03/22/2025
***edited to add: this post was made with the owner’s encouragement and approval.***
This post is currently pending approval on oakhurst fb page, but felt it needed to be seen by my cat clients—
As some of you know, I’m the neighborhood cat sitter (Feline Groovy)
I feel it’s important to share the following experience I had yesterday at Oakhurst Animal Hospital. It was beyond disappointing and infuriating.
I apologize in advance for the length, but feel all this info is important and a warning to those considering taking their pets to this clinic
While in the process of watching a cat- Avery- for a week, she was progressively behaving poorly. Not eating, not behaving socially as she normally does with me. (I’ve cared for her numerous times over the last 2-3 years)
I was in constant contact with the owner. Avery is a long time client of Oakhurst hospital. She’d been seen prior to their trip so they were aware of some possibly concerning health issues.
The owner called them Sunday nite-left a message-after a few days of concerning behavior.
No response from vet on Monday morning. He called them again and left another message. Then another. Finally on Tuesday reached someone and was told the messages didn’t get to the vet. They told the owner that IF WE DETERMINED SHE NEEDED TO BE SEEN, that I could drop her off any time prior to 11 am and they could board her thru the rest of his trip all weekend etc. I capitalized that for a reason.
In concert with owner, he and I decided to take it visit by visit (I was stopping by twice daily) bc if she wasn’t eating much at home, in a cage at the clinic it could be worse. And she had some days where she’d eat more and was using the litter box daily at that point.
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon (Friday) after closely monitoring her intake and output (hadn’t eaten much in a few days and zero litter box activity over 24 hours) owner agreed I should take Avery to vet. He called at 2:30pm and was told (I have the text messages as proof) that I could “bring her in any time, just to call prior”. So, I got Avery in her carrier (not easy!) and drove her to Oaks hospital. Got there at 3:30 pm.
Where I was promptly turned away.
I was there with a sick cat, the owner was on phone with receptionist and was told Avery couldn’t be seen “without an appt”. And that they were closing in a half hour. Their website and hours on door indicate they close at 5pm. I made sure to get to Avery’s house asap so that I wouldn’t get there too close to closing time.
I asked to speak to the vet. Was denied. Then I told her she could either get the vet or I was leaving Avery there.
I never raised my voice, said anything problematic, etc
He came out and kept telling me I “didn’t show on Wednesday”
Pls see previous capitalized sentence above. After multiple times telling him there was no appt set and even showing him the text message saying to bring her in as long as there was a call prior, he wouldn’t budge. I pleaded with him to at least give her a cursory exam. Nope. He said he had other patients and they were closing in a half hour. And then I asked about Saturday and he said they were closed.
Several times he stated “I don’t know what you want me to do”
(Again, website and door indicate open half day on Saturday. THEN he told me no one would be there that weekend to check on her. Go back to Tuesday call saying she could be boarded thru weekend)
I told him I’ve heard others complain recently about the lack of communication between front desk and him and then left with Avery to take her to an emergency vet hospital.
VEG in naperville is amazing. The level of care and bedside manner was amazing. I was able to be with her during blood draws, exam and ultrasound. The only time I was separated from her was when she was X-rayed.
4 hours later I returned Avery to her home. She is still not well with a potentially devastating diagnosis and her family will be home tonite.
This is not my cat. I’m a cat sitter. But part of my job is making sure the cats are healthy and I could not in good conscience let her languish until her family came home. This is why I always ask clients to leave vet info and a carrier handy.
To be clear, Avery’s family always had good experiences with this clinic until the last few months.
The lack of response from the vet and the obvious multiple instances of miscommunication between him and staff is awful. Idk if it’s a staffing issue there or what. But I am glad I don’t take my 3 cats there.
Trustworthy and experienced cat care and sitting services.
