I am LIVID!
This morning I took June Buggie to his new vet for a follow-up visit for his thyroid. When I called to make the appointment, I told them what it was for. I explained he had not had this service with their clinic before.
I was given no instructions regarding prepping for the visit.
I did recall that when my previous vet checked Buggie’s thyroid levels, he’d asked that JB fast for 6 hours. So I did that.
Once I got back, a vet tech copped an attitude with me and with her back turned to me proceeded to tell me Junior SHOULD have had his medicine before the visit.
I should have left right then.
But, no, Junior needs his meds, and maybe our tech is having a bad day.
The vet decided it would be OK to check his levels anyway, so I let them draw his blood.
And guess what? The results showed his thyroid was low.
I asked if his not having had his meds this morning would have had anything to do with that and the person talking to me this time said yes, I should have given him his meds and most people KNOW that.
Oh, so not only have you wasted a procedure on my elderly cat, you’re going to blame ME for it not being accurate.
I tortured my entire crew with fasting. I drug my poor, scared, elderly kitty to a vet clinic and subjected him to a needless procedure, and got treated like crap for my trouble. The vet clinic showed absolutely no compassion for me or for June Buggie. Oh, and I’m out $100 bucks too.
Well, there’s nothing to be done, is there? I did leave scathing reviews on Google and Yelp. I’m calling around for a different vet to take him to.
After it was all said and done, I wondered how a clinic that showed so little compassion was able to remain in business. Then I remembered a certain vet in Texas who practiced her bow and arrow skills on a feral cat and posted a photo of it on Facebook.
Maybe I should instead be surprised when vet clinics treat my animals well.
Dogpaddling Through Life 
I recently fired a vet for trying to give my pup an antipsychotic for 4th of July fireworks stress rather than valium. I wanted to go shove the anti-psychotic down HIS throat. I know three other people who have dumped that clinic. I’m extremely protective of my wee little doggie. I snipped about finding a vet who loved animals instead of the bottom line. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing problem in my life as one vet killed my dog in 1974 by refusing to listen to me about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I rarely hold a mad-on at anyone, but if that jerk is still alive I hope he suffers like he made animals suffer.
Sorry to hear about Junior’s bad experience.
You’d think vets would get up on their research. If we see our beloved companion animals as family, why do they insist on treating them like they’re not? Oh, yeah, because they don’t want to have to carry malpractice insurance.
I am so sorry for June Buggie. My vet is not like that. When Jake was alive he was a regular visitor. They squeezed him in when there were no appointments. They all greeted him when he came in the door. They gave him their own nickname (they called him Jake from State Farm after the commercial). They gave me verbal and written instructions when something had to be done. When I had to release him, they lit a candle in the waiting room so their other clients would be sensitive to the wailing human coming through. No, they are not all like that.
No, they aren’t. I wish there were some way to find those good ones without having to wade through the crappy ones first.
Agreed. I have had crappy ones too. If can get a referral from someone with pets, sometime that works.
The vet we were signed on to had no thought for us as anxious owners or for Maggie who could get distressed if confused or in pain and we weren’t there.
We saw another vet who was ‘old school’, offered me a shot (in jest) and cared about Maggie as if she were our child. He got the job. The entire surgery are brilliant, Maggie has no problem seeing any of the three vets in the practice, and you would never know she’d had such a major op as she has healed so well. Good luck with finding a decent vet who cares for animals, not just making bucks. Hugs by proxy for JB.
Thanks! I’m hoping for the same!
If you paid by credit card, dispute the charges. They will hold up payment while the case is resolved.
That may be more trouble than it’s worth. But thanks!
Amen.
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I am still pissed even after writing this! Ugh!
Poor cat, but she will recover and you will find a better vet.
We have the same problem here in Finland too. We have two really bad ones, a lady vet talked all the time with her friend on the phone, and when I tried to ask something, she said that she can’t concentrate if I am talking. I was really happy when our cat bite her.
A male vet made a theatrical show, when our little sick cat was afraid and hit her nails to the vet’s hand. He started to look for antibiotics and was so angry that our girl got nervous and bite him.
Our cats were very wise.
Serves the jerk right.
Good for you. They get away with it because people don’t know any better, and because we, as a society, treat ‘doctors’ as if they can do no wrong. It’s sad,
It’s ridiculous! And I never saw a doctor, just a couple of smartass techs. He didn’t have time for me. Jerk!
