We brought in two young feline siblings for their spays in December 2009. They didn't use stitches; they used surgical glue. Both incisions opened two or three days after the surgeries, at different times. The first kitten we took back to the ATA have the incision re-checked and re-closed. The doctor literally stepped out of surgery, *stapled* her belly closed, with no topical anesthetic and no sedation of any kind, and sent her back out to the waiting room, all inside 5 minutes. They treated her like a number, not like a living thing. She was in terrible pain for 36 hours; she would not eat or drink anything, and couldn't be touched. A day later, the other kitten's incision opened in the same way. This time we took her directly to our neighborhood vet; we weren't about to put her through the same horrible experience as her sister. After relaying the story, our vet was appalled that the ATA had used staples at all, much less without any anesthetic, and said it was "backwards and barbaric". All told, we spent over $300 fixing what should have only cost about $80 to begin with.
As much as I admire what the ATA is trying to do for the community, I will NEVER take an animal there again, for any reason. It was horrifying the way they just didn't care. We even sent a detailed letter to the ATA about the incident. We haven't heard anything back from them and don't expect we will.
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