This was my cat's vet. This summer I woke to her screaming in pain and saw she was unable to walk. I knew it was grave and called Aloha for emergency help. I was told it was a saddle stroke and all the things it would require to treat it, but I needed emergency help for her. I was bluntly turned down. The person who took my call could hear my cat screaming and offered to see her later in the afternoon. I was shocked at this. Not good enough! This was her vet and what happened to the hype about compassion when they were so desperately needed? I was struggling with what to do while on the phone and the only response I got was be sure to call if I'm not taking that 2pm slot.
In desperation I called Littlestown animal hospital and they said get her there ASAP. They got her in immediately and saw how much she was suffering, did a thorough examination, confirmed saddle stroke and explained the stroke was so severe it would be more compassionate to euthanize. For my cat the treatment would be extensive and sadly the strokes can recur. They immediately gave her a pain shot so she could relax and give me time to make a very painful decision. These strokes are horribly painful when they hit the hind legs and do not immediately cause death. It was cruel of Aloha to shrug a patient in screaming pain off for hours or tell me to take her to an ER which at the time of day would be a 45 minute to an hour drive in traffic with a cat howling in pain and possibly a wait at the ER. Yet another vet, just as busy, took her in as fast as I could get her there and it wasn't even my cat's vet. I made the painful decision not to put my cat through the possible recurrence of this awful fate but I was devastated. I could not even drive. And yes I forgot to call back and cancel that 2pm slot! I got an impatient call later reminding me I was to call back if I was not keeping the appointment. No concern for my cat whatsoever! This cold, uncaring response to a client is why I'm leaving the worst possible review. I would leave a minus 5 if I could. I hope other clients do not find themselves in this dire situation because I cannot attest to this clinic being there for them when it most matters.
The clinic's response does nothing to give me any confidence to take a pet here. Obviously too understaffed to be reliable. And "inconvenience" is a very poor description of what my cat and I went through, but it does show how unimportant the whole event was to them. read more