I really hate to leave this review, as I've had several good experiences here before....tonight was NOT one of them. I found a stray cat while feeding some outdoor cats, this poor thing was basically a skeleton. I've never seen him before, and I couldn't get him to eat either dry or wet foot, though he was very friendly. I didn't have a trap with me and it's a 45 minute drive back to my house from there, I couldn't leave him so I picked him up and put him in the car. He laid on my lap the entire ride home, while I called vets. My regular vet couldn't see him until Monday (3 days away), so I called animerge. I explained the situation and told them I wanted to have him euthanized (I don't make that decision lightly, he was in awful shape and wouldn't even eat anything). The lady on the phone told me they would euthanize him, and it would be $150. Ok, no problem. (Unfortunately, I have had to have a couple cats euthanized there before, it's a last resort but sometimes it's necessary to end their suffering) When I got to animerge, a vet tech came out and looked at the cat (I was sitting in the waiting room holding him, this wasn't an exam). She said she would get a towel to wrap the cat up in, and came back a couple minutes later saying the vet wouldn't euthanize him "just because he's skinny". THE VET NEVER SAW THE CAT, and they tech didn't do an exam. If they had, they would see that he had almost no fat or muscle on his entire body, I have never seen a cat THAT skinny that was still alive in 25 YEARS of doing this. You could feel every bone sticking out, it's really terrible. This is apparantly a common thing at vets in my area (going by reviews), they tell you one thing on the phone, then completely change it when you come in and try to charge you (in my case) more than DOUBLE what you were quoted! I can't understand how the vet came to her decision without even seeing the cat, let alone doing an actual exam! A 10 second glance by a vet tech of a cat being held by a person sitting in a chair, is NOT a basis for determining care!! I was really surprised and aggravated, as again, I've had good experiences here in the past! Unfortunately, when employees change, care can take a nosedive. I really hope they don't do this to anyone else....
Edit: so I had brought the cat to my vet the next business day, they gave him antibiotics. He didn't get better, a few days later they prescribed stronger antibiotics. Still no improvement. So after seeing their reply to my original review, I called animerge looking to have him euthanized (he had no chance at this point, sadly). I explained the situation to the manager, she said what happened at the previous visit should NEVER have happened and that if I brought him in, they would euthanize him. They did as they said. I had to take another one of my own cats in a few weeks later, they really went out of their way to work with me which saved a lot of money (there was no way I could afford to have him hospitalized for 3 days). My cat recovered, he's doing well. I don't want to let one bad experience with one subpar employee cloud what otherwise has been terrific service. I will continue to use animerge.
