TLDR: Incorrect diagnoses leads to unnecessary surgery, and an overall $5,000 bill.
Full Story: In 2012, I began taking my pets to Dr. Evergreen in Monroe. At first I liked it, he seemed knowledgab... Read More
TLDR: Incorrect diagnoses leads to unnecessary surgery, and an overall $5,000 bill.
Full Story: In 2012, I began taking my pets to Dr. Evergreen in Monroe. At first I liked it, he seemed knowledgable and was nice (even though his bedside manner might leave a little to be desired, I get that that is just some people's personality). He was willing to try a more natural approach to any issues my dog or cat may have, before jumping to modern medicine, and I liked that.
However, this past January I took my cat to see him over what I viewed as rather drastic weight loss. His diagnosis was that he needed an ultrasound - to the tune of nearly $500. I don't know about you, but I'm guessing the average person doesn't just have that laying around. So since it was not life threatening, I asked if we could treat for what he thought it was, for a month and I will try to save the money. He was amenable to that, and as it turned out the treatment for both of the possible diagnoses was the same, so we tried it.
A little over a week into the treatment, on a Sunday (vet's closed) my cat began acting funny: moaning, yowling and trying to crawl into a dark corner in my bedroom. So, I rushed him to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital who after a $400 X-Ray and some examination by a vet there, said my cat likely had a tumor blockage in his stomach and would die in 24-48 hours. They gave him pain meds, and fluids and let us take him home to say our goodbyes. I am so thankful that I listened to my gut and did not choose to euthanize him on the spot as this vet implied would be the humane thing to do...I will NEVER take my pets there ever again.
We took him home, spent time with him and my husband massaged his distended stomach. The next morning he was FINE. Yes. TOTALLY FINE. He had a somewhat nasty bowel movement and then began acting like his old self. We continued to monitor him all day Monday, and then got him in for an ultrasound with Dr. Evergreen first thing Tuesday morning after sharing with them what had happened over the weekend.
Dr. Evergreen depends on another vet, who is mobile with his US equipment and makes his rounds to other vets needing ultrasounds performed on their patients. It is my understanding that Dr. Evergreen is not a certified stenographer and that is the reason for this, however he did assure me that he has experience with looking at ultrasounds and making diagnoses from them. So when he shared with me that BOTH he and the other vet agreed on the diagnosis for my cat, I trusted his judgement. He shared that it was his belief that my cat had a case of GDV. For those of you who know what that is, you may already be confused. Because GDV, also known as Bloat, usually occurs in large breed, barrel chested dogs - is very rare in medium to small sized dogs, and is unheard of in cats. Nevertheless, this was his diagnosis and he suggested I rush my cat over to Seattle Veterinary Specialists in Kirkland for immediate surgery as GDV is a time sensitive, life threatening condition with an extremely high mortality rate (which we found out the hard way this past weekend when our German Shepherd died from it suddenly, despite having him on the operating table in under 2 hours since noticing his symptoms).
Given that our pets are family, I did exactly this...with a 5 month old who hadn't eaten or napped yet, in tow. They got him into examination, and then into surgery ASAP - and now I know why they looked at me like I was nuts because I was freaking out that my cat would die if they waited for all the records to be transferred, including the ultrasound results...because GDV was nearly impossible in cats.
The surgeon cut my cat open and found that he did NOT have GDV, nor had he ever had GDV. The biopsy revealed a slight amount of inflammation in his intestines and that was it. Leading them to believe that he likely has IBD, which is what I thought all along.
This was an egregious misdiagnosis and oversight IMO, and cannot be forgiven. I will never go back, nor will I recommend them to anyone I know.
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