Unpleasant Vet Experience

[semiferal]

I'm not a fan of Banfield - at all. They are 100% profit motivated. The techs actually work on commission, meaning that if you took the gum wipes it would mean more $ in the tech's pocket. Not that techs aren't grossly underpaid to begin with (believe me, they are), but the whole thing of techs being on commission is crazy to me!

Choose a vet based on reputation. Go someplace where you can develop a relationship with one vet. It's worth it, believe me.

As for all the teeth eventually needing to be pulled - maybe, maybe not. Some cats do get horrible gingivitis and eventually need all their teeth pulled. Most don't. Either way it's a totally manageable problem but it's silly to me to talk about possible scenarios that are still years in the future!

 

[dianam]

My experience with a female vet, a few years ago, tops all the stories written here.

I had purchased a Ragdoll kitten at a cattery in Waycross, Georgia. After a few weeks she started to act up and the vet said there were clear indications that the kitten might have FIP. At the time I did not know much about that horrible sickness. The vet told me that I was in luck because "an authority on FIP" would be at her clinic and try to do something for the kitten.

A couple of days letter she charged me a fortune for opening up my kitten and, after placing her in the plastic carrier, she asked me to go to another associate vet of her about two miles away. When I got there and gave the carrier to the vet assistant, she came right out of the back room with the carrier in her hands and told me that the kitten had passed away.

Now that I know quite a bit about the incurable, 100% fatal FIP disease, I look back into the incident and come to the conclusion that I was lied to repeteadly by the vet and that she charged me a fortune probably just to have someone else perform an autopsy on my kitten for the vet's own information as she might have feared contamination to other clients' cats. Worse yet, she probably gave me a corpse in the carrier and me, like a fool, carried it to the other vet that she works with.

I do believe that when we come across a crook, we should spread the word so as to prevent other cat owners from falling into their dirty hands. To do so in writing is dangerous because there is always the risk of an impending lawsuit but word of mouth can do wonders.

 

[trinettec]

There is a vet clinic in our town run by a older married couple. She does the small animals and He does the farm animals. The lady vet has the people skills of a porcupine but she always puts the best interest of the animal first.
My black shepard, Clancey, had been stolen from my yard and was missing for about 3 weeks. Clancey came home on her own. I rushed her to this lady vet because the clinic was only about a block from my house. Clancey had lost about 30 lbs and her paws were in terrible shape. The lady vet gave Clancey a super check up and wrote me out a special diet and went over what to do for her paws about 3 times. She called me every 2 days to check on Clancey for the next week until the next appt. I put up with her reather abrupt way with people because she always puts the animals welfare first.
Clancey absolutely loved her, and all of the other fur babies do too.