Please don’t take your pets here. If money is an issue there are far better options in KW. Do your research, your fur babies depend on you!
To start off with I was glad that they managed to fit my cat in immediately when she needed to be seen. My cat did defecate on herself on the way to the clinic which isn’t uncommon. The staff offered paper towels, a sink, a towel and a clean towel for the carrier which was great. There was just one problem - the exam room sink did not appear to have any hot water so I was left to clean my cat up with cold water and paper towels.
When we finally saw the vet he performed a rather cursory exam before recommending blood tests which seemed reasonable given the suspected issues.
The blood draw was a horrifying and stressful experience for my cat who has had blood draws previously over the years without issue. She is NOT a difficult cat to handle and she is currently somewhat underweight due to her health issues at 4.16 lbs. The vet had TWO people holding her down while he tried repeatedly over the course of 30+ minutes to obtain the blood sample. At one point my cat was wailing in pain and distress which I’ve never heard her do before in the 15 years that I’ve known her. They finally got the blood sample and brought her back into the exam room where I noted two important things - the skin at the scruff of her neck was tented up (a sign of dehydration in cats which in this case is related to her illness - no mention was made of this finding by the vet staff, nor was any treatment offered) AND there was no concern for my cat even when the stress of the whole ordeal caused her to collapse onto the exam table.
Unfortunately the clinic doesn’t have an on site lab, so basic test results that I would have had back within 30 minutes at most other clinics had to wait until the next day.
The vet staff told me that the vet would call around 10 am the following morning with my cat’s lab results. At 9:55 I called the vet and was told that the vet wasn’t to arrive until 10. At 11:00 I called and was told that the vet hadn’t reviewed the results yet. At 11:45 I finally got the call back that I had been so anxiously waiting for. The tests showed that my cat is in renal failure which I have considerable experience managing considering that the 19 year old cat I lost in December had been a kidney kitty for 11 years. Rather than recommend the standard home management of subcutaneous fluids the vet recommended further diagnostics.
Given my cat’s elevated kidney values and slight abnormalities suggesting dehydration (very common in kidney cats) I was very surprised that the vet’s initial recommendations DID NOT include that treatment option. I was the one to suggest that the vet dispense fluids for home administration which is common practice which they were willing to do... At a whopping cost of $50+ tax for a bag of fluids that costs roughly $3 at any human pharmacy that stocks them, an IV line that costs between $7-10 to administer the fluids!
I received NO instructions specific to my cat’s fluid requirements AT ALL from the tech OR the vet. I managed to purchase the necessary bag of fluids from another vet clinic for $15+ tax. This vet clinic also doesn’t stock Hills Prescription Diet A/D Urgent Care which is a basic necessity for sick cats and dogs which I was also able to purchase from the other vet clinic.
The icing on the cake was the fact that the vet staff had the audacity to attach an estimate for a further $626.42 worth of diagnostics, prescription food and a probiotic that the cat in question refused to touch among other things. Upon further review of the lab results I have noted that the sample was submitted on the day of the exam and the results were returned THE SAME DAY. This means that the treatment that would have allowed her to start feeling better sooner was delayed by a day. This is unacceptable in my eyes. I love my fur babies as most people love their children. Allowing my baby to go without treatment for a second longer than necessary is unacceptable