The Cat Hospital of Orlando — Local services in Altamonte Springs

So, after visiting another cat hospital in the Orlando area and getting nowhere, I decided to take Mr. Mean Overbite elsewhere for a second opinion. My first visit to the Cat Hospital of Orlando was descent, I felt as though they made an effort to keep my financial woes in mind as I’m unemployed with a BA Degree. That and they gave me a few donated pills for free and were able to help assist in running some tests which was greatly appreciated at the time. Not knowing what the test results would yield, they gave me some pain meds and some antibiotics which seemed to do a world of good. Then a week or so later they called to let me know the test results, E-coli it was. So, they told me to bring him back in. Now, here’s where things spiral downhill nothing nice!!! I asked if they had another medicine that wasn’t in pill form to help treat E-coli. They injected my cat with some medicine and at the time I didn’t even know the name of it. As soon as I brought him home, I could tell that something was wrong. Long story short, he had an adverse reaction to it which caused him to have diarrhea for two weeks straight. Meanwhile I called them to fill them in and I asked them what the name of the injection was because I knew something wasn’t right. *They gave my cat Convenia, but Convenia is to treat skin infections not E-coli according to the drug manufacturer!!! (Though could’ve been studied by a third party but still.) Oh and Convenia is known to cause adverse reactions and death in animals, they even have a Facebook page dedicated to it. Granted there are a lot of variables to each unique equation, but it’s pretty clear Convenia should be taken off the market! *They told me to give my cat Imodium for his diarrhea then prescribed Orbax for the E-coli. Well, after the first mishap I decided to do some research. While Orbax is intended to treat E-coli, it can be ineffective if given with magnesium, Imodium has magnesium in it. *So, I emailed them my concerns and questions and heard back a week or so later…”don’t trust Dr. Google”, down talking me like I some kind of idiot when clearly they’re the ones who need to brush up on knowledge and skills at that! *After talking with the Doctor, I decided to give them one more chance and that sure as heck wasn’t charm! I asked for a tech visit to avoid an office visit charge, I get there and I had a couple of basic questions about anal gland expression and a Brazilian shave for my cat’s rump. After two weeks of diarrhea, and seemed as though he was getting it again, issues with dingle berry syndrome and so forth, I just wanted them to check out his back side…DO NOT BRING YOUR ANIMAL TO THIS SORRY EXCUSE FOR A CAT HOSPITAL!!! *One of the other vets walked in the room, was so forceful with a rectal exam on my cat, you should see my cats poor little rear end. That and he has been leaking poop ever since, from the moment they put him in his carrier. Now, there’s no way to gracefully preform a rectal exam but I saw it myself and if I could go back and cause that sorry excuse for a vet the pain she inflicted upon my cat, too bad it’s illegal or else I’d do it in a heartbeat! Plus, they charged me an office visit when I went in for a tech visit, female dog! “Don’t trust Dr. Google” no, no, no, don’t trust these incompetent, ignorant, donkeys! All of the above is sadly true, I am $650.00 deep in vet bills, and they’re not getting another dime out of me for certain! So, if you care about the wellbeing of your animal, I’d heed my advice and take your...

My first experience with The Cat Hospital was bringing one of my cats in for a lion cut. They were the only place with ways to deal with a tempermental cat and it went great. So when my other cat started displaying abnormal behavior, we brought him here.

It turns out he had hyperthyroidism. They prescribed some medicine for him. What they neglected to do was warn me of side-effects. A few days after taking it, he started to shut down. He wouldn't eat, drink, or even move. I rushed him back here on a Saturday and they took him in for the weekend. They had to give him antibiotics, appetite stimulants, and push fluids into him. It turns out it was a reaction to the medication, that we ended up having to tell them about after Googling. We immediately took him off the meds and he was fine. This bill for all this was around $450.

