Today on 4/24/08 I took my cat Jack to Cannon Valley Veterinary clinic for routine teeth cleaning. When I picked him up from the vet he was already in his cat carrier and they told me that he had urinated a little so they gave me a towel to put under the carrier.
When I got him home he was still groggy and I let him out, he was entirely soaked in urine half-way up his body. When I called to complain I spoke first with the vet who had cleaned his teeth she was apologetic, but said the had been aggressive and they didn't want to deal with him so they put him in the carrier before he came out of anesthesia. I asked why they were afraid of a 12 pound cat who even now as I write this (three hours later still pretty subdued and out of sorts) and why if they were going to stick him directly in his carrier no absorptive material was put under him.
She said that she thought this was on oversight but all they could offer me was an apology and she thought no further recompense was necessary. I asked to speak to her supervisor, he was very brusque and inflexible saying that he thought that his clinic was the best and so were his staff and that they don't make mistakes. I then asked him if he thought it was fair that I was sent home a cat soaked in urine, and he said that it was better because in the past they have had cats die when they tried to clean them when they are upset.
This really made me upset because I had to wash my cat and when I did he was breathing very and making weird sounds, and all I could think was I almost killed him, and they sent me home with Jack soaked in urine and didn't warn me that I could kill him by cleaning him up. I then did shout some obscenities curse at David the owner because I really don't understand how any of this is"okay" and can be considered good customer care.
Were they just going to console me if I called and said my cat was dead because he had a heart attack when I washed him?
It's just so upsetting. The owner David then finished by saying he really didn't have time for this and he was sending me my three cats medical information so I could find another clinic and then he hung up on me. This makes me feel like I'm the crazy one and that it's completely unreasonable that I feel upset even when he admitted that I could have killed my cat by cleaning it and that's why they didn't, and they didn't warn me that I could kill him, and instead sent me home with the problem, like all of it is my fault that somehow I caused my cat to urinate on himself.
I really want my money back and I really want others both people and their beloved pets to not have to suffer such arrogance. I am going to tell my friends about this experience so they know not to take their animals to this clinic. I really can't tell what's important to David the owner, I think it's money and not customer's or their pets and that's so upsetting and disheartening.
I appreciated the apology from the Veterinarian Dr. Bisel and that she was sincere, however I feel like I was treated very poorly by the David the owner and I no longer feel comfortable taking my animals to his vet clinic or supporting him in anyway.
I do not feel that it was right to send my cat home soaked in urine, when I was given no warning that Jack would be soaked in urine and that I would need to clean him, especially after the owner David admitted to the reason that they did not clean him was that they were afraid they would kill him. Basically putting all the risk on me and not even warning me that there was a risk or that I would have to wash my cat. Had I known I probably would have just set him up in a room without furniture and let him clean himself and not risked potentially killing him, but it wasn't until I talked to David hours later that I found out that this was even a possibility. Luckily Jack did not die, but I really really do not like that I was lied to (first they said they were unaware that he was soaked in urine, and later David said that they didn't wash him because they were afraid they would kill him). It was just really a truly horrible bad experience. Sorry to jabber on this much. I didn't expect to be treated so poorly, I thought they would be understanding.
