The guilty mother

If I was to look at today from a “glass half full” perspective, I could tell you that Carlo was neutered, Dobby got the last of her vaccines plus a microchip, and TJ got treatment for a sinus infection.  All those things were done at the new, less expensive vet clinic we’ve begun to visit, and the total bill was a little bit under $265.

Now, if I was to give you my “glass half empty” report, I’d have to tell you that the new vet we saw spoke mumbled, slangy English and pronounced words like ‘escape’ as ‘ekscape’.  That’s such a pet peeve of mine.  The vet didn’t seem to really like cats, or was afraid of them, because instead of just pulling TJ out of his crate, the vet flipped the crate on its end so TJ just came unceremoniously tumbling out onto the table.  The vet seemed annoyed that TJ scratched her (he didn’t scratch in a rough way, he just happened to have long nails).  What kind of vet gets upset about a scratch?

As for Dobby, well, the vet didn’t seem to want to touch Dobby.  To carry Dobby to the back room, the vet scruffed her by the neck and held her up with one hand, using no body support.  I understand a one-handed-scruff in an emergency, but Dobby is getting pretty big and should have been held more securely.  When the vet put Dobby down in the back room, Dobby immediately ran away, despite the fact we’d said over and over again that Dobby was feral and difficult to catch.  Dobby apparently tore up the chief veterinarian’s office, climbed his curtains, stomped all over his computer, hung up on some phone calls, and had to be caught by someone tossing a sheet over her.  Then she was give her vax, and then she was returned to the exam room, even though she hadn’t been microchipped yet.  They were so unorganized.  I tried to help hold Dobby for the microchipping but a tech came in and covered Dobby with a blanket instead, and my overall feeling was that they were just far too rough.  Dobby was scared, not aggressive, and she made no attempts to bite anyone.  The fear the staff exhibited over Dobby showed a real lack of experience with cats.

Finally, the day ended with bringing Carlo home.  I’d taken a quick look at his former-testicles when we first picked him up, and I was surprised his scrotum area looked so inflamed and red.  It was shaved and looked really sore, especially compared to what I saw when TJ was neutered earlier this year.  When TJ was fixed, he wasn’t shaved, and on his scrotum you could barely see two tiny incisions, maybe an eighth of an inch in length, at most.  In comparison, Carlo looked liked he’d been neutered by someone who wasn’t sure where to find the testicles.  After being assured he was fine and ready to go home, we brought Carlo into the house, put his crate down, and he stepped out and immediately started to lick his rear end.  Not good—our other neutered males never bothered their incisions.  I went to get his pain meds to give him a dose, but in a matter of seconds he was dripping bright red streams of blood onto the kitchen floor.  I tried to staunch the bleeding with some towels and he growled at me—in fact, the sweetest cat in the world tried to bite me, so I popped him back into a crate, and off he went back to the vet, where he has to stay overnight.  When we came home, I used a lot of paper towels to wipe up all the blood off the floor, and I wanted to bang my head against the same floor for thinking that I could get excellent service at a bargain price.  TJ, Dobby, and Carlo all suffered because I needed to save money.

Flippy and I calculated that if we’d had today’s vet visit at our usual vet, the bill would have been around $450 or more.  We know our regular vet would have been sweet and gentle with every cat, and we know that Carlo would not have had a problem with his neuter, because it would have been done with more care and finesse.  Sadly, we don’t always have that extra $200 on hand, and that’s why we wanted to find another vet with charges which were “more reasonable”.  I don’t understand why “more reasonable fees” has to also mean “inferior care”, because I can’t imagine a vet not wanting to do the best job possible.  I’ve got the chance to do some work for this new vet’s office and to get some free services in exchange, but now I don’t know if I even want them.  Carlo’s neuter was easy, and it was messed up… I don’t want them cutting Bunny open for a spay, because who knows what could go wrong?  If I take Bunny to our original vet for her spay it will cost about $150 more than at this new place… it’s very difficult to juggle money when you want to give your loved ones the best, but can’t always afford the best.

