TLC Cat Clinic

Dr. Tessa Sa and her team at TLC Cat Clinic are absolutely wonderful. They are so patient and take time to answer all of my questions. Plus, I love that this is a feline-only clinic! I would highly recommend making Dr. Shea and TLC Cat Clinic your preferred veterinarian.

We have been going to TLC Cat Clinic for almost 10 years, Dr. Hillerson & Dr. Lovaas were wonderful Vets, they were kind, caring and compassionate, with both us and our cats, no wonder they named their clinic TLC Cat Clinic.
Now the New Vet/Owner Dr. Shea and her Vet Tech Joanna are all about the $$$. We brought our cats in to meet them last month and they were very businesslike, not really warm to us or our cats. Dr. Shea said that our female needed an oral surgery to remove a bad tooth so we set up a time for the surgery. July 9th was our original date but they called us and said they got a cancellation for July 2nd. So we agreed to take it since we didn’t have any plans for traveling for the holiday. BIG Mistake! We picked Hailey up around 4:30 that day and Joanna said Hailey would either be tired or run around. Basically this is all she told us, she also sent medicine home with us. They said they would call and check on Hailey in the morning. They never did, however I called them to tell them Hailey had not slept and just stares into space, I asked if the medicine they had sent home with us was needed for anything other then pain. She said it was for pain and I told her we were not going to use it. In all my years of being a pet owner I never had an issue like this, Buprenorphine should be banned! It is a very heavy drug. I expressed how I felt about it after researching it.
July 4th 2 days after the surgery Hailey seemed back to normal, we were so happy! We snuck out for a couple hours for a BBQ at a friends place and when we returned home we noticed Hailey was going in and out of the litter box and excessively cleaning her anus. This went on all day and she never deficated.
July 5th we called TLC Cat Clinic and of course they were closed! So we waited out the day and still the same ongoing issues as the day before.
July 6th same ongoing issues, she shakes her back end trying to go and try’s to go anywhere in the house at this point. We decide to take her to the emergency vet that TLC refers in their voicemail. The vet checked her and said she was not constipated. He checked her anal glands and our poor cat just screamed bloody murder! Heartbreaking! I asked him if maybe the Vet at TLC had made them swollen from secreting the anal glands during surgery, he really didn’t give an answer. He said we could do one of two things, nothing or start an antibiotic called Metronidazole. We told him we would take the antibiotic home and wait a little longer to see if she got better and then maybe start it. The side effects had liver damage, drooling, constipation and diarrhea.
July 7th Hailey still had not deficated and was still trying to go every where in the house.
July 8th MONDAY business hours!!!
TLC Again did not call to check on us or Hailey so I called and spoke to Joanna, she right away started the conversation with “ How is Hailey “? “ I see you brought her to the emergency vet”. All I could think was yea! Thanks for calling us to check up on us! I told her I wanted Dr. Shea to call me back as I had questions. I waited an hour and no call so I called again and they said they would have her call me. Finally she called and I explained what was happening and how I wasn’t sure I wanted to start the antibiotic because of the side effects. Her and I went back and forth for a half an hour on the phone. She doesn’t listen and she doesn’t care. She goes on and on about her cats and how long she has been doing this, etc. she also said I was being rude to her, which I was not. I was upset as I had the right to be so. I never swore at her and I kept my calm, my voice was stressed sounding as was I. I asked her if she could have possibly hurt the Anal glands and told her about the emergency vet and how she screamed so loud. She said she has been doing this a long time and never had issues. I told her I would start the medicine when I got home that afternoon. When I got home Hallelujah Hailey had deficated a very nice sized one. And seemed to be much better. We were so relieved, we decided not to start the antibiotic as we had made progress.
