Now that a week has gone by, I feel I can write this review and not become unhinged. My beloved cat Pepper, who was my constant companion for the last 2 years, spent last weekend at this Emergency Animal Clinic. Our regular vet told us to bring him here as it was the 24-hour animal hospital closest to our home. It turned out he had a very serious bladder stone condition, and come Monday, when we were able to see our regular vet, we made the heart-breaking decision that putting him down was the best thing to do. However, if the staff at this EAC had managed to give us all the information they had, we might have been able to save Pepper a lot of pain and misery sooner and maybe us hundreds if not thousands of dollars. First of all, this place is ghetto. Nothing about the appearance and upkeep inspires any confidence. Secondly, they have rotating doctors and technicians, so you are always talking to someone new. And everyone has a different opinion, and most of them were inconsistent with what our vet told us in the end. The reception area staff was unprofessional. The first girl we spoke to stammered over how to ask when Pepper had last urinated or defecated. Um... how about learning and using appropriate terminology? The person entering my information transposed 2 of the numbers of my cell phone number. No wonder they had to call my husband instead. I verbally corrected it with them over the phone, but when we went in later that day, they still had not changed it on Pepper's paperwork, so we took out a pen and fixed it ourselves. They neglected to call us when Pepper's urethra blocked yet again within the first 12 hours. They neglected to call us when his temperature spiked again and he became agitated. They said they told my husband the results of his blood tests over the phone, but he does not recall hearing that information. They did let us come see him several times, and while we were waiting to be led back to the cages, we were regaled with loud and stupid personal conversations, that apparently the staff did not care that the rest of us in the waiting room could hear. It just pissed me off that we were all in life-and-death situations and they were all into their petty gossiping. Not that I expect a medical practice to be a somber graveyard, but appropriate conversation at an appropriate volume would simply show respect for the clientele. When I told my boss, a fellow cat lover and downtown resident, what happened, she said that she too had once taken a cat to this EAC in an emergency. It was having severe upper respiratory problems, and they were having some trouble getting it out of its carrier. So instead of getting my boss to see if she could coax it out, they tied a rope around its neck. Around the neck of a cat who couldn't breathe. She took the cat somewhere else immediately. I will also never go here again in an emergency, and have since spoken to a number of people who have given me other options should I find myself in need of immediate after hours care. Our bill (which had to be pre-paid, mind you) was nearly $2000. Outrageous indeed.
Was this review given positively or negatively?
negative