I'm afraid this is a little long, to give you some background into just why Dr. Melissa King will always be my first recommendation for a vet in the area.
In September, I adopted a 7-week-old kitten ... Read More
I'm afraid this is a little long, to give you some background into just why Dr. Melissa King will always be my first recommendation for a vet in the area.
In September, I adopted a 7-week-old kitten along with my roommate - my first experience being a pet's primary caregiver. Relying on her parents' experience with their dogs, and my own experience with a family cat when I was younger, we initially took our kitten to a different vet clinic, and were quickly horrified at how poorly the vet seemed able to handle a scared, irritated kitten - the vet grew angry when our kitten got scared and bit, despite the fact that it was clear that she was freaked out by that point in the visit, and the way he handled her seemed, to us, to be overly aggressive and uncomfortable for our kitten. By the end of the visit, we were certain we wouldn't return to that clinic, but she was young, and still needed kitten vaccines.
So, to Google and our shared acquaintances we went, trying to find a recommendation for a vet that we could trust to treat our kitten with the care and patience we felt she deserved. Our search was sped up, slightly, when we realized that she was in need of deworming, and we ended up going to the vet clinic nearest to us - Animal Medical Center of Richardson - after-hours.
Dr. Diann Smith was our first experience with a vet that tolerated our kitten's fear and stress - exacerbated by the experience with her prior vet - with patience and understanding, and the medicine she gave her worked to make her feel better quickly. Follow-up visits with Dr. King continued this standard of care, even when our kitten had a bout of conjunctivitis that was painful enough that she was unwilling to be picked up for long, even by us.
When we acquired a second kitten, one too sweet for his own good and far too sweet to raise a fuss, she worked with us to ensure that both cats were healthy before they met, and gave us advice on how to introduce them - a process we're still working on, but which is proceeding well with Dr. King's advice.
And, when we had to board our kittens - for an extended period - we were pleased to be able to visit, to see that both kittens were well cared for and happy, and to be given an update at pick-up on how they'd done overall. Claudia, who manages boarding, is a wonderful caretaker, and kept our kittens in wonderful shape.
The vet techs, too, have always treated our kittens with respect - even when, after her spay, our older kitten was absolutely furious and wanted nothing to do with anyone. There honestly isn't a vet tech in the building that I wouldn't trust with our kittens. Shots are given, and blood samples taken when necessary, with the understanding that cats, when they're scared, often lash out, or try to flee.
I also appreciate that Dr. King works with us to try less invasive, and less expensive, treatment options when possible - when our younger kitten had unexplained sneezing, we tried allergy medication before we tried antibiotics - and, while in this case the allergy medication didn't eliminate the problem, it was a relief to know that we hadn't jumped to the more expensive (and less comfortable for him!) option before trying something easier and less costly.
My first experience with taking my animal to a vet left me wondering if the vet even liked animals. My first experience with Animal Medical Center of Richardson left me certain that their staff loves animals, which makes a huge difference to me. Read Less