Veter.ca

Our cat is suddenly lethargic. We made an appointment - which means nothing - at this emergency clinic. We got there in time for our appointment, called them from the parking lot to let them know we had arrived, and were told to wait in our car for an hour with our pet because there was an emergency and there was only one vet in this huge emergency clinic. We opted not to wait and went home. They called us 25 minutes later to see us, but we were already gone. We called the next day, made another appointment - which again meant nothing - and were told to wait in the car until they called us. We waited in our car in the parking lot for half an hour before we phoned them - again - and told them - again - that our cat was lethargic and hadn't eaten for over 36 hours, etc. We asked if we could bring her in just so they could at least put her on fluids because we knew she was dehydrated. A vet tech called us back, asked appropriate questions, and we informed them of unrelated additional medical information that they should be aware of. They took her in, phoned us, decided she was "stable" and *didn't* put her on fluids. Then the vet phoned us; he wanted to do a blood test, x-rays, and put her on fluids, quoting a price of almost $3,000! (Thought she didn't need fluids?) The price was bad enough, but how long would we have waited if we hadn't phoned again from the parking lot? We told the vet that this fee is outrageous, we just wanted a blood test, we will take her home, and wait for the results. The vet told us a blood test would cost [almost $400] and that they'd have the results in 2 hours or so. We said okay. Instead of all of us hanging up so that the vet could proceed with the blood test, the vet said he'd write up an estimate to include dealing with that other unrelated medical situation, and call us back. We're thinking ‘an estimate for what? He just told us what a blood test would cost.' After ten minutes of waiting for an estimate we didn't ask for, we phoned to find out what's going on/what the delay is. We were asked to come into the vestibule again. The estimate for what we already told the vet we *didn't* want was almost $3,000, including *another* $100 for *another* emergency assessment. Uh, we just paid over $100 for the initial emergency assessment just to get our pet in the door, and only to receive conflicting information (re fluids). Further, the estimate that we didn't ask for did *not* include the non-emergency medical matter. We asked to see Dr. Malek; he refused to come out to talk to us. Fed up with this emergency clinic's nonsense for two days now, we asked for our cat back immediately. The vet tech then brought our cat out in her carrier and stayed behind the glass door until we, in the vestibule, signed a paper that said we have not agreed to any of their services. We opened the door, took the paper from the technician, threw it in the air, took our cat right out of the technician's hand (in her carrier), and got the heck out of there. This clinic is a colossal waste of time, doesn't honour appointment times, is motivated by charging outrageous prices, does not honour clients' requests, not to mention the added stress on all of us including and especially on our beloved pet. The icing on the cake is that our cat's lethargy - we eventually found out - was due to severe teeth pain, which was so obvious that a blind man could see it. Avoid this emergency clinic like the plague - because they are.