After our dying 1 year old grand champion Abyssinian was sent away by an inexperienced vet at Cat's Exclusive who took a "let's wait and see" approach (thanks a lot, "Doctor" Fliegel of CE) 7 hours... More

After our dying 1 year old grand champion Abyssinian was sent away by an inexperienced vet at Cat's Exclusive who took a "let's wait and see" approach (thanks a lot, "Doctor" Fliegel of CE) 7 hours later, it was clear to us that he was dying, so we called our vet who makes house calls, Dr. Alexa Allen (please see my very positive review of her) and she accompanied us to ACCES. Luckily for us, it was a slow night for them, and although we were not allowed into the treatment room, Dr. Allen was. She gave us a very animated description of what was going on behind the scenes while we waited and worried. Never less than 5, usually 7 people were all working on Qaalee at once, doing everything they possibly could to save him. After about an hour, Dr. Julie March brought us into a room and went over Qaalee's condition after they had stabilized him. Dr, March was so smart, so compassionate and so caring, we were just blown away. She told us to go home (after a brief visit with Qaalee) and try to sleep and that she would call us with an update at 6am, when her shift ended. At 6am on the nose, she called to give us an update and to say that she had been spending the last hour updating Dr. Miles on Qaalee's condition, and that our cat was in the best hands he could possibly be in. At about 2 pm, Dr. Miles called to give us the very sad news: Qaalee was "clinically dead"...that he has already lost one kidney the other was shutting down and the brain was gone. They has him alive on a respirator and he was in a coma, but said that we should get down there right away to say goodbye. It was really sad that when Qaalee heard our voices, he awoke from his coma and started crying to be taken home. When we called for help, Dr. Miles was in the room immediately and put Qaalee out of his suffering. Yes, it was a horrific thing to go through. Yes, we wish the idiot at Cat's Exclusive hadn't sent Qaalee away without doing any diagnostic testing. But the entire staff at ACCES was just amazing. We got a beautiful sympathy card from them and they kept us updated as to how the necropsy was coming along (it took nearly a month to get all the testing done) and then, finally we got his ashes. Do we hope that we will never need to go to ACCES again? Yes. Are we glad that such a fine animal hospital is near our house that has excellent vets with fantastic bedside manners? Yes. I would also like to say that the head of the clinic spent nearly an hour going over the autopsy notes with me on the phone because I couldn't understand much of it. That was very kind of her. Thank you Dr. Davidoff.
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We took our cat to Family Pet in Ballard for grooming only to find she was unresponsive by the next morning (I have also posted my review of Family Pet for your reference). The doctor at Family Pet... More

We took our cat to Family Pet in Ballard for grooming only to find she was unresponsive by the next morning (I have also posted my review of Family Pet for your reference). The doctor at Family Pet did suggest we take her to ACCES (Animal Critical Care and Emergency Service) and so we did. Long story short, the doctor at ACCES told us a cat our age should not have been sedated and we now have a dying cat situation in our hands. They have brought her back some. But they were honest in telling us what is happening and what options we have. They were willing to try everything in their power to bring her back as much as they are able to, but the doctor suggests that even if we were to spend thousands on her, they may only be able to bring her back 50% as a lot of her organs has started to shut down. And there is no telling how much longer she would be able to live after that. We still weren't able to commit since we initially took her in for grooming only. We were still shocked that this is happening as we were still playing with our cat the day before. The doctor at ACCES took the time and did a bit of counselling with us. Talking us through how long we've had our cat and that she is getting up there in age. the doctor would gladly take our money but it would probably be not in our best interest. That and our cat would be suffering for the remaining days of her life even if they were to bring her back as much as they are able. The staffs were all very sympathetic. We made the tough call to put her down. They gave us a room to ourselves to compose ourselves for as long as we needed. Then they brought our cat back so that she was responsive so that we could say our last good byes to her. They gave us as much time as we needed with her and to come out and call them at the reception area once we were done. They were very nice about the whole process and kept the paperwork and other unpleasantries to a minimum. We received a very supportive condolence card from them 2 days later from the staff we dealt with at the time, saying our cat was in their prayers. When I went back to pick up her ashes, the receptionist at that time was very supportive and offered many kind words. The next time we have a pet emergency, we will definitely go back to ACCES.
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