I’m sure Carlo will be fine, and I’ll post an update tomorrow when we bring him home.  However, seeing the dark reality of the vet’s office means a dark reality for us, too—we’re going to have to cut down on the number of cats we care for because I’m not happy with the cut-rate vet services. 

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/11 at 11:13 PM

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  1. I know how that feels. I’d love to have more pets- but I can’t afford the best and full vet care for the ones I have.

    Posted by Georg  on  10/12  at  06:33 AM

  2. Jerks.

    Posted by Ryssee  on  10/12  at  03:07 PM

  3. Unfortunately, in veterinary medicine it is true - you get what you pay for.  In all the cheapy clinics I’ve seen, the “do it for less” mentality gets filtered down to everything - cutting corners, its just animals so do it quick and dirty, and let’s not pay our staff a living wage or any benefits because owners won’t pay what its worth to make that happen.

    Still, I agree - how can you be a vet and not want to do a good job, and how in the world can you mess up a cat neuter?!?

    Posted by vetmommy  on  10/12  at  06:12 PM

  4. Our poor little guy.  Leigh-Ann will write more about it later, but the vet that dumped TJ out of his crate...she hauled Carlo, in his crate, out to us, as if the damned crate was empty, instead holding precious little Carlo who was in pain, didn’t use the litterbox, and didn’t eat the whole time he was there.  I’m sure the rough ride was a whole lot of fun for him, especially since he was STILL growling at us when we got him home...until Leigh-Ann gave him some pain meds.  Geez, man.  It’s the simplest of common decency to be gentle with your patient who’s in pain and feeling like crap...because someone in your office cut him all up.  Ugh.

    Posted by Flippy  on  10/13  at  12:00 AM

  5. That totally sucks!!!

    Do you guys have access to a SPCA type hospital?  They do the cheapest spay and neuter here.  In fact I’ve been told that the fancy vets charge triple for the service and then load up their patients and drive them to the SPCA for the procedure thereby making a nice profit.

    They are also super nice.

    It is a dilemma isn’t it?  My friend takes her pets to a cheap place that makes you wait for AGES as they don’t make appointments, regularly lose your file as they are not computerized and make silly mistakes with treatment (so far nothing serious).  I’d never take my cat there simply because it smells so bad and seems unclean.  We noticed their own house cat had terrible worms.

    But then I have kitty health insurance so I can afford to be picky.

    There has to be a happy medium there somewhere.  I’m sorry this vet trip was so terrible for everybody; human and feline.

    Posted by Von Krankipantzen  on  10/13  at  11:04 AM

  6. I’m almost afraid to ask, but does the absence of an update mean Carlo’s still having difficulties?  I’ve never heard of persistent bleeding following a neuter, and I’ve certainly never heard of animals being treated so harshly!  I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to have to leave Carlo there overnight. 

    Is he better?

    Posted by Print  on  10/14  at  12:55 PM

  7. Until Leigh-Ann gets an update done, I’ll do a brief one.  Carlo had a rough first night at home.  He was clearly in pain and kept roaming around, not knowing what to do with himself.  I sat up with him for a while, just petting him and hoping it would calm him down.  He’d fall asleep for a few minutes, but then wake up suddenly and start roaming again.  I was up until 7 or 8, or so.  I think he still is in a little pain (we have a bit of his pain meds left), but he’s definitely doing much better.  Thanks for asking!

    It was so sad seeing the little guy feel so crappy.  He’s such a sweet boy and there wasn’t anything we could do to help him feel better.  Right now, he’s sleeping under the covers, while we’re in bed watching football.  It’s nice to see him calmly sleeping.

    Posted by Flippy  on  10/14  at  02:00 PM

  8. You poor puddins! Goin to the vet is bad enuf wifout them treatin you badly! Our vet is nice an efun tho she seems to go quickly wif us, she’s gentle an thorough. She efun gets along ok wif Ms. Bonnie, the Crabby Tabby. Poor, poor Carlo! I’s nefur herd of such a problem. Don’t take Bunny there, pleez!

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat  on  10/22  at  09:47 AM
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