my vet makes me so mad!!!!

[maryam82]

Last night I took my cat to a new vet that my friend had recommended because I have recently moved. I told the receptionist AND the vet that I dont have his records with me right now and that I could get them faxed over if they needed them. They were like no thats ok. By the way my cat was being seen because I thought he might have ear mites. He kept scratching his neck and shaking his head. So anyways the vet looks my cat over and she asks me if my cat is current on his shots, and i tell her yes. She says she needs to take my cat out of the room to give him some drops or whatever. Usually the vet that I go to does it with me in the room. After 5 minutes or so she brings him back in the room. She doesnt really say much after that. Anyways we go out front to pay, and I see that the bill is much higher than what I expected. I look at the services I was charged for and see that shes given my cat allllllllllllllll his vaccinations over again. that really really got me so mad because hes current on everything. . MY cat had the 3 yr rabies vaccine plus a few one yr ones done about 2 months ago. She also gave him another vaccine that was intended only for outdoor cats, and it has the risk of cancer. I ask the vet tech who had given me my bill if its dangerous to get vaccines when you are already current. He goes..hold on a sec and goes back. Then he comes back and says no u should be fine just call us if you notice any bumps. I'm all confused, and im like what do u mean? and he says..dont worry you'll know if he develops any.

[Ducky]

YIKES. I would be livid. You should definatly get a new vet, tell your friend your bad experience, and report them to the BBB or whatever business deals with Health Care.
It is very unacceptable to give animals medical care without the authorization of their owners. Obviously this doesn't count in medical emergancies.. But this wasn't the case. I would definatly find a new vet. I would not have paid - but walked out and left.


My vet does all care in front of me as well. The only thing he didn't do on the exam table was take a FeLV snap test, and obviously the neutering surgery.

[kana]

I personally wouldn't like them taking my cat out of the room for ONLY shots. Do you really know for sure if they gave him the shots or were they just trying to get away with charging you? You really don't know and sure the vet would tell you that double shots would be ok if they didn't really give them. I would refuse to pay for the shots due to not giving permission for them.

[harley's mom]

I would definatly refuse to pay for the shots...since you didn't ask for them and the vet didn't even tell you taht he was giving your cat the shots. I would also report him and find a new vet. Sorry

[drjean]

Not only should you not pay for the shots, you should file a complaint with the state veterinary board. What they did is totally unethical, against the standard of practice, and possibly illegal. And then they have the gall to tell you to watch for bumps? They mean, cancer. http://www.aldf.org/packets.asp?sect=resources

Good luck!
Dr. Jean

[BaileyAndSammi]

You know... I had a similar experience. In fact it's so similar I am wondering if we had gone to the same vet!

After I adopted Sammi I took her in for her free "vet exam." I took her to this really great veterinarian who I had always trusted in the past.
The vet kept commenting on how beautiful Sammi was and made it seem like a routine check up. Then she said "Oh it looks like she has some stuff in her ears, I'll get that out." So she took Sammi into another room and at the time I had no idea why. All she said was "Okay I'm going to take her in the room to get her temperature and draw some blood." This seemed weird to me because when I took Bailey there for her first exam they did the temperature in front of me, and there was no blood drawn. But I trusted her, so I let her take Sammi into the other room.
She came back about 10 minutes later with the Q-Tips she used to clean Sammi's ears. She said her temperature was fine. And she said Sammi tested negative for Feline Aids/Leukemia. I said "WHAT?" She never asked me if I wanted her tested. Sammi was ALREADY tested before she went to the vet. So WHY would I get her tested again? But the vet never told me she was charging me for the combo test she did, she just brought back the paper that said the results were negative.
Anyway, I was about to leave the vet... I go up to the front desk to get all checked out and the receptionist says "Okay that will be $85" I said "No, I came here for a free exam" and she said "Oh yes, and the exam was free but the services are not." And I said "But I didn't request any of these services and I wasn't told they would cost extra."
I am really bad at defending myself when I feel like I am being taken advantage of in a situation like this, so the receptionist brought out the veterinarian who proceeded to tell me that she recommends all cats in two-cat households get tested for aids/leukemia and I said "But you didn't ask me!"
Just to get out of there I paid half and left.
When I got home I was looking at the paper for the aids/leukemia test and right at the bottom where it says "Congrats, your cat tested negative for both" it had a section that the vet was supposed to go over with me. I was supposed to check a box that either gave my permission or declined the test.

After finding all of this out, I wrote the vet a pretty lengthy letter and they never contacted me back. But they never charged me for the other half of the vet visit. I haven't tried to call or write again, but I did ask them to take Sammi and Bailey off of their records, and I am letting EVERYONE I know about how unprofessional this veterinarian is.

Sorry that was so long, I just wanted to share my experience and let you know we're in the same boat!

--Roze

[spacemonkey]

I'll add to this too:

When my puppy had demodectic mange (pretty common in pups), in addition to Ivermectin oral meds, he went in for a few Mitaban dips. We'd drop him off, they'd bathe him and dry him off, then do a skin test to see how well treatment was going. We'd pick him up two hours later. The last treatment, and the last time we went there, my mom picked him up, and was about to pay the bill when she saw it was larger than normal. She asked why, and they were like, "Oh, we cleaned his ears and gave him a couple vaccines." For the record, this was the same vet we'd been going to all along, and they knew we did not want those vaccines. And we could have cleaned his ears on our own; since he had allergies, I checked them frequently and knew they were fine! My mom was so mad She refused to pay for the cleaning and vaccines, and since his mange had cleared up, we switched vet's the next week.

There is no excuse for what your vet did! I have heard so many stories about what a vet may do when the owner is not around, I always insist on being present if my animal is being treated

[BoscosMum]

WOW. I hope you did not pay.

[maryam82]

unfortunately i did pay. it was really dumb of me i should have told them off.

dr. jean im definetly gonna file a complaint. Its a really huge facility with a whole team of veterinarians. I really was not expecting this from them. Do you know how common it is for cats to develop cancer after getting the shot? i swear if anything happens to my cat ill sue them for every cent they have.

[drjean]

Anyone who has such experiences really MUST file a complaint with the state board of veterinary medicine. (Their address will be in the government pages in the phone book.) Most likely no action will ever be taken, or at most a written reprimand. However, it is important to file for two reasons:

1. To send a warning. There is no feeling quite like getting a letter with your name from the state board. (I got one once, and it was awful, even though it turned out to be only a request for info on a case filed against another vet where I had also seen the cat.) It's terrifying! And they deserve it. The state board controls veterinary licensing. Unethical vets can have their license suspended or revoked.

2. Even if the board does nothing, if everyone who's wrongly treated would complain, eventually the file on that clinic would become pretty thick, and then action would have to be taken.

If you're feeling particularly creative, write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. This would be greatly beneficial in educating other pet owners, who may not know that this is unethical or what to do in such cases, and also let all vets know that this is not okay to do, ever!

Cheers,
Dr. Jean