I brought my 11 year old cat here last week after I discovered that he had ingested plastic Easter grass. He was not behaving like himself, refusing food and water, and had terrible diarrhea. I was panicked and very upset, and needed to see a vet quickly.
When I got there, I was greeted by a friendly vet tech. The waiting area appeared to be clean, but the odor of animals was rather unpleasant. Everything just looked old and worn out, a bad first impression.
Once inside the exam room, I explained the situation to the vet. He did not do a thorough assessment in my opinion. He barely asked me any questions, although he did attempt to comfort me when he saw how emotional I was. His staff took my cat for an x-ray. He stated he was unable to see any obstruction in my cat's bowels, but he stated ""you have another problem"". He pointed to the area surrounding my cat's bowels on the x-ray and stated that it was full of excessive fluid and that he likely had peritonitis. I had done research before the visit, and read that this condition can be the result of a bowel obstruction, and that it is not good. But he was saying things like ""kidney failure, heart disease, liver failure"". I replied ""but he ate easter grass, and he was fine 2 days ago"". Then he stated that the only way to know for sure is to ""open him up"" and do exploratory surgery in his bowels, but that the peritonitis had a poor prognosis (fatal) and isn't likely to be fixed. So at this point I am even more upset because I am faced with the idea that I might need to have my cat put down.
The vet tech took me and my cat into a second exam room, one that I imagine is where surgeries are performed. This room was filthy! I was horrified! There was dirt on the countertops, the floor, and clutter in general. The worst offender was an old green file cabinet that was completely covered in some sort of white splattered filth, and it was only a couple of feet from the exam table. Just a few more feet from the exam table was a very sick looking cat in a kennel, maybe recovering from surgery. in the exam room? This room appeared to not have been cleaned in a year. There is no way this would pass an inspection.
In this room, the vet tech administered fluids to get my guy hydrated. She was very kind, and answered my questions. At this point I was getting frustrated because I felt like the vet was not communicating with me regarding my options. I told her I did not know what to think, and she suggested that I go home, research peritonitis, and decide for myself whether I believe my cat's symptoms are consistent. She seemed to be skeptical herself, without actually saying so.
That entire night I was disturbed by my experience. I could not shake the nagging feeling that I received sub-par care.
The next morning I went back, got my x-ray, and took my cat to Gateway Animal Clinic in Tremont for a second opinion. In contrast to my experience the day before, it was night and day. The vet he saw NO EVIDENCE for peritonitis. He said ""your cat does not have excessive fluid built up around his organs, he is just fat"". He also said there is no evidence for an obstruction either given his improvement (he kept food down overnight) and typical looking bowels. He reassured me that doing surgery at this point is premature. Having such a good experience there helped me to realize how bad it was the day before.
To sum it up this vet seemed like a nice man, but not a good vet. The prices are reasonable, but you get what you pay for. The best part of this place was the vet tech I dealt with. She was terrific.
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