July 9th, everything is better and seems normal in the morning and then by afternoon she starts again with her shaking her back end, trying to deficate anywhere. So stressful. I call TLC Cat Clinic to let Dr. Shea know what’s going on, they say she will call me back. Finally at the end of day she calls me back and is upset at me for not giving Hailey the Antibiotic, I told her Hailey was better Monday when I got home. She again doesn’t listen or care about the stress this has caused on my whole household. I asked her since Hailey finally deficated a good sized portion if I should wait a little more. She said she should be ok. She said she would call and check on Hailey later in the week ( she never did)
July 10th Hailey is definitely back to the same issues with no progress so we start the antibiotic that night.
July 11th gave Hailey the antibiotic both morning and night she still hadn’t deficated but the licking was getting a little less.
July 12th gave Hailey the antibiotic both night and morning. Still didn’t deficate and the licking seems to have stopped. She is definitely not herself and seems VERY depressed.
July 13th gave Hailey medication in the morning.Finally around 1 pm she deficates! A very healthy sized one, but then she starts getting really stressed and starts going in and out constantly for about an hour and a half. In this time she got a little more out and finally by 3pm she seems a little less stressed. We decided to not give the antibiotic that night because she finally got some out again and she was so depressed and scared, not herself at all. So heartbreaking.
July 14th Hailey seemed a little more like normal in morning but in afternoon she still seems so sad.
TODAY July 15th - this is our scheduled follow up visit with TLC to have them look at Hailey’s mouth to make sure she healed fine.
We get there at opening time and Joanna and Beth are sitting at the front desk. We go sit down and Joanna finally comes over after a couple minutes and asks how Hailey is, I let her know we gave her the antibiotic for a few days and she deficated . She then reaches for the carrier and says she is going to bring Hailey back to weigh her. I did not want her to touch my cat, she is extremely unfriendly ( Joanna ) she comes out a few minutes later and tells us Hailey’s weight and that she looked at her anus and it looks fine. Then she just stood there and I asked when Dr. Shea would look at her mouth and she said she already did and it looked fine. WOW! She doesn’t even have the decency to come out to talk with us. I then tell Joanna to get Dr. Shea as we need to speak with her. She went and got her and she came out about a minute later. I told her it was very unprofessional everything we had went through and this is how she treats us in our follow up visit, she can't even discuss what is happening. Also she kind of said something to indicate she didn't believe us ( about Hailey's Litterbox issues).
She said this is the way she runs her business. I told her we didn’t care for Joanna as she is not friendly and has no bed side manner. She said “funny because she has worked here the last 8 years” ( her basically saying that in the past under the previous owners we would have had to have had dealings with her) I told her I had never met Joanna and that we loved Dr. Hillerson and Dr. Lovaas (Previous owners) and that they were very hands on Vets, they spent the whole time with us on our visits, doing their routine exams and actually petting and loving our cats. I told (Dr. Shea) under her new business of just over a year she is missing that. I told her all Joanna does during the visit is basically say it’s this much for that and this much for this, I’m starting to wonder if there is a care fee, meaning we will show a little tenderness for x amount of $$$’s. So after this part of the discussion is where Dr. Shea says “ do you know why they sold their business “? I didn’t ask why but still was told by Dr. Shea because the previous owners weren’t making any money. First of all I don’t care and it’s none of my business! But the first thing that came out of my mouth was “Because they had big hearts and they cared” I told her this is what she is missing in her practice and she better start thinking about it. I also told her she should change the name of the clinic and clean up the website and these reviews on fb as they were not earned by her before the Spring of 2018. You want to have the initials TLC you better get back to loving your job and being kind to the animals and the people that pass through your doors!
To sum it up, What don’t I recommend about TLC Cat Clinic? Basically I don’t recommend you come here unless you think of it as just a business transaction as that’s clearly what it is to them.
I hate to have to write this review but we owe it to our little girl to share this bad experience with other cat owners that love their fur babies as much as we do. We have felt so alone during this 2 weeks of stress and it shouldn’t be that way. I am hoping Hailey is on the right path to health. In a way I wrote this in hopes that Dr. Shea will improve where she is lacking in her business.
Please update the owner information on the Revdex.com website, The owner is now Dr. *** Shea.