I'll spare the obvious foundational reality of going to the vet, and that pets are family, and there is a certain expectation of common decency towards life that most decent people would have. In the interest of writing a short novel instead of a 5 chapter book, the following events are summarized and paraphrased for what is a hopefully somewhat efficient read to anyone who is in the panicking situation where your pet is in trouble, and you're taking the time to research who handles the life you're responsible for and bonded with as the pet relationship often is. It's a very important thing. It's something that requires trust, and is very crucial to have a good relationship. It is my true belief that Gulf Coast Veterinary Services, and name on the invoice, Dr. Carolina Garcia, genuinely do not care about the people, or animals that come into their facility beyond a financial transactional relationship.
I ended up going to Meyerland Animal Clinic and my cat was given some laxatives, lots of pets, and on his way in about 20-30 minutes, and was feeling better within 2-3 hours. The time I spent invested in Gulf Coast Veterinary Services based on my call logs, was an initial call at 10:57AM, and a payment made for literally no beneficial services to my cat, at 1:59PM. Initially I was quoted one thing, but when I departed there were fees including the most laughable, a $32 charge for a pee pad because my cat urinated in the kennel on the pee pad (I'll get to that later). If you'd like more detail, set aside 5-10 minutes and read below.
On Monday, my cat started to demonstrate symptoms of having trouble with bowel movements. I called around and the only place that could get him in "immediately" ( I used quotes here because this is what I was told on the phone ) was Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists on the Katy Freeway. I rushed my cat over there, taking off work. On the call ahead I was very clear he was constipated/having trouble pooping. At no point did I say anything about a bladder issue. When I arrived I spoke with the first person at the front desk, and again, stated he was having problems going to the bathroom, specifically, number two. Then someone came into the waiting room where me and my cat were, and asked if I was there for urinary problems, and who his primary care vet was, etc. I explained, AGAIN, that he was there for #2, not #1. I gave his medical history.
Then assistant #2 walks in, this is the second person, she explains they're goin to look at his 'trouble urinating'. For a third time, I explain with no ambiguity, he is having problems defecating, not urinating. They ask his medical history, again, and I give them the same information, again. At this time there is a pattern being established of either a back end communication break down where nothing I am telling them about my cat, or they simply don't care enough to listen as they've already assumed and mentally aligned with their perception of a problem without listening to me, or even looking at my cat. I ask when someone can look at him, and then I get conflicting stories of "No doctor has been assigned" and "she looked at him but not in detail". This personifies 'no doctor' which tells me that again, either their attention to detail is abhorrent or they're really just this unorganized, and disinterested in keeping someone updated on their pet.
When I called ahead I explained our cats are indoor cats and I'm not sure how they'd be without me or my wife around, and they said I could stay with them. When I got there they carted him off to a kennel and didn't let anyone back there. While this is understandable, this is not the way it was represented on the phone.
In rolls the doctor about an hour or more later. She AGAIN asked how long since he peed, I told her it was a problem with #2, she stated "That's not why my notes say, you didn't tell anyone that, you said #1". I absolutely did not. I saw the notes later and it was a one line sentence fragment "Trouble urinating" which is absolute not what I said. The doctor said she wanted to check for bladder stones, do blood work, etc etc etc etc. The assistants did tell me the "good news" that "your cat has urinated, since your concern was he wasn't urinating", which it wasn't. At this point my trust had been broken and it was clear they did not care about me, or my cat, as they still weren't looking into why I brought him there.
Nobody listened, and most importantly nobody seemed to care. This review is an opinion based on the way I was treated, and the attention to detail demonstrated by uniformed persons of employ at this facility.
Hit the word limit, but these people didn't care about me, or my cat, just the ability to keep the revenue going one small charge at a time. They knew he would be okay, but wanted to milk it for all they could. I hope Dr. Carolina Garcia and her staff take pride in this review, as they took no pride in the care of my cat.
I was referred to Gulf Coast for my 6 year old border collie as he had a chronic limp. They found not use x-rays I provided so did new X-rays, new exam, ultra sound all at very high prices. They determined he needed steroid injection again quite expensive, this helped for 10 days. They cancelled first follow up, let me drive over an hour for second follow up only to cancel, then informed me they were closing the department and we would need to go somewhere else. I am now out thousands of dollars and my pet is no better, but they had no sympathy for him and just didn’t care!
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