A coworker recommended I take my cat here for what I thought was a toothache. She had her cat here and said that they were low-cost and offered dental fixes.
They are a walk-in clinic, so I went in on a Wednesday evening, around 6pm. I was the only one there, so was seen immediately. The waiting room and exam "room" is just one big room with a few tables, and it is in an older, run down building. It wasn't necessarily filthy, but wasn't very clean either. They then asked me to weigh my cat on a scale that had a puddle of urine running from it...
Then they ask me to bring Fry (my cat) to one of the tables and we go over his history, and what I thought the issue was (toothache-he stopped eating hard foods and was only eating soft food). They took his temperature and commented that he had a slight fever. The vet said that at this point, he would just recommend an antibiotic, but didn't believe Fry had any dental problems (even though he is noticeably missing a couple front teeth and the gums were receding a little) and wanted to do some blood work, which would cost $120. Fry had just had blood work done in December, so I got on the phone with his Philly vet to get them to fax it over. While on the phone, I turn back to the table and there was a decent sized puddle of semi-bloody urine. We had already talked about him having a history of UTI's, so I wasn't completely shocked by the blood, but I was surprised that he might have a UTI causing the issues. At this point, the vet basically stood up and told me I had to take him somewhere else because he didn't feel comfortable treating a cat that was "bleeding out" on his table. His choice of words made me a little shaky (because Fry was obvisouly not "bleeding out" per say) and my mind started racing to all the scary situations that could happen within the next 24 hours. I asked what he recommended and he repeated himself about not wanting to treat Fry with an antibiotic. I told him I understood but.. and he cut me off, mumbling something about he knows money can be tight but I need to take him somewhere else (third time) and I'd need to spend money to get this fixed.
At this point, I was blown away that he was insinuating that I didn't have/wouldn't pay for care for my cat and that I had to go somewhere else. I figured he would've understood that if all Fry's vet records up until 2 months ago were from Philly - and I was calling a Philly ER - that I would need suggestions for local vets. But finally, I just said very slow and clearly, I understood he didn't want to treat him here or with an antibiotic, but I needed to know what I should do and where I could take him. He told me about a specialty clinic (that had closed at 5pm). I just thanked him and gathered my stuff, figuring I would be better off googling local vets than get an answer from him.
I understand that this is a walk-in clinic and their resources are somewhat limited, but I gave my low score on multiple factors. The place was dirty (and they do surgeries there, so their resources aren't so limited). I felt like it was being insinuated that I wasn't being mindful of my pet's health, and that I wasn't willing to fix the issue. The vet wouldn't give me a straight answer answer on what I needed to do - my mind was in a million places and I needed him to stop beating around the bush and just give me an answer. The only upside to this visit was that they gave me Fry's urine sample to take elsewhere, and they didn't charge me anything.
Will not be going here again. read more