Aerowood Animal Hospital Reviews (%countItem)
Aerowood Animal Hospital Rating
Address: 2975 156th Ave SE, Bellevue, Washington, United States, 98007-6525
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I brought my cat to Aerowood Animal Hospital as she was having difficulties delivering her litter. I had done so with a previous cat with a great outcome.
The attending veterinarian Jake M, DVM recommended emergency C-section and I agreed with that assessment. I was charged for 10-24 hours of hospitalization; however, because "we are having another surgery scheduled", I was contacted after 2 hours and 45 minutes to come pick up my cats and seven newborns. I was told that they did not have the time to attend to her or the newborns. I complied out of fear for my cat and the newborns.
In the previous C-section, that cat was kept overnight. She had a dead fetus in utero and was given antibiotics during and after surgery. The current cat was kept for a mere 2 hours and 45 minutes including surgery and no antibiotics were provided at any given time despite having a dead fetus in utero.
Cat died from massive sepsis caused by peritonitis caused by substandard care.
In regards to ***.
Per our records Toot was presented
to the hospital at 8:50 pm on 5/16/20. We were told that she had been in labor for at least 2-3 hours without
producing a kitten. An initial FAST scan
was performed and fetal heart rates were detected; there was a possibility that
one heart rate was too slow or stopped. Radiographs were performed to count the number of fetuses present, it is
pertinent to note that this had not been done prior which is standard recommendation
for any pregnant animal to understand how many fetuses are present even for a
standard birth. This was also Toot’s
second litter before she was two years old.
Ms. was extremely adamant about
not wanting medications used on Toot before and after surgery, frequently
citing how many times she has been through litters as a breeder. When I called after the surgery was completed,
Ms. asked if she could take them home that night. I told her that I
would prefer to have them hospitalized until the day practice could discharge
the patients. We did have another
emergency surgery that needed to be attended to that night and the kittens were
not nursing as well as I would have liked. With Ms. continuing to proclaim how many times she has had
litters I assumed she was capable of managing them at home since I needed my
staff for the other surgery, and I didn’t want them to be unattended in the
hospital at any point.
The surgery was uncomplicated
although there was a still born kitten. Sterile technique was used during the surgery and the abdomen was
lavaged before closing. I expressed my concern for the
nursing to Ms. and she mentioned that she had formula at home and had
bottle fed kittens before. As stated in
my discharge instructions to her, I advised her to work at getting the kittens
to nurse as the first several hours can be crucial for colostrum and if they
are given formula that will close down their gut and they will not be able to
receive the benefits of the colostrum later. She dismissed this out of hand and again said she knew what she was
doing. Before leaving she again made
sure that no medications were given to Toot. At the time of discharge she dismissed my staff as they attempted to go
over my discharge instructions as I was already into the next surgery by the
time she came and picked them up. Jake M, DVM
Abridged excerpts from Letter sent to owner on December 9th, 2019
Our 10-year-old, 110 lb. Rhodesian Ridgeback *** passed-away under the care of your office on Wednesday, November 27th at approximately 6:30 pm.
We knew that *** was probably very ill, as she was vomiting daily and hadn't eaten for a couple of days before we came in. Her thyroid was enlarged, and she most likely had cancer. My wife Tresa and I were never under the illusion that she would live much longer.
Final Hours - Wednesday 11/27:
I called your office a few minutes after 3:00 pm and was told the test results were there but had yet to be evaluated by Dr. S. She called me back approaching 4:00 pm with an initial report - that being that *** had lymphoma - which was not at all surprising. I had been speaking to Oncology Practitioners in advance, off and on all day to try to obtain an appointment in advance. She further told me *** was still not eating and asked if they should syringe feed her - I agreed, and frankly thought that would already have been happening. She suggested that we should come later - we were ready to leave at this time - and bring some food and try to feed her ourselves.
Dr. S and I outlined a plan together to further improve *** based upon another night or longer at Aerowood before trying to bring her home. She called me again after 4:30 pm to confirm the details and additional costs for the coming night and we agreed to reconvene in the morning for further planning. I was informed that *** overall quality of life was poor, and that euthanasia was not premature in being considered. I assured her that Tresa, Quincy and I would be there very soon. My wife and I paused to eat, feeling confident and looking forward to seeing *** early that evening - Tresa had even made fresh chicken & rice to bring as was suggested by Dr. S - we were less than five minutes from walking out the door to drive to Aerowood at 6:00 pm when the phone rang.
The first call was Dr. Bailey frantically clamoring that "*** was leaving" and we should "come fast" ... she hung-up quickly sighting another pending emergency! The second call, one minute later was Dr. S stating that *** had cancer in her lungs and her breathing was now extremely labored and that she had not urinated all day and could not handle any more IV fluids and a sudden barrage of additional diagnostics not mentioned less than 90 minutes prior ... I informed her that we were literally walking out the door to leave to see *** at that very moment. She asked if I wanted her to be resuscitated ... shocked - I agreed of course!
Though we knew *** might not live long, this sharp turn in events was shocking and contradictory to the information we had just been given. At the very least, we were going to evaluate *** that evening and most likely agree to have her put-down while were able to ALL be present given her state. That we had been given such late and conflicting information ... We made it to Aerowood at 6:30 pm and found it disorganized and somewhat chaotic.
Nobody knew anything about our situation and the entire place - front to back - smelled like cat urine! I finally pulled a staff member aside and asked about Abigail, as your front desk was not staffed. We were there for nearly 10 minutes before we were taken back by Dr. S. She met us in an exam room with no words, no apology just the statement "It was just her time" which she repeated over and over again in our company ... this only further diminished our experience of *** abrupt end; which was now greatly altered in that we would not be able to hold onto her in grace while she passed-away. This, at the very least, was what we had expected in bringing her to a Veterinarian in the first place.
In closing, my points are as follows:
Had communications been timelier, more detailed and professionally prioritized - both Tresa and myself could and would have been at Aerowood the entire afternoon prior to *** passing. We never received any useful preemptive information from your staff - who in fact, we were paying to communicate with us in an effective manner - that would have made us aware that a near to death at any moment potential was in the works.
I would only hope that having taken the time to outline our experience in detail - will be of some use in assisting this manner of heartbreaking scenario from unnecessarily repeating itself again at Aerowood.
Given the fact that you called me as to inquire about *** wellbeing and Oncologist appointment - five days post-mortem - completes my point regarding the predominant role that ill-timed, ineffectual communication played in the extremely unsatisfying experience we have recently had with your company.
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