On 5/7 my 11 year old Tabby Cat began exhibiting symptoms of congestive heart failure, and at 11 pm on a Saturday night, my husband and I had no choice but to take her to the Pet Emergency Clinic.
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On 5/7 my 11 year old Tabby Cat began exhibiting symptoms of congestive heart failure, and at 11 pm on a Saturday night, my husband and I had no choice but to take her to the Pet Emergency Clinic.
When we arrived we were immediately ushered into a room where before they would even look at my kitty, they had to make sure they would get paid - $110 for an office visit. My very competent, very compassionate vet charges half as much, but we figured that sort of price was coming and signed in hopes of saving our kitty's life.
The vet who attended to our kitty spoke to my husband and I for a total of 3-5 minutes the entire 1.5 hours we were at the Clinic and in that time told us he was going to take a single Xray of her chest to see what could be causing her labored breathing - at no time was the price of the X-ray disclosed to us, nor the fact that they were taking more x-rays than we were initially told.
Once the X-rays were taken they Vet didn't give us any actual information regarding her X-rays, or an actual prognosis, without, you guessed it, more money! The life or wellbeing of my kitty - a member of my family - clearly did not matter to this clinic in the slightest and that was extremely evident when the person who spoke to my husband and I the most that evening was the receptionist, about getting paid!
When asked bluntly what the vet thought, about whether or not my cat was dying and if treatment was worth it vs. her having a quality of life, I could not get an answer out of him. But yet, I'm sure I could have if I had given them the $1,800 they wanted when they provided us with an estimate.
Never in my life have I been surrounded by such in-compassionate people who care more about making a buck than saving an animals life, or at least providing their owners with some answers before they are forced to make the extremely tough decision of letting them pass, like my husband and I were forced to. Not to mention, they took her away for x-rays and would not bring her back to us until AFTER the financial affairs were handled. So we lost our kitty that night and weren't allowed to spend time with her before we did.
Now, days later they are not sending the records on my kitty to my vet - who hasn't seen my cat since December and has been more compassionate about losing her than the Pet Emergency Clinic was while we were there.
Places like this that feed off people's sorrow and grief to make money are a stain upon the Veterinarian Community and never again will I take an animal to them. Not after the way were treated. Money SHOULD NOT be the motivating factor when it comes to saving an animal's life. Read Less