Zero stars. Not recommended for emergencies. Neglectful, uncaring, inattentive toward cats.
May 2016, I called this hospital NW Veterinary Specialists with my beloved 20 year old cat in extreme distr... Read More
Zero stars. Not recommended for emergencies. Neglectful, uncaring, inattentive toward cats.
May 2016, I called this hospital NW Veterinary Specialists with my beloved 20 year old cat in extreme distress at 2am, he had suddenly fallen over against me and couldn't get up. I was ready to say goodbye and just call Compassionate Care (in-home 24 hr euthanasia), as he was a very old cat, and had battled kidney disease for a while, but called this vet to ask what they thought, as they had helped me with my previous cat. They said he needed an exam before any decision could be made, and they were busy but could help. We took the drive, with my 20 year old cat, who was my best friend, terrified and in pain and defecating on himself from the pain and fear of the long drive.
When we arrived, the door was LOCKED. I was alone. It was cold. People were inside the waiting room with their animals just looking at me. I rang the doorbell repeatedly to no response. After a couple of minutes, I carefully had to set my cat on the ground, wrapped in a towel, and pulled out my phone to call the hospital. Only then did someone answer and finally come to the door and let us in.
We were finally admitted, and I was treated as if I were holding a corpse. We were similarly neglected in the exam room like we were left outside, for maybe 20 minutes. After an exam, I was told there was nothing they could do as the ultrasound wasn't available until 6am and they couldn't medicate him based on guesses. They didn't want to give him pain medication in case he started to snap out of it. They suspected a blood clot, but didn't explain what that meant or what could happen.
I said I didn't want to put him to sleep in a scary, unfamiliar (and seemingly very uncaring) place. We were left alone again, for so long that I had to call on the phone *again* in order to check out, so that I could get him home and try to make his last moments comfortable with a home euthanasia visit (I did this for my previous elderly, sick cat, with peaceful, painless results).
My cat had severe seizures on the way home and basically died in the car, which was the last thing I wanted. If anyone had treated us with any amount of urgency or care, or helped better explain what to expect, or given us pain medication or other options, this could have been avoided. If they had just admitted that they were too busy or understaffed to see us when I called, this could have been avoided. There are so many ways this could have been avoided.
They charged me a huge amount of money for this neglect and uncaring treatment, of course.
I tried to contact them several times to relay my experience, to try to help others avoid it in the future, but they didn't seem interested in hearing from me (though they were somewhat apologetic on the phone). I got an email address but didn't get a response.
I spent several thousand dollars on surgery here with a previous cat, and she pulled through really well, so I thought I could trust them in this emergency situation with this cat. Never again.
I wrote this review over a year later because I was too traumatized by the experience to re-live it enough to put it into writing, until now. Read Less