Since then, we got a dog and took her to the Altamonte Veterinary Hospital down the road, with Dr. Larkin. This is relevant as my hyperthyroid cat got ill about 4 weeks back. His hind legs seemed to stop working. He could barely walk and it was at an angle. I decided to take him back to the Cat Hospital of Orlando as they already had him on file.

They did an exam and only determined he was dehydrated. They would need to send off for labs. They also wanted to keep him for two days and push fluids and insert a catheter. They brought me an estimate for OVER $1000 for all this. I inquired how come it was so much given his two day stay a year earlier was half that. They gave some fast talk, but nothing really substantial. I started looking through the charges and found double charges. They would charge things like a catheter insertion in a bundle charge and then enter it again as its own separate line item. When I mentioned this, they brought in the office manager who tried to fast talk and showed me a new estimate for around the same amount with the double charges removed, but now a third day added to it. At this point, I said enough was enough and paid them $60 for the exam and left. I took my cat to Dr. Larkin instead.

He looked at my cat and charged only $45 for the exam. He didn't want to keep him for any days and said he would get back to me with the results of the blood work. He also prescribed a steroid for his balance. All said, the bill was only $300. A few hours later, they called and said my cat was diabetic and had me come in for a sharp box, syringes,and insulin. That was another $100. All said, this was around $400, less than half as much as the Cat Hospital estimate.

It is now 4 weeks later of insulin shots and my cat is doing great. He seems to be doing better than ever and he is 17 years old. My experience was that the Cat Hospital is more concerned about making money. Dr. Larkin at the Veterinary Hospital of Altamonte, has better rates, only charges what is necessary, and will discuss all details of the illnesses and treatments with you. I'd recommend to avoid the Cat Hospital and go to Dr,...

Want to share my bad experience here with the cat hospital of Orlando. My cat Oliver was going through liver failure and I took him here to the cat hospital of Orlando after reading the reviews and having some hope. At first it seemed great. Dr quest seemed knowledgeable and had a plan for my cat to try and get him to recover. It was not an easy process on him but we decided to do it in hopes it would help him. But after a week he started to show signs of issues and this is where the huge problem with this place happened. I reached out saying he’s not moving as much and when he does, he’s bumping into walls, his stomach was starting to swell. I was told he was fine until his next appointment. Another day goes by and he’s getting worse but I’m still assured he is fine BUT if I feel concerned enough I can take him to an emergency vet and to keep an eye on his gums. I asked what should I look for in his gums but I never got a response. So after I’m told he’s fine until his next appointment (which was a couple days away) I figured Dr, Quest knows best. Well next day he can’t move and he’s hardly breathing. I reached out again a demanded they see Oliver asap only to be told there are NO doctors in on a Wednesday!!! I was sending videos of him and how he was behaving and I would get NO response, only until I had to reach out the next day asking….

They asked me if I took him to an emergency vet like they suggested!! This angered me because NEVER was it suggested that Oliver needed to go to an emergency vet, ONLY if I feel it’s needed AFTER I was told he can wait…. So I rushed him to a local vet only to be told he needs to be put to rest. His body was shutting down, gums when white and he even went blind!!! How did he go blind!! Maybe from the steroid he was on… but I was absolutely devastated by this experience. I reached out and told them I was upset and they said a manager would reach out to me….its been 2 days and I havnt gotten a phone call

The lack of care and urgency here is sickening and I truly feel my cat would of had a better chance if these people just took the time to care or listen to their clients instead of just pushing them to the side. I spent a lot of money here and I just can not believe the what they did at the end. I would never bring another cat here again. Just absolutely appalling of the lack of care this place shows.

• update * manager finally called me days later. Beyond rude and disrespectful. She would not let me talk and constantly talked over me. I got angry at this and told her I’m the one that had to put my pet to rest because of this place and she needs to listen to me. She told me “people put their pets down everyday” I can’t believe this place and how disrespectful they have been towards me. Notice how they havnt commented and apologized but comment to every positive...