Incompetent and dangerous
I am utterly horrified by the service provided, particularly by "dr" Hollie Furey, but my complaint extends to everyone at the clinic, as she was consulting with her colleagues. On the morning of 15th July my cat, Mr Kittens, suddenly became very ill and was in severe pain. We called James horner vets immediatelly and arrived to the appointment around noon. My cat couldn't walk. "dr" Furey's immediate reaction was to suggest reserving an operating room for the next day to amputate the leg - without running any tests, properly examining my cat or showing any sympathy or common sense. her first guess was a blood clot(important for later). This happened within the first two minutes of us entering the office. I was horrified.
My husband insisted that we would not agree to any operations before conducting tests. So, we left our cat for x-rays to ensure nothing was broken and other tests to rule out blood clots, neurological conditions, etc. After all the tests and scans, "dr" Furey failed to properly assess his heart that day, despite having plenty of time because Mr Kittens was under anesthesia. Despite all these tests, she missed an extremely dangerous, life-threatening and progressed conditionion - restrictive cardiomyopathy. Instead, she focused on the blood glucose levels, suggesting diabetes, which made no sense given the circumstances. We received a phonecall durin the day from Furey, hat she suspects an extreme case of diabetic neuropathy which caused the paralysis and gave us a time to come pick up Mr Kittens. Ultimately, we spent £1000 on monday for a misdiagnosis of a condition where every second mattered, they failed to treat or even identify it for two days. A few minutes after we left the clinic on the 15th , Furey called my husband again after consulting her colleagues, including James Horner himself, and suggested we bring out cat back in the morning to start diabetes medication while we wait for the results of a specific diabetes test. Despite all the scans and tests, they continued to focus on the diabetes as the issue, ignoring all other indicators that pointed towards a heart/neurological condition.
On Tuesday morning I brough my cat back in to start fluid and wait for the results of the diabetes test. Furey assured me that everything else was looking fine - his leg, his heart, etc., other blood indicators didn't matter - so it must be diabetes. However, by lunchtime, they called my husband to say they had performed another heart scan (this time without anesthesia) and discovered that his heart is extremely enlarged. Now they claimed it was heart disease, not diabetes, and suggested euthanasia. So, all of the tests, procedures, and money spent on Monday were completely wasted. Every other vet we consulted recognised the problem immediately from he initial blood results, but somehow James horner vet's entire staff failed to do so.
By Tuesday evening, after paying another £500, we went to pick up our cat. We asked if he had been given anti-clotting medication, which was crucial given his condition and its severity. It was around 6pm- nearly two full days after he had been suffering. It was another "dr", Katherine Hull, on Tuesday, who also failed miserably to perform her most basic duties - care for the patient or have a basic sense of urgency. Shockingly, she admitted that she hadn't given him the medication yet and was waiting for us to arrive. We were the ones who had to give him the medication, which is absolutely infuriating, especially after all the time that was already wasted because of their incompetence. On Tuesday, we pre-booked a pet hospital in another country and planned to transfer our cat there as soon as he was discharged. We consulted with several other vets on Monday and showed them all of the test results, which promptly led them all to the conclusion that it is a heart condition, based on the deficits in the blood tests that "dr" Furey conveniently ignored. before leaving, we asked if Mr Kittens was stable enough to travel.
Every other vet we've spoken to has been horrified by the level of care at James Horner Vets. You not only robbed us of £1500 but, more importantly, you wasted the most crucial hours of my cat's illness. You should have administered the medication immediately, but instead, you were wasting the precious time. You should have ran the tests properly the first time, and, most importantly, you should have competent enough staff that is able to read blood tests.
It's not just "dr" Furey who is at fault - she consulted with others and they all failed. Catastrophically incompetent staff.
Our cat was miraculously saved by the other vet despite having a 10% chance of surviving the next few days. No thanks to James Horner Vets. An absolute disgrace.
July 15, 2024
Unprompted review
