Our kitten was seen by Dr. Torok for luxating patellas in both hind legs. She seemed very knowledgeable and I had read prior (glowing) reviews for the practice, including some that mentioned pets being seen for similar issues with patellar luxation. We have since learned that the surgery should not have been performed for a variety of reasons and will not return to this practice. Note that this review is centered around cat treatment; hopefully the practice is more knowledgeable and compassionate to other animals, but the multiple issues we ran into should give anyone pause before bringing their pet here.
When first visiting, Dr. Torok examined our kitten who had grade IV luxating patellas, the most severe grade. She let us know we would need to do surgery at 11-12 months old, when our cat was fully grown, to fully correct her knees. She also firmly expressed that in order to ensure the most successful surgery and avoid any complications, we should do a preliminary surgery ASAP to try and relieve some of the tension in her legs due to the severity of her luxation. If not, it would get "harder and harder and harder" to perform the final surgery at ~1 year old.
We scheduled and had surgery performed that week as, at the time, we believed that it was the correct thing to do.
Two weeks post-surgery, we had bandages removed because of swelling in our cat's foot, during which she was screaming the entirety of the time. Dr. Torok and team confirmed she had a wound on her toe. They proceeded to affirm that she was not screaming because of pain and we shouldn't be concerned, administered an antibiotic for the toe, and re-bandaged it.
The following day, I called the practice as our cat had seemed very uncomfortable. Whenever she moved, she would scream/cry, and she had trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep even with pain-relievers and a sedative. Honestly, I wasn't sure if this was typical post-surgery/bandage removal. The tech said she spoke with Dr. Torok and, "Dr. Torok said she shouldn't be too uncomfortable". No mentions of increasing her gabapentin, or even acknowledgement that she could be in pain. We later took her to an ER where they confirmed she was very, very painful even after several pain-relieving meds and sedation.
This is what caused alarm bells to start going off for us - this practice, which claims to be "fear-free", did not trust us nor our animal when showing signs that she was in extreme pain. We decided to transfer her care to MedVet and met with a surgeon that week to confirm we were following appropriate aftercare so our cat would recover well from surgery and get back to living her life as a kitten. They delivered the jarring news that this surgery should not have been done on a cat so young, should never be done on both legs at the same time, and she should not have been bandaged from the waist down to her toes. We now have to go to physical therapy for the next several weeks to help our cat regain her range of motion, care for her injured toes from the bandages, and then follow through with corrective surgery when she is one year old.
Both us and our cat are incredibly distraught. I wish Dr. Torok had realized that this surgery was out of her depth and referred us to an orthopedic specialist as opposed to rushing us to do a surgery that, ultimately, may end up hurting our poor cat (beyond the pain that she is already experiencing). We relayed feedback regarding this surgery and our experience to the practice, and they did end up issuing a partial credit to us, but unfortunately no monetary value can be assigned to the distress we have experienced.
As a final note to anyone that this makes a difference to, I learned after our visits that they perform declaws. I'm not sure the extent to which these are performed, but hopefully someone from the practice can comment so others are informed prior to choosing this as their practice. read more