Avoid the Emergency Vet if possible.
It was a Saturday afternoon; I had just pulled in the driveway of my friend’s house as it was my turn to feed the stray cats. Suddenly, a very small red tabby kitten appeared that I hadn’t seen before.
I had suspected that one of the females had been pregnant, so I figured he must be one of hers. She was lying on the driveway and as soon as he saw her, he ran up to her and began nursing. When he was done, he hobbled away as he had one of his back legs hiked up. I got a little closer and noticed that part of his foot was gone and something was protruding out.
I got back in my car and called my vet, but they were already closed since it was late Saturday afternoon, so I called the emergency vet clinic.
“It’s $90 for an exam and then extra, of course, for any treatment”, the receptionist quoted.
Now all I had to do was figure out how to capture him; unfortunately, I didn’t have anything with me to help and my friend wasn’t home.
I got back out of my car and tried to get close to him, but every time I did, he would “run” – he was fast even with the bum leg. The other problem was, he would run into the neighbor’s yard through their chain link fence.
Knowing he was probably still hungry, I went back to my car to hide, hoping he would come back to nurse.
While I waited, I prayed.
“Okay Lord, need some help here. I know I tend to only pray when I need help, but please help me with this little baby.”
After a bit, he did came back to nurse again.
I decided to approach him from the other side, so hopefully he would run away from me and into my friend’s yard (which also was fenced in with chain link).
As luck? (or should I say divine intervention) would have it, he not only ran into my friend’s yard, he ran into the screened-in porch through a loose screen at the bottom of the door.
I immediately went into the porch and sat in front of the door to block it.
We had a stand off, or I guess I should say sit off…After a few minutes (which seemed like a few hours), he realized I wasn’t leaving and the only way out was behind me (back through the door).
He stared at me for a few minutes realizing the only way out was behind me. I didn’t dare move towards him as I knew he would run back out the door and I’d never catch him outside. He meowed again loudly and finally decided to make a dash for it. I only had one shot at him as he was very fast and extremely small and could easily get around me. I grabbed for him and with god’s grace caught him on the first try. I picked him up gently and held him against my shoulder.
He was about the size of my hand.
He didn’t care much for the ride to the vet but I didn’t dare let go of him as I knew (if I did) he would hide under the car seat and then I would have another problem.
Once at the emergency vet, they took him in the back to examine him. This was fine, but after about a half an hour, I decided to repeat what I told them when I first arrived. I opened the door to the back and motioned to them.
“We’re almost ready, we’re getting a plan together,” the vet said.
“Plan? Like I said before, I am taking him to my regular vet Monday, so please just bandage him, give him some antibiotics or whatever and some pain meds for a day and a half, and my vet can help him Monday morning.”
NOTE: I wasn’t trying to be callous, I just knew they were going to be pricey even just for the items that I had requested.“Yes, ma’am, we’ll be right out.”
Another 10 minutes went by.
Finally, the assistant came out with an itemized invoice.
She laid it on the table and proceeded to explain the “plan” and its charges.
Me, being a bottom-line person looked at the total immediately.
“Excuse me, but you can stop right now as I don’t have $1,175.00!”, I exclaimed.
“But we HAVE to amputate his leg…”
“Hmm, well whatever is needed, my vet can do, ” I said as I looked at the invoice details more closely.
“Item number 2, what is this?”, I said as I pointed at it.
“That’s pain medication.”
“$70 bucks for pain medication?”
“Well, it’s a large bottle and we can only dispense it in one amount.”
“Look, I am not made of money. I need him bandaged, given antibiotics and pain meds for a day and a half,” I repeated. I’m not paying $70 bucks for pain medication, don’t you have something else?”
“Well, I can give you two pills but you’ll have to cut them.”
Interesting how they could dispense only 2 pills but for the liquid pain medicine, they could only dispense it in one large amount.“How much is 2 pills?”
“$11 dollars.”
“Okay, then give me the 2 pills.”
$169 dollars later and we were out of there. This was for the exam, a shot of antibiotics, and 2 pain pills. They refused to bandage his leg as they said it needed air!
On Monday, I took him to my vet. They examined him, knocked him out to clean his wound and cut his toe bone (this was what was protruding out), bandaged him, tested him for aids and leukemia, and threw in a recheck appointment for $130.00.
Also, they did NOT recommend an amputation! So not only was the emergency vet trying to rip me off, they were recommending amputating his leg which was NOT needed!!
Pet lovers beware!
