wolflady
02-09-2003, 05:58 PM
Hi everyone. Thank you all so much for the support and kindness about our loss of Socks. I have been talking to my mom about it, and I am now angry at how things were handled by the vet. Let me explain:
My mom found Socks on the floor in some sort of coma on Thursday, and of course didn't know what to do but rush him to our regular vet. They were able to revive him and they had put him on an IV drip. Our vet told my mom that since they close at 6pm, it would be a good idea to take Socks to an overnight clinic "for observation". This was to be observation only, and a hook up with an IV. My mom inquired if they should call ahead to let them know she was coming. Our vet said no, they handle these sorts of situations all the time.
So, my poor mom had to go and get Socks from our vet's office before they closed at 6 and take him to the United Emergency Animal Clinic, which opened at 6pm. Of course my mom is upset about this whole thing, so it isn't easy to do all of this.
So, she gets to this place, and they didn't even look at the cat or say anything of comfort (I'm sorry, but if you're a vet or technician in the animal field, you should really have a love of animals). Anyway, right off the bat, they tell mom that it would cost 1500 for a bunch of unnecessary tests. My gosh, the cat had already been through enough, my mom had already been through enough and all these people wanted was money.
Mom could hardly speak and didn't know what to do. Of course our vet is nowhere to be found, because he had gone home for the night, and we couldn't track him down. All that needed to be done was Socks needed 24hr monitoring and a connection with an IV. That's it. Not knowing what to do, (since they were basically holding Socks hostage, IMO) mom said to go ahead, and she told me that this vet's (or technician's...not sure which) eyes lit up. Mom said there was absolutely nothing going on in the clinic, so this person probably just wanted something to do. Nice, huh? :mad: Mom had already explained what had happened and that Socks was diabetic.
Anyway it just really makes me :mad: that someone would treat a pet owner in distress over their possibly dying pet like that. What is that??!!:mad:
Personally, I think our vet should have stayed 5 extra minutes to call this place to tell them exactly what was going on, instead of my mom having to go through all of this garbage. Now, my mom is feeling horrible because she keeps telling herself she should have just put Socks down after she had found him on the floor on Thursday rather than putting him through all of this, only to be put down on Friday.
All of this other stuff was just unnecessary and put extra stress on our dying pet. This is just horrible! :( The people at this United Emergency Animal Clinic need a lesson on empathy and animal/owner treatment, IMO. Plus, our vet should have called ahead. It would have made things a little easier on all of us.
Am I just overreacting, or can we complain about this to the Better Business Bureau? If not the BBB, then who? Needless to say, I'm not happy with either vet, at this point. Ours should have called ahead, written a letter...called later...something! This so called Emergency clinic could have been more compassionate and listened to what my mom said our vet told us to do, instead of putting Socks through totally unnecessary tests.
What should we do? We're so upset that we probably put Socks under so much stress during his last moments. The only thing of comfort was that my dad was able to be with my mom when they decided to put him down on Friday, and my mom got to hold him the whole time.
Tearfully,
Karen
My mom found Socks on the floor in some sort of coma on Thursday, and of course didn't know what to do but rush him to our regular vet. They were able to revive him and they had put him on an IV drip. Our vet told my mom that since they close at 6pm, it would be a good idea to take Socks to an overnight clinic "for observation". This was to be observation only, and a hook up with an IV. My mom inquired if they should call ahead to let them know she was coming. Our vet said no, they handle these sorts of situations all the time.
So, my poor mom had to go and get Socks from our vet's office before they closed at 6 and take him to the United Emergency Animal Clinic, which opened at 6pm. Of course my mom is upset about this whole thing, so it isn't easy to do all of this.
So, she gets to this place, and they didn't even look at the cat or say anything of comfort (I'm sorry, but if you're a vet or technician in the animal field, you should really have a love of animals). Anyway, right off the bat, they tell mom that it would cost 1500 for a bunch of unnecessary tests. My gosh, the cat had already been through enough, my mom had already been through enough and all these people wanted was money.
Mom could hardly speak and didn't know what to do. Of course our vet is nowhere to be found, because he had gone home for the night, and we couldn't track him down. All that needed to be done was Socks needed 24hr monitoring and a connection with an IV. That's it. Not knowing what to do, (since they were basically holding Socks hostage, IMO) mom said to go ahead, and she told me that this vet's (or technician's...not sure which) eyes lit up. Mom said there was absolutely nothing going on in the clinic, so this person probably just wanted something to do. Nice, huh? :mad: Mom had already explained what had happened and that Socks was diabetic.
Anyway it just really makes me :mad: that someone would treat a pet owner in distress over their possibly dying pet like that. What is that??!!:mad:
Personally, I think our vet should have stayed 5 extra minutes to call this place to tell them exactly what was going on, instead of my mom having to go through all of this garbage. Now, my mom is feeling horrible because she keeps telling herself she should have just put Socks down after she had found him on the floor on Thursday rather than putting him through all of this, only to be put down on Friday.
All of this other stuff was just unnecessary and put extra stress on our dying pet. This is just horrible! :( The people at this United Emergency Animal Clinic need a lesson on empathy and animal/owner treatment, IMO. Plus, our vet should have called ahead. It would have made things a little easier on all of us.
Am I just overreacting, or can we complain about this to the Better Business Bureau? If not the BBB, then who? Needless to say, I'm not happy with either vet, at this point. Ours should have called ahead, written a letter...called later...something! This so called Emergency clinic could have been more compassionate and listened to what my mom said our vet told us to do, instead of putting Socks through totally unnecessary tests.
What should we do? We're so upset that we probably put Socks under so much stress during his last moments. The only thing of comfort was that my dad was able to be with my mom when they decided to put him down on Friday, and my mom got to hold him the whole time.
Tearfully,
Karen