In August, I brought my cat Bart to be treated, he was mildly ill and had begun turning down food. I was apprehensive from the first moment. The girl at the desk was rude, surly, and not helpful. She snapped at me at least 3 times during the intake.
When the doctor came in and examined Bart, she looked him over for 5 minutes, no tests and told me he was dying of kidney failure and would need years of treatment. She handed me an estimate, I told her I couldn't pay that much, she left for 5 minutes and came back and told me Bart had anemia and the price had been cut in half. I was in shock. She told me since cost was a problem, I could put a small deposit down and pay the rest at the end of the week.
When I got to the front desk to put a deposit on the treatment, the girl up front began screaming at me and telling me the doctor was wrong and I needed to pay the full amount.
I was thrown in a room and the doctor came back in and told me that since I could not give them the full amount that night, a cost effective method would be to have Bart put to sleep. I began crying so hard I was almost hysterical. Since Bart was not eating my main concern was with him and no one else was open at this time at night, so I let them treat him, if anyone else had been open it wouldn't have been so. They had me sign a paper that I would pay in full within three days and the girl at the front screamed at me no less than four times to be sure to be there that day to pay it. I almost bit my tongue to stay respectful. These people are highly unethical and not interested in the welfare of animals, only their pockets. I work with vets constantly because I work with feral cats and I have never seen a situation like this. I am not arguing their cost, which was excessive, or their treatment, but their ethics, they are not a good place to take an animal you care about.
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