[Sonic dB]

Sometimes life jumps up and kicks you in the teeth when you dont expect it, but this one is bothering me so I thought Id ask you guys your opinions.

I left on Monday for an annual trip to Vegas to attend the NAB conference there and meet up with some old friends. I planned to only stay for 2 days and be back in LA on Wed. night. I had my normal pet sitter come over to feed my 2 older cats and give the 2x small insulin shot to the 13 year old diabetic female cat. She was getting 2 shots of 3U per day which is a pretty small amount. She had always handled this very well and had never any side effects in the 4 years that we were treating her diabetes.

I woke up on Tuesday morning in Vegas and there were frantic messages from my cat sitter. She said that she had found Eddie almost dead on the floor and she rushed her to the vet but my normal vet was not in, so she took her to this 24 hour emergency vet that they recommended. She gave me the number to call this 24 hour vet... so I did.

The doctor there said that Eddie had gone into insulin shock for low blood sugar but they had succeded in starting to pull her out of it and her blood sugar was rising and they had it at 100 at that point. She said that the prognosis appeared to be good and that often in the past they had cats come out of this. They required a credit card from me and estimated the bill to be in the range of $1500-2600.

I swallowed hard when I heard that amount but I have spent thousands on this cat already for her treatment over the years, and I love the cat very much, she was very sweet. So I figured that if they were saving her life then I supposed that it was worth it....what was I going to do...let her die when I was out of town?

So I started to drive back to LA and I got a call midway through the trip and it was this 24 hour vet and she said that Eddie may have a tumor in the chest and she wanted to do an ultrasound...I said go ahead and she promised to call me back with the results...but she never did.

4 hours later I got home and went straight to the vet...she informed me that Eddie was "a very sick cat" and likely would not make it. I saw Eddie and she was almost catatonic, bobbing her head up and down in her incubator on drugs and life support. It was very sad. I started sobbing, crying...which I never do, I never cry but this hit me so hard I couldnt help it. The vet said that even if they operated Eddie had less than a 5% chance of making it... so I decided to have her euthanized. We did that when she was in the cage there, but before we did the process I petted Eddie and she seemed to recognize me and started purring a little, but her eyes were dialated from the drugs that they had given her and she tried to get out of the cage when I was there for the first time all day. They said that she hadnt shown any signs like this, until I got there.

I was very very upset and they presented me with the bill of $1880 which they ran on my credit card already. I got the itemized list of charges and left the facility feeling absolutely terrible. I still feel terrible 2 days later and miss my cat very much.

Yesterday I went in to my normal vet, who is very good and very cool guy and when I told him about the $1880 bill, he said "thats ridiculous, seems way too large for less than 1 day in their facility". I gave him a copy of the bill and asked him to call over there if he could. I havent heard back from him yet.

I also called this 24 hour facility and politely complained about the costs and they said that "Earl" their office manager would review the charges and call me back, which he hasnt.

I feel that they are doubling the charges that I really should be paying. I feel that up to $1000 would be fair for their efforts, but $1880 is really out of line. It seems like 'insult to injury' since I was given the impression initially that my cat would be OK...only to find later that she was "very sick with 5% chance to live" etc.

Ive talked with friends and family and they all agree that the cost are high...so Im considering, if the facility does not call me back, or not make an adjustment... possible legal action like small claims court. Honestly I dont know what chance that I have to win, probably none... but in my gut I feel that they took advantage of my situation of emergency, being out of town, hazy prognosis to get credit card and over bill considerbly.

Its hard enough to lose my cat of almost 14 years, but this is kind of a kick in the gut too...any opinions? thx.