I am sorry your baby is having a bad experience. There are good vets out there that love animals and treat them like family. I have been lucky in my vets even though I have moved a lot. Presently I use a mobile vet so my fur babies do not leave home and are not traumatized [neither am I thankfully]
I will check to see if one is in this area. Thanks!
I’ll never forget the vet who had our dog cornered in the room trying to give her the bordetella vaccine up her nose, and got impatient when poor Shelby was nervous about it. Nothing bad happened but we could clearly see that he was not a compassionate vet. We stayed with his office but always requested to see a different vet there. We later had other crappy things happen at that office and moved on completely to another vet that we are still with now.
I’m sorry you and June Buggie had to go through that, and I hope you can find a much better vet soon. Lately a lot of bloggers have been posting about AAHA certified vets and how they have to meet certain standards. Maybe you could find one of those?
I have been looking at that while I peruse the offerings in the area.
Very sad to read this. Jack is such a “Cujo” that I needed to shop around and find not only a vet that could deal with him, but that he in turn could deal with as well. The vet we have now is great. Obviously, there is huge variance within the field. Not unlike dentists, I guess. I’ve known dentists who should be publicly disemboweled, but occasionally you find that diamond in the rough. Guess Jack and I are just lucky.
I wrote about how JB got his paw caught in a blind cord the morning after we moved in. I called this vet clinic and they saw him and were great. So I figured they’d do. Today’s visit was TOTALLY different. Just goes to show ya that first impressions can be deceiving.
How hard for both of u. My pug was genuinely frightened and vet strapped him down and said “His eyeballscould pop out if he gets more agitated.” But most vets cry when your pet dies and are passionAtely on love with annals. Report this place to better bsuness or something
In the 24 years that I’ve been running a Bremen Town annex for horses–all mine–I have sifted through over two dozen barn hands. The conditions here are choice and the pay is over-the-top. Sadly, in all those years, the one gleaning that really hurts is that you simply can’t pay people to CARE. (It kind of used to come with the whole package). I’ve had a few that love the job because they love the object/s of their efforts, but, for the majority? “It’s a job.”
If it were me… and I had to deal with two techs and never saw the vet, the vet who supposedly runs the place and has something at stake… and if it’s worth my time, I would schedule a ‘consult’ for my new imaginary pet, book the vet and the room time, and have a real heart-to-heart with someone who’s got something at stake because unless my complaint gets to the right person–up close and personal–nothing will change.
Just a thought. .
What I know about human nature is that if the vet cared, he would have talked to me while I was there. After all, he knew I was upset. But he could not be bothered. He may want to now that his business has a poor review, but I doubt it.
How awful! Each and every time an animal is going to be tested in that way, the technician or whoever schedules the appointments should remind us of the things we need to do to make sure that the procedure can be done! They shouldn’t have charged you!!
A veterinarian who doesn’t treat pets like family members is like a pediatrician who hates kids. I’ve been fortunate with the 2 vets where I’ve taken my dog. (I only switched to the second one because they have a groomer on site.) Yes, JB definitely needs another veterinarian who’ll treat him and you with respect and compassion!
A front desk staff should be courteous and since you told them why your were bringing JB in, should have given you instructions per feeding and meds. And, why would a vet do a procedure knowing that the results would be skewed and therefore useless. Greed. JB needs someone who is kind and caring. Even Rumpy would agree.
Definitely a new vet.
I would also find out if there is a vet association in your area and send them a copy of your review.
I think JB said it right in the video. Such a brave boy. Imagine being given the privilege of caring for needy animals and misusing that privilege so horribly. Ugh! It’s sad. And there’s nothing you can do, but what you did and are doing. Bad reviews and a new vet.
I’ve had stupid, incompetent vets but not really rude ones. Poor June Buggie.
Oh my FLEAS! I hope you can find a better vet fur June buggie! I’m sorry she had to endure all that. Definitely time fur a different vet! 😾
Oh no…..poor June Buggie….my dearest kitty…June Buggie…..I’m very so sorry that you had a bad time at the vet….What a stupid and heartless vet it is…..very frustrated…..I hope you would be ok now, June Buggie…..hugs hugs hugs
Poor June Buggie. I had a vet treat me like that too. After putting me in respiratory distress—I now suffer from asthma because of this—they failed to get enough blood to do the blood test. They actually axed TW to bring me back in so they could try again. She cursed them up one side and down the other and hung up. Hope June Buggie’s new vet is as good as my new one.
