If I could give this joke of a vet negative stars, I would. Please, if you care at all about your pet - DO NOT TAKE THEM HERE!! I wish I knew what I know now, because I absolutely would not have gon... Read More
If I could give this joke of a vet negative stars, I would. Please, if you care at all about your pet - DO NOT TAKE THEM HERE!! I wish I knew what I know now, because I absolutely would not have gone.
It's hard to know where to start in this story. Because I know many people will not read this whole thing let me fast forward to the end - Dr. Laberto's short sightedness cause my 7 year old cat a great deal of unnecessary PAIN and she ended up DYING four days after seeing him; maybe not because of something he did but, in my opinion, all the signs were screaming at him and he didn't see any of them.
Let me also say that his partner, Dr. Kruger, is a very good vet in my opinion. However, because Dr. Laberto owns the shop - I don't think she can make decisions the way she would want to. So, I wouldn't risk going to this place even if you paid me.
My cat broke two toes from trying to crawl away from the vacuum when my roommate was vacuuming while I was at work. Now because she had a cast I had to keep her in a confined space. If you've ever tried to do this with a cat it is NOT easy. Because she absolutely hated being in there and I hadn't gotten sleep for a solid week and a half I began letting her sleep with me. I never thought she would jump 7ft to the top of the closet, with a cast on. She did and it seems that this fall ended up causing her death.
Bianca (my cat) did NOT like the vet. So, she had to be sedated each time. Here is the laundry list of things that went wrong. The list gets worse as you read on.
(1) HE HELD HER UP OFF THE TABLE BY the nape of her neck and said, "see it doesn't hurt her." I'm sorry, YES IT DOES. Do what you have to do to treat the animal, do not show off. Just because a sedated cat does not whimper from being held in mid air by a handful of skin does NOT mean she is not in pain.
(2) He told me not to talk to her while sedated. That actually, if i was quite it would relax her more. really????
(3) he was way too rough. After she took her fall, Dr. Laberto (unfortunately) was working and because I was worried, I didn't wait for his partner (the vet I normally saw). It seemed like she had fractured her back leg. She was sedated and they took an X-ray. From the X-ray it seemed barely fractured. After he "got a good x-ray" he insisted on manipulating her leg FIVE times. Each time she moaned through the sedation. Both myself AND his vet assistant commented on him manipulating her too much, this did nothing to stop him. In hindsight I wish I would have physically removed him from the room.
(4) after I took her home from this traumatic experience she was worse. I got worried and called my vet from home (I am only in the DC area for 4 months). My vet from home suggested I get a specialist to look at the x-ray because there may be nerve damage if she was in this much pain. I asked him to do this - HE NEVER DID even though I asked him 2x!!!!
(5) they gave me an incorrect dosage of pain meds. By this I mean too large of a dosage. I had to fight tooth and nail for them to get them to realize this.
(6) I explained to him each of the signs she was exhibiting (instability, vocalizing her pain alot, and HE SAW FOR HIMSELF a broken blood vessel in her eye from her fall). That wasn't enough for him to pinpoint the problem. He asked me finally, 3 days later after I continued to express my concerns, to send him a video. He only watched the video after I called him several times. Finally, after calling him repeatedly, he told me he was worried she had neurological issues. Translation - issues having to do with the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, NERVES, and muscles. EXACTLY WHAT MY VET FROM HOME DIAGNOSED OVER THE PHONE AND WHAT I TOLD HIM I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT. She had died by the time I got home from work that day, about 4 hours after speaking with Dr. Laberto. Read Less