I take my family member a female Weimaraner to be seen in an emergency, because she had been acting delusional, hiding and crying under a bed, had a fever, and vaginal discharge in to be seen by the ... Read More
I take my family member a female Weimaraner to be seen in an emergency, because she had been acting delusional, hiding and crying under a bed, had a fever, and vaginal discharge in to be seen by the Doctor, if that is what you can call this heartless sinister con woman going by the name of Jessica Williamson, DVM.Without running a SINGLE test this imposter hiding behind the title of DVM begins to tell me that it is pyometra and that my dog has 48 hours to live if we do not operate. To give her credit she did at least take a rectal temperature of my baby and a vaginal swab (which was not yet looked at!). She sends a tech back in to provide me with estimates of services to be performed.This "estimate" was for $269.26 and included the exam, vaginal swab (cytology), blood work (CBC), and urinalysis. When I question why we need these tests if she wants to operate based off of the swab (not yet looked at), the tech knows not what to say, except she can get the doctor.The soulless crook Jessica Williamson returns to try to explain to me that even though the swab will confirm to her if this is pyometra, she needs the blood tests to see if her white cells are elevated because of infection. When asked if she plans to operate if the swab comes back for pyometra she said YES. So I asked why then do I need $130 blood work? She had no response. I also asked what is the $42 for urinalysis for? Also her response was that it was no where to be found. I then explained that my concern that the $269.26 estimate did not even include a cure or resolution to my child's situation! She then says she can have the surgery estimate drawn up, and asks my permission to proceed. I tell her she can proceed with the swab only at this point, as I begin to become emotional and tears begin to fall due to concern for my loved one. The tech returns with another estimate for $973.47 for the surgery, saying the doctor confirms based off of the swab that indeed the bacteria found was pyometra. She then asks if I need a minute to decide. I tell her yes. As I stare at my sick baby with tears running down my face thinking about the impact $1300 would have on my family at home and the impact that the loss of my dog/child would have on my 3 sons and wife at home. I then begin to use the internet to do research on my phone.What I find is the following: Symptoms of PYOMETRA in canines:Abdominal distention (from an enlarged uterus)Vulvar (vaginal) dischargeClosed cervixLethargyDepressionLack of appetiteVomitingIncreased water consumptionFrequent urinationComing within 4-6 weeks after last heat/cycleUsually occurring in dogs over the age of 6.Of all of these items the ONLY symptom my baby had was vulval discharge! Her last heat was over 3 months ago and she had just turned 4. She was still eating normal drinking normal had brief lethargy at most. I mean she was staring up at me wagging her nub and bouncing around. She had no sensitivity on her abdomen which would show signs of abdominal distention. NONE of this really applied, yet this "Doctor was telling me she had only 48 hours to live if not operated on?The tech returned asking for my decision. I told her I need to pay for what was done and I would be leaving. I was still crying, for fear that my dog could be dying. She said ok and showed me to the desk.A member of the staff that shall remain nameless saw my distress and mentioned that I should probably consider going to a different clinic. This made no sense to me at the time, because I was rather emotional. I began to drive around and clear my mind thinking that my dog had very little time left with us. That is when I decided to get a second opinion; after all wouldn't we do the same if it was us.I drove to Columbus to Rascal Animal Hospital, did not even mention the previous visit to PETPLEX animal hospital when I arrived. The doctor saw my baby and drew blood work and requested to do an x-ray. I asked why and she came in to see me. She explained that she was not sure if it was Pyometra and wanted to do some testing (blood work) and take a look on the x-ray to see if the uterus was enlarged which would tell her more and help make a diagnosis. AN X-RAY!!!! Never mentioned by Petplex and sure as hell makes more sense than a urinalysis!I agreed and she brought me an estimate for worst case scenario if it was confirmed as Pyometra and she would have to have surgery. To my shock it was $360.63 for everything including the X-ray and blood work! I was almost visually angry towards Jessica Williamson, DVM thinking about the nearly $1000 difference in cost.Upon completing the blood work and X-ray the doctor returned to inform me that it was not consistent with Pyometra, but that she did have an infection, and they would like to proceed by keeping the dog overnight and administering IV medication to treat the infection. And that just to be safe they would be doing Read Less