OMG that is shocking, so much for animal lovers.
So sorry your fur-baby had to endure such a lousy so-called service business. Sadly places of all stripes like that one are the norm rather than the exception. Hope you are able to find one that is better in all regards.
Jerks. No compassion whatsoever or even trying to help you. I’m kind of with the person who suggested you contest the charges – they should have told you to give the meds – and since they didn’t, they wasted your time, money, and stressed an ill, elderly cat unnecessarily.
Ugh what a crappy vet. I love my current vet he treats all animals great and doesnt lie or exagerate or reccomend unnecessary procedures. When Tubby and Norbert had cancer he told me how aggressive their kind was and was very honest about what needed to be done
So sorry for your crappy visit at the vet office. Usually for thyroid checks we tell them to give the pill as they usually do and come in four to six hours later for a post pill thyroid check. I hope you find a vet that treats your kitty as they would want someone to treat their pets. I recently just made a post on my blog about something kind of similar to that. Hope everything works out for your sweet boy!
I have experienced vets like this. We have NINE rescue dogs so I am real picky about who their doctor is since each of them still has some kind of issue stemming from past abuse. We found a wonderful traveling vet service that comes to our home, our vet Lynn and her assistant Debra are two of the kindest most wonderful people we have ever met and they treat all our animals with kid gloves, but we didn’t always have such a great vet. Before being introduced to our traveling vet we used a vet clinic here in town. On one occasion I had to take one of our dogs in for a check on a paw that had been bitten during a fight with a dog on the street. The vet we saw was covering for our usual vet and when we told her what happened she immediately began going through our chart and upon finding that one of our dogs was a sharpei cross declared that this MUST have been the dog that caused the injury. (it wasn’t) she declared that the sharpei cross was vicious and demanded we bring him in to be euthanized. We of course told her this was not the case, that the dog she had picked out was NOT the dog that had fought with the one we brought in for care, but she insisted that if we did not bring the sharpei cross in for euthanization she was going to call the authorities and have him listed as a dangerous dog. Needless to say we never went back to that particular vets office, and three weeks later when animal control showed up at our door we introduced them to the sharpei cross (the most mild mannered of dogs) and they left shaking their heads over the absurdity of the situation. Choose your vet carefully, they are responsible for the health of your pet and if they don’t treat them with kid gloves, you need a new vet!
Ya know that vet with the bow is no longer a vet now?
Public opinion works.
Good vets are so hard to find. I think we are on our 8th one. (One place had an OK vet, but the techs were wretched)
Paws crossed you find a good soul with a kind touch and worlds of experience.
For now, but she is fighting to get reinstated.
Lots of people keeping an eye/ working on that. Nobody wants to hire or be connected with her – and it’s too expensive to go into private practice…unless she’s related to someone or had daddy’s money behind her.
Seriously. That one definitely belongs in another field…working far far away from live things…
Mee-you June Buggie that was sum turribull visit to thee nasty Vet!!!!
An Lady Jenn wee lodged a complaint against a sirtain Vet here low-calee who did not treet mee at all last year an nevurr laid a finger on mee an insulted LadyMum an said mee should bee out runnin free??? Wee live on a busy street inn town an shee new this. Shee was rude an made LadyMum cry (who iss not prone to cryin). Then after shee left thee room, LadyMum rounded mee uppy an put mee inn Condo an thee A$$istant came inn an said, “Hurry uppy, wee need thee room fur next appointmint…” As wee were 20 minuttss early there was no rush. An when LadyMum came out shee gotted a $75. bill…shee paid because shee was so stunned…..
Thee vet came out an made another rude commint to LadyMum rite inn front of thee next purrson an their kat. All unpurrfesshional!!!!!
Wee nevurr see thee $money$ again butt wee told efurryone to steer cleer of thiss Vet an even our Feral Kat group no longer takess kittss an katss there!
So wee feel fur you Lady Jenn an June Buggie…..
***paw patsss*** Siddhartha Henry an ((hugs)) LadyMum