My cat suddenly lost balance and walked wobbly, like she was drunk. I rushed her to the office. There was no wait, on a Monday around 5 PM. I had taken other cats there for emergencies and was always seen promptly. My only concern is I saw a new dr who graduated a few months ago. After ruling out the basic tests/blood work she thought the cat had a brain tumor or cancer. Later that night it dawned on me that inner ear infections can cause these symptoms so I called her. She agreed. My concern is she never examined the ears which seems odd since in medicine it's common knowledge that balance can either be brain or ear trouble. She automatically went to brain, regardless of the fact the cat had black, smelly ear discharge. My fear is that if I had not been in medicine myself this diagnosis would have been missed, time wasted, symptoms worse, expense higher.
The next day a experienced Dr. called with a list of tests totalling $6,500 to check for tumors, ear problems, her heart (they heard a murmur), her kidney's (labs came back messed up), 2 days IV fluids and hospital stay. He gave me 2 other options to spend less, do less tests. The MRI and spinal tap cost $2500 alone. I decided to spend the $6500. The doctors will tell you they will call you with an update but you really need to call them. They do call back right away and spend time explaining things. It turned out she has a inner ear infection. I'm still waiting on the results of the urine culture to see if she has renal disease. They also found she has heart disease, so all the extra tests were worth it. If I had said no to the extra tests I would have never known about these conditions.
It's very expensive but they will cover every possible thing that could be wrong. They have specialists on staff, cardio, neuro, ortho all in one place. I'd give 5 stars if the prices were better.
Pros: specialists on staff
Cons: expense, occasional new doctor left unchecked
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