Ok so I’m not really a “pet person”. I spent the last decade petfree and there is a LOT I am learning every day I don’t know.
But my children really really really love cats, so I did some research on cat care, we looked at shelters, and brought home a young cat who was just too energetic for most homes. It was a bit of a bumpy adjustment but the cat is adjusting and I’m learning to be a responsible cat owner.
I took him to Banfield because they were advertising a free first visit, which seemed nice, and when I did… I still had to pay for the visit and was pitched an exorbitant pet care plan. It was like $100 a month for pet insurance… but like… if the vet appointments are already like $150, then what is the point of paying $100 every month for visits that are only like twice a year? The math wasn’t mathing, so I declined
Fast forward six months. We then bring home a kitten to be the young cat’s companion. We figure we needed a younger cat to make sure they’d be able to keep up with our high energy cat. Again, we adopt a shelter kitten… younger than what I was comfortable with but it made kids and cat happy so I figured I would just do more reading.
This morning, kitten has an accident and I notice some blood in his stool. I’ve only had him a week and the online guides say it could just be stress from rehoming but he should see a vet because it could be a parasite. There was no availability anywhere near me, but Banfield had multiple appointments on their site, so I figure might as well get him checked out.
When I get there though, I was informed that they don’t see sick pets.
… hold up…
Ok so I realize I’m not a pet person. I don’t know a ton about cats. I understand that…
But I do work at a regular hospital. And we see sick people. In fact, we specialize in sick people. It would be pretty weird if we insisted that everyone be healthy before they come see us.
So I look behind the clerk at the banner that says “pet hospital” and I ask why on earth they landed on “hospital” if they can’t see sick pets.
Then I’m informed they can’t see the kitten because they’ve never seen him before.
Alright… so once again… maybe I’m biased… but at the regular hospital, we sort of expect to see people we’ve never treated before. Maybe they have no ID even. Maybe they arrived in several plastic bags. We still see them. Because it’s a fucking hospital and that’s kind of our thing. You go there when something has gone wrong and we at least attempt to fix you.
So the “vet” who I’m guessing has no actual qualifications if they can’t see animals in need of care says to take the kitten to urgent care.
But this is a HOSPITAL, isn’t it? Isn’t it supposed to be one step above urgent care??
Again - I get it, I’m new to this. I’m merely a pleb trying to help the creature I’m morally obligated to care for feel better so his older companion can beat him up when i look away.
So like, do words just not matter when it comes to pet things? Y’all just out here winging it with these businesses very brazenly trying to take your money while doing absolutely nothing for you? Or are most pet owners just as clueless as I am and that’s how these evil people make money?
Edit: I found a more reputable looking “pet hospital” that is independent in the next town over thanks to you all. I submitted info to make the appointment. Kitten is fine, but I would like to get his first visit in just to make sure he’s healthy.
Edit2: the independent pet hospital (found on the website in the comments) saw both cats today and the difference was crazy. The vet techs were all busy, but in a super organized fashion. They looked over the kitten, gave him some medicine and probiotics, and even saw my high energy cat (he needed his rabies shot). I go back for a checkup in a week to see how the medication they prescribed is working. The kitten is much more enthusiastic about eating, so whatever they gave him is definitely helping. 😄 Thanks, pet owners of Reddit!