Because I totally have $400 laying around
Dear Vet Clinic,
I hope you enjoy the $400+ you made off of me, including the needless testing you got out of me, because it’ll be the last money you get from me.
Alright, I suppose I should go into things.
This past Saturday, my loveable, tailless cutie came down ill. Now she was just lethargic, off her food, etc, cue thoughts of kitty cold. Even cats have their days, just like humans, where one is blah and ewh.
Sunday, vet is closed, and cat does not get better. Call in Monday morning, get in right away at 9:45am. That’s not the suck.
The suck is that the vet assistants overwhelmed me with all these tests and how they wanted to do FULL SPECTRUM testing on the cat just to make sure everything is alright.
Problem: Full spectrum testing is like $350. WTF?
Well, I’m overwhelmed, I’ve never had a cat sick like this. I want to leave off some of the tests or at least start with the cheap tests, and I try arguing with her a bit on it. I instantly get this behavior from the vet tech like I’m somehow an animal abuser, with almost word for word, “Well, these tests are VERY important, and we really do NEED to do THESE first,” as she circles the two most expensive ones. One, the two x-rays @ $140, and then the blood tests that were like $60. Ironically, and I say ironically, as you’ll read later, she didn’t mind leaving off the paltry $20 UTI test. However, she fought me like hell over the FIV testing. Now, all my cats are indoor, and I just had one of the cats tested a few months ago, and she was clear. Now, I know there’s a very small chance for that, but at $50, couldn’t we leave that off until we check the other things?
Oh no, brow beat me into that. I’m a fucking college kid lady, I don’t make $400 a week, I have to borrow it from my dad. Great.
So, the results come back. Vet comes in, and it’s like big smiles, “Xrays are clear! Blood work is fine! Oh, but she has a UTI!”
WTF?!
Did it not occur to you to just do the UTI test FIRST!? Now, I’m a dummy, I’ve *never* had a cat had a UTI, so I didn’t really know the symptoms, other than, “Cat isn’t peeing in the box, cat is peeing all over the place,” and my cat wasn’t displaying that symptom, but holy hell, after talking to my mother, who lives across the country, and has her own cats(and longer than my own), displayed all the other symptoms of a UTI, and was told that the vet should’ve ran the UTI FIRST! ( As that’s what her vet and all the other vets she’s had hers to )
Well, the vet tries to act like she’s throwing me a bone, because, yeah, I’ve been pretty much fucked without the courtesy of lube, by doing the Sub-q fluids free. What ever. I’m still pissed, especially when she dares to insist that I leave the cat overnight in the hospital for an additional $167. What? Okay, lady, I do know that much about a UTI. It does NOT require a night stay.
Well, I suppose now I know my lesson, and yeah, maybe I should’ve spoken up more probably, but at the same time, these are the people that are supposed to know these things and know this and that, I mean, we should have some hope in this world that when we take our animals to the professionals, that they’re about the welfare of the animal and not the pocket book. Besides that, my poor kitty had to go through a lot of useless ass tests that only stressed her out even further, and really wasn’t that good for her to go through when they could’ve just done a UTI test on her first and see where that got them.
So, I won’t be going there anymore. When Kitty goes into get her check up, I’ll be getting all my cats’ records and going elsewhere, and I WILL be letting them know the reason. I’m sick of being upsold on this place, or being treated like I’m a bad owner because I’m leery about dumping $350 at one whack, and rather try one test at a time and see what comes up.
Besides, there’s a vet closer to me that actually supports the spay/neuter program here ( did one of mine, and the cat came out of it better than where my other cats went, and they were VERY nice ) by five miles or so. I think I’ll try going there.
I hope you enjoy the $400+ you made off of me, including the needless testing you got out of me, because it’ll be the last money you get from me.
Alright, I suppose I should go into things.
This past Saturday, my loveable, tailless cutie came down ill. Now she was just lethargic, off her food, etc, cue thoughts of kitty cold. Even cats have their days, just like humans, where one is blah and ewh.
Sunday, vet is closed, and cat does not get better. Call in Monday morning, get in right away at 9:45am. That’s not the suck.
The suck is that the vet assistants overwhelmed me with all these tests and how they wanted to do FULL SPECTRUM testing on the cat just to make sure everything is alright.
Problem: Full spectrum testing is like $350. WTF?
Well, I’m overwhelmed, I’ve never had a cat sick like this. I want to leave off some of the tests or at least start with the cheap tests, and I try arguing with her a bit on it. I instantly get this behavior from the vet tech like I’m somehow an animal abuser, with almost word for word, “Well, these tests are VERY important, and we really do NEED to do THESE first,” as she circles the two most expensive ones. One, the two x-rays @ $140, and then the blood tests that were like $60. Ironically, and I say ironically, as you’ll read later, she didn’t mind leaving off the paltry $20 UTI test. However, she fought me like hell over the FIV testing. Now, all my cats are indoor, and I just had one of the cats tested a few months ago, and she was clear. Now, I know there’s a very small chance for that, but at $50, couldn’t we leave that off until we check the other things?
Oh no, brow beat me into that. I’m a fucking college kid lady, I don’t make $400 a week, I have to borrow it from my dad. Great.
So, the results come back. Vet comes in, and it’s like big smiles, “Xrays are clear! Blood work is fine! Oh, but she has a UTI!”
WTF?!
Did it not occur to you to just do the UTI test FIRST!? Now, I’m a dummy, I’ve *never* had a cat had a UTI, so I didn’t really know the symptoms, other than, “Cat isn’t peeing in the box, cat is peeing all over the place,” and my cat wasn’t displaying that symptom, but holy hell, after talking to my mother, who lives across the country, and has her own cats(and longer than my own), displayed all the other symptoms of a UTI, and was told that the vet should’ve ran the UTI FIRST! ( As that’s what her vet and all the other vets she’s had hers to )
Well, the vet tries to act like she’s throwing me a bone, because, yeah, I’ve been pretty much fucked without the courtesy of lube, by doing the Sub-q fluids free. What ever. I’m still pissed, especially when she dares to insist that I leave the cat overnight in the hospital for an additional $167. What? Okay, lady, I do know that much about a UTI. It does NOT require a night stay.
Well, I suppose now I know my lesson, and yeah, maybe I should’ve spoken up more probably, but at the same time, these are the people that are supposed to know these things and know this and that, I mean, we should have some hope in this world that when we take our animals to the professionals, that they’re about the welfare of the animal and not the pocket book. Besides that, my poor kitty had to go through a lot of useless ass tests that only stressed her out even further, and really wasn’t that good for her to go through when they could’ve just done a UTI test on her first and see where that got them.
So, I won’t be going there anymore. When Kitty goes into get her check up, I’ll be getting all my cats’ records and going elsewhere, and I WILL be letting them know the reason. I’m sick of being upsold on this place, or being treated like I’m a bad owner because I’m leery about dumping $350 at one whack, and rather try one test at a time and see what comes up.
Besides, there’s a vet closer to me that actually supports the spay/neuter program here ( did one of mine, and the cat came out of it better than where my other cats went, and they were VERY nice ) by five miles or so. I think I’ll try going there.