My cat has gone here since she was a kitten and while they have always been unorganized and pretty rude (including Dr. Arnold), they were cheap and local so we stuck around. My experience the last couple of months however has just been blatant malpractice and mistreatment and needs to be told.
In February I took my cat to emergency one night due to stomach issues. They gave my cat medicine, took xrays, and sent the results off to a third party site for further examination.
This third party sent the results to Dr. Arnold. A staff member called me and was unprofessional through the whole call. She kept giggling and was eating during the call so she had to keep pausing to chew, and even though SHE was the one to call me, she started off the conversation by saying they had results and asked if I needed them or if I was all good. I asked her for the results and to please clarify with the vet first. After talking to Dr. Arnold, she told me that her stomach was fine but that she has a mass IN her lung. They wanted me to get an ultrasound from a different office to diagnose the mass.
I asked to have the third party report sent over to me and learned that the staff member was completely incorrect - there was no mass IN my cat's lung, it was in her chest cavity. Regardless, I still set up the ultrasound per Dr. Arnold's instructions.
When I went for the ultrasound I found out that Dr. Arnold referred my cat to get an ultrasound for her stomach....not for her chest, where the actual mass was. Not only that, but Caring for Cats did not send over the original report or x-ray, so the doctor there had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for. The vet there explained ultrasounds can be done on the stomach but aren't as effective on the chest because the images aren't clear. He did the ultrasound anyways and 575$ later told me he knew nothing and that I should make another x-ray appointment at Caring for Cats in April to see if that mass gets any bigger (he said if it's bigger, it's probably cancer, and if it's not, it's fine. Top-tier diagnosing skills all around)
This brings me to yesterday. I brought my cat in and the receptionist seemed confused as to why I was there. She was looking through my cat's folder (this place has no electronic system - everything is hand written and crammed into folders) and couldn't figure out why I was there so I had to explain the situation to her.
Then I get in the exam room with Dr. Arnold. I re-explained the situation and told her I was there to get an x-ray of my cat's chest done to see if the original mass has grown at all. She said okay and took my cat back for the x-ray. BEFORE she took my cat back I reminded her that my cat gets very anxious at the vet and can be aggressive so that they usually give her a calming spray before handling her. She ignored this and took my cat back anyways and within a minute I heard my cat screaming and heard for Dr. Arnold frantically yelling for help from one of the staff up front. About 10 minutes later they had the X-ray done and she called me back to look at the results. Dr. Arnold said she was "hardly able to see anything" and it "probably wasn't a tumor" and that we should just "leave it at that" (exact words). I asked her about the comparison to the first x-ray, and she said they don't have the first x-ray so she was unable to compare sizes. I told her that's unacceptable and that the reason we were here was to compare the mass size from x-ray 1 to x-ray 2. I offered to call to the other location and ask for the first x-ray to be sent over, but she said that there was no need. I told her that I would not be paying for this visit then because I very clearly explained to her why we were there and she was refusing to do the service I was paying for. She said fine, I was "difficult" anyways, and said she would no longer be my cat's vet before starting to literally nudge me out of the room with her clipboard (who does that?!). About an hour later I called to have my cat's records emailed to me and was told that they don't have email capabilities (???), but that they can fax it to me.
This place is fine for basic shots, but falls apart once skill and care is needed. Months and hundreds of dollars later I have dealt with incompetent staff, given an incorrect diagnoses, was sent for a costly and incorrect ultrasound, and then dealt with disgraceful mistreatment yesterday. Moral of the story, don't take your pets here. read more
