Intercity Animal Emergency Clinic

I have been holding my horses thinking i’d rather be kind, but the experience we had last night was indeed unacceptable—and I am writing this so the staff and management could recollect what happened and hopefully realize what they can improve on. We brought our dog in last night because he was making reverse sneeze sounds. Upon coming in, they took our dog in the back and left us clueless on what’s happening and what they are doing. We were prohibited to see him until the vet comes out to talk to us. About 15-20mins, vet came into our room—still without the dog (which got our anxiety level rising even higher!)—and told us that there was something inside his throat and needs our permission to sedate him and so he can take it out. I politely asked if we can perform an x-ray first, to which he agreed although he couldn’t guarantee that we are going to see something in the film. Furthermore, x-ray results, per vet, would take around 2hours so he “recommended” that we get him under their “hospitalization & treatment package.” I asked how the dog’s oxygen level was if there’s a suspected airway obstruction or choking, and I was assured that the level was good and that his gums are all pink—indicative that oxygenation is adequate. So given the good oxygen level, no x-ray, no bloodwork, the vet was suggesting that we sedate the dog—mentioning there is a 25-30% risk of the dog not waking up—for him to check down his throat and remove any object that “might have been” stuck. I requested that we monitor our fur baby’s condition first before sedating him and the front staff started giving out remarks which were rather condescending—that we were bad and that we are making a bad call, and that she just hopes the dog’s fine because we don’t care for him enough—and made us sign a waiver right away that we were refusing treatment, instead of giving us at least enough minutes to digest all the information and breathe a little then decide properly. They wanted us to pay the 1-1.5k+ hospitalization-sedation-treatment package, otherwise, we need to sign the refusal form! I asked before leaving about what to expect if we need to bring him back after monitoring him homeand condition doesn’t improve—only to be told that she isn’t answering any question because we refused treatment, and once again, that we were bad fur parents. It was then when I realized that it’d better to see a different vet professional. Our little baby’s condition improved overnight and we decided to bring him for a check at the vet clinic beside my office. Turned out to be an allergy attack and was given medication to soothe his irritated throat. I respect that every clinic and medical/vet professional has different ways to diagnose and treat—I recognize that I am no expert on this field—but as a dog owner, too aggressive measures before even doing the basics is going to cause fear, and they should be more empathetic in this regard. Apart from dealing with the pets as patients, they need to keep in mind as well that they are dealing with the human owners, too, before even entertaining thoughts about bad fur parenting and being heartless—this, for me, is pure unprofessionalism in all angle. Again, this long post wasn’t meant to degrade anyone but just to give them something to discuss within the team, and hopefully consider this scenario as an example on how things could’ve been handled better. Loving animals is beautiful, learning to also respect fellow humans is beyond amazing.