Being a Sunday, with our usual vet closed we were once forced to deal with the Beaches Animal Hospital for an emergency. Despite being told that time could be of the essence it took the vet several hours to return my call. After following up twice during the day I finally received a call later that night when it was already too late to bring the sick cat in.
Funny thing is, the vet reiterated what I was told earlier that I needed to bring the cat in asap...except it was now too late to do so (they were closing for the night)
He had given me one option: Surgery. I had read that vets will always do x-rays first to see if its necessary . Instead he told me they were pointless and suggested I go the very expensive route of cutting my cat open. With the procedure itself causing irreversible damage (but better than taking the chance of my cat dying he says).
Unable to do anything until morning I had no reason why I couldn't just take the cat to the regular vet. My vet opted to do the x-rays first and easily determined that surgery would have been completely unnecessary.
Things I had read had suggested that more likely than not, the cat would be fine. My vet ended up saying the same thing. That surgery wouldn't likely be necessary. Yet the vet at the Beaches Animal Hospital very clearly stated it would be the only option.
It's one thing to suggest an expensive procedure and have the only harm done be to my wallet and not the animal, but when the unnecessary procedure would cause permanent damage that would take years off my cat's life, what on earth is the vet thinking?