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| - I have mixed feelings about this Animal Hospital. I'll tell you why starting from the beginning. My 17 year old cat has a history of benign cysts in her mammary glands that had been either removed or had resolved on their own. However, this new one seemed to be getting larger extremely quickly. One day it split open and I called the Front St Animal Hospital, the closest vet, to bring her in immediately. They were very kind and made the appointment for two hours later. So, my daughter and I brought our cat in. We didn't wait long until an assistant to the vet called us in. However, she was very rough with our cat and seemed not to even like animals. She flinched almost to the point of hitting her when our cat hissed at her. Once the vet came in and the assistant left, I voiced my concerns stating that I didn't like the assistants 'bedside manner' or lack thereof and that her behaviour was rather disturbing. The vet listened intently and asked the assistant to get a muzzle for out cat. That was kind of ridiculous considering it was the assistant that was causing the problems by being rough with our cat. Anyway, the vet was very young and explained she wanted to strip out all of my cat's mammary glands at once and that it would cost over to $5000, perhaps more. I was shocked given the history of our cat's lumps being benign I felt it was too drastic and that a simple lumpectomy of the one lump would suffice. We had a discussion about administering antibiotics since it looked infected and I told them I'd think about it and let them know the next business day.
Anyway, we left not very impressed and I was really hesitant to go back for the antibiotics. I called up and asked if we could get the needle antibiotic instead of the oral dose since it was a shorter span and less room for error (namely by me). They agreed and we brought her back in. We had yet another vet and she administered the shot. We were asked to come back yet again in a week or so. We did and it was yet another vet. So, we've had 3 vets and a lousy assistant so far. I was feeling uneasy. This vet was more reasonable - she had only been there a week. Apparently, we did, in fact, have an option of a much less expensive lumpectomy. But she wanted to do the full lumpectomy right away in order to do a biopsy. Again, I said I'd get back to her. I went home a did some research and found that a simple needle biopsy would suffice and would cost 1/10 the price and it wouldn't involve opening her back up a second time if the lump turned out to be malignant. I have to note, that I was telephoned and emailed repeatedly by the clinic asking to bring our cat in. I felt it was a hard sell, especially since they started out with such a huge estimate of over $5000 but then for such an urgent procedure was talked down to under $1500 for everything. One odd thing they did, was order our cat's medical records from her previous vet without direct written consent from me, I don't even know how they figured out who our last vet was unless there's some database. If so, I should have been told of this. To me, all this screamed dishonesty and desperation. They were using different sell tactics to bring our cat in and this was not ethical to me. During this time, I was speaking to a physician acquaintance who was having a similar problem with her dog. She pointed out that the 'c word' should not have even been mentioned the first visit, especially with our cat's history of benign lumps and the vet certainly shouldn't have insisted on a full mammary tract stripping. It was unethical what they did and was a scare tactic.
Update: We did go back. Why, you ask. We were tired, confused, and travelling all around the city in the winter with her was horrific.The owner just happened to be in that day, he was to-the -point, generous with his knowledge and time. He immediately did a lung xray, which turned out to show lung cancer. This xray should have been performed way back in November when we first brought her in. It would have stopped the guessing to deal with the task at hand. Within a couple weeks she developed a Super bug which they wouldn't treat her for and likely contributed to her decline. Euthanasia was recommended though the oncologist was within a week. Kiki was in good spirits that morning so I canceled the euthanasia waiting for the oncologist. A tech called back to lecture me on how inhumane I was being. So we stupidly went in. I think Kiki died of shock after the vet put the iv in since the vet ran into the waiting room and said she was passing. I jumped up and ran in. She looked so weak and frail. The vet said 'I better do it now'. Meaning I better inject her. She did and our Kiki died. We opted to have her buried in the pet cemetary but ordered a plaque with her paw print. Several weeks later we got a call saying Kiki's ashes were ready for pick up. Ashes? We didn't order any ashes!? By that time I just felt numb. I just have no words. No words.
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