I've never had a complaint with APC until now. This is the worst thing that I've ever experienced in my life. We took our cat in for symptoms of a possible UTI. Found out she had 2 large bladder stone... Read More
I've never had a complaint with APC until now. This is the worst thing that I've ever experienced in my life. We took our cat in for symptoms of a possible UTI. Found out she had 2 large bladder stones. The food didn't dissolve them so surgery was our only option. They let us do a payment plan (which they normally do not do). We took her in and they were kind, thorough, and explained everything. When we picked up she was slightly still drowsy and had staples in her belly (which was about a 3-4" incision.). They helped me get her to the car since I'm 8 months pregnant and can't carry the kennel. I scheduled my appointment to remove the staples 10 days later. NO complaints!
On Sat, May 14 I had an apt at 7:40am, got there at 7:30 when they opened and they took her pretty much right then. One of the techs told me that when they removed the staples there was a tiny hole that hadn't completely closed up, so they were suggesting antibiotics to BE SAFE that she wouldn't get any infection. I purchased them for $40. They brought her back out without her soft cone. I said, "Oh, she doesn't need her cone anymore, even with the small hole?" The tech said, "Nope, the vet said she's fine, so we tossed it." I should have said something then, since I did pay for the cone, but honestly I got tunnel vision when I saw her and I was so happy to see my cat without the cone! I took her home and I settled in for a nap. I woke up around 11am I checked her incision; to my horror, she had opened her entire incision! I called my wife crying and took a picture to send it to her. She told me to get her back to the vet NOW. She called the vet to let them know I was on my way. She mentioned to them that even though they were closing at 12pm that they would stay and make this right! I wrapped her in a towel (she was bleeding and oozing) and got her to the vet. They saw me pull up and took her instantly, the tech said, "I'm so sorry, they're probably just going to glue her back up so you don't have to come back."
I was called back to speak to the vet (her name escapes me; she was Indian). She instantly said, "Looks like your cat got her cone off and opened her incision!" I was shocked. I replied, "No, she didn't have her cone, I was told that she no longer needed it and that the tech threw it away." She said, "Oh." Then she told me that it was just the outer layer that had opened, not the actual abdomen and said that I had two options. "One, you can take her to another vet that's open since we're closing (yeah pay MORE than the $1,300 I already had) Or two, come back Monday and we can fix this then." I was shocked, "Her belly is open and bleeding. We've already paid for this surgery and I'm not going to blame the cat for licking and opening her wound when YOU GUYS told me that she could lick." VET: "Well, if you can keep her cone on her, she will be fine until Monday. We gave her a complimentary antibiotic shot so you can just throw away the one you just purchased." (Yeah, throw away $40 feels great!) So, I said I would bring her back on Monday for them to fix this; I figured they would clean her up and bandage her up for extra coverage on her wound. NOPE, they brought her back out, WITHOUT a cone. I made sure that I mentioned that I wanted her cone back. They gave her a new one and I went home. Realized they didn't even clean her off. We bandaged her up ourselves cause she was still bleeding and oozing. She was in pain all weekend and very lethargic.
Went in Mon and explained to a new tech what happened. When I mentioned what that vet said, she ROLLED HER EYES, said, "Yeah, she doesn't practice here; only on weekends." WHY IS SHE THERE? They took her back and fixed her up for free (well duh). We asked to speak to the owner, but were told he was too busy to meet with us. We wanted to be forgiven our balance ($300) and were told no that they fixed her for free, that should be good enough! Your fault & borderline malpractice. Sending a pet home with an open, bleeding, oozing wound cause you're closing. (I have pictures!) NEVER going back to APC! Read Less