Cat Clinic of Iowa City — Local services in Iowa City

Although I've taken several of my cats to Dr. Hayes over the years, I have had to move to a different clinic altogether. In 2006, one of my cats was diagnosed by another vet with diabetes. With work, time, and effort, we got her into remission, and she was healthy until 2011. When she developed an ear infection, I took her to Dr. Hayes for treatment. She had been to the Cat Clinic before, and I had added to her record with them that my kitty had been diabetic and was in remission. Despite that, Dr. Hayes gave her a treatment for her ear that included steroids, which threw her glucose levels into the danger zone.

With insulin and more patience, we got the kitty back into remission, where she stayed until 2018, when Dr. Hayes informed us that she was in early stage 2 kidney disease. He told us that she must immediately start eating low protein food with low phosphates and high potassium levels. He gave me a pamphlet for Science Diet and told me that prescription food would be great.

I ordered the new food, I fed my kitty that food, and after about 2 months, took her back for blood work. Her kidney markers were better, but she was diabetic again. Yes, I should have checked on the carb levels of Science Diet k/d, but it didn't occur to me that my vet would recommend food that would make her more ill. k/d has a carb level 5 times higher than my kitty could safely process, and thus she had to go back on insulin.

With the help of the Feline Diabetes Message Board, my cat is in remission for the third time. I have moved to a different vet. My new doctor is much more open to consideration of dietary concerns, has learned with me about how best to treat my diabetic cat, and is now providing me with appropriate potassium supplements. My kitty is on a food that is low in phosphates and carbs, and is thriving.

If your kitty has diabetes, please look up the FDMB, then find a vet who will work within their guidelines and understands feline nutritional requirements. I don't think Dr. Hayes, much as I like him, is up to date on...

I had my appointment about mid May, it seemed really great when I went in for the first time, took my cat back for 5-10 minutes as a new patient including 3 vaccines and a dewormer. Doctor came out, let me know my cat had stomatitis, then he proceeded to tell me literally nothing else about it or his health, then said “ok” got up and walked away. But he luckily he came back and told me that I could buy Hills food from them and schedule a $400 teeth cleaning! How lovely. Stomatitis is an auto immune disorder that is very rare, serious, and can lead to needing to put your cat down from the pain of eating. I scheduled a cleaning/ surgery with a vet dentist in Chicago and then went to Tender Care for a second opinion while getting his bloodwork before surgery. He was inside much longer and I was told it was just bad gingivitis and there was no inflammation of his soft palette or mucous membranes, she stayed on the phone with me for 20+ minutes answering the questions I had after researching. After my appointment with the vet dentist he agreed my cat didn’t have stomatitis and I completely freaked myself out for no reason googling because I wasn’t told anything about it! Every friend, receptionist, vet tech, and veterinarian I talked to seemed shocked at how the clinic interacted with me about this. I’m super disappointed I was hoping this clinic would be great since it’s just cat based and had great reviews. How many others have been given a wrong diagnosis of something that would be serious? This was the most bizarre experience I’ve had with a vet and I always used to go with my family as a kid to our dogs appointments and have been to a few other vets. A few weeks later I was hanging out with a friend and she mentioned her cat that was just at the Cat Clinic and it was the same, awkward and almost no information. I definitely won’t be...

While driving home this morning from work I saw a cat on the side of the road that wasn’t doing well. I’m a lover of all pets and I couldn’t just leave it there to die on the side of the road in the freezing cold, so I called this cat clinic thinking they’d help this poor cat. I asked the receptionist if they could help this cat by looking to see if it could be saved or put down pro bono. The receptionist said, “we actually have a cancellation today. You can come in!” Again, I asked if they do pro bono since this wasn’t my cat and this cat I found was suffering.. she said, “we do not.” I asked if she knew of any vet clinics that would? She said, “not that she knew of.” I stated that there had to be a vet that would do it for free if they truly loved animals and didn’t want one to suffer. Receptionist replied with a sarcastic “good luck!” And hung up on me.

I know that what I said could’ve came off rude, but that wasn’t my intentions. The receptionist however works with the public and some better customer service skills would’ve been appropriate. I feel if a vet truly cared about animals they would put down a found cat that was clearly suffering.

This has made me never want to bring any of my pets to this place and I would never recommend this place to anyone. Until they change my mind I find them rude, pompous and...