforating the lining and causing really serious damage. They rushed him into immediate surgery, which cost me another $1800, removed the object and had him back to me the next day. Working with Animal Care Clinic was any pet owners worst nightmare, and I would never wish the stress and frustration I went through with them on anyone. My cat suffered for days while they sat back and collected a check from me. When I called and spoke to one of the owners about the situation he simply could not understand why they had not listened to me, or would make comments like they did. But not once did he apologize for the service myself or my cat got there. When I requested a refund for the $1400 I had spent there, he informed me if was not "policy" to refund money after services were provided. He "did me a favor" (his words, not mine) and cut me a check for a whole $240 to cover the second day of x-rays they took without my permission.I went in the next day, and the owner didn't even have the decency to spell my name correctly on the check. Needless to say, I would NEVER EVER return to or recommend ACC to anyone, not even my worst enemy. They jack up costs and put your pet through unnecessary stress to get an extra buck. DESPICABLE ESTABLISHMENT. Read Less