On a Sat. morning about 8am, my husband had discovered my cat had been poisoned when he found small drops of a white foamy substance outside of our porch. When he called for her she was foaming from the mouth in small amounts and convulsing every 3-4 seconds apart. Being well aware that time was crucial in this situation, we had rushed her to the closest animal clinic. When we arrived at Kailua Animal Clinic we explained to the receptionist that our cat may have been poisoned. She brings our cat and the box she was in to a room and she gave us paper work to fill out. As we were filling out the paperwork she had asked us if we had applied Hartz topical flea control and we responded "no". 50 minutes pass and still no word from the vet. The clinic began to fill up and pets were being seen. My initial reaction was, "What is going on, are they working on my cat, why haven't I heard from the vet and why can't I be with her to comfort her?" I assumed they were treating her, but at that moment, an aid had opened the room to let a patient(dog) in and sure enough I see the box still sitting there and the aid grabbed the box and took it to the back. Something didn't seem right, I don't know much about animal poisoning and their protocol for this situation, but currently a nursing student, I'm sure it is pretty close to human protocol. Minutes after that sight, they address me with the bill and I still wasn't informed of what was going on with my cat. They finally ask me into the room and they bring in my cat still in the box, convulsing faster and foaming excessively. The vet explains that blood was drawn for a toxoplasmosis Titre and the results won't be back till the next day, well that would be a sunday and they are closed on sundays. I mentioned to him that she has had all her shots and recently had a check up. He then says that her symptoms must not be parasite. He then tells me they will bath her and run an IV to possibly flush out whatever poisons she may have. Again I thought, " why wasn't this done already?" I knew something wasn't right and I was know starting to have doubts about this vet and the way he was dealing with this emergency. To top it all off, my 4yr old daughter wanted to be in the room to comfort her kitty and he just handled our cat aggressively with no compassion being that she was sick. I understand they have their ways of handling the animals, and picking them up by their back skin may be considered proper, but this really emotionally scarred my daughter. "Why did he grab her like that and pick her up by her fur when she was meowing and crying and sick like that mommy?" she asked me in tears when he left. I understand animals may bite when they are injured but my cat was twitching and gagging out foam, there was no way she could fit in a bite of his hand amongst all her misery. Till this day I have to explain to my daughter in a motherly exaggerated way why he grabbed our cat that way.

After his talk, we had paid the bill and I walked out of that clinic VERY upset. I knew proper protocol was not done. I called an emergency pet clinic and also my cat's animal clinic because I felt bothered by this whole experience with Kailua Animal Clinic. From what they told me and from what he did he handled my cat's situation poorly. I feel that I was taken advantage of. He was well aware that this was an emergency situation and he did not make my cat first priority or start protocol right away. He should have referred me to an emergency pet clinic or another clinic that had the means of proper care like blood test results within 40 min. or less, bathing my cat minutes from her arrival, medication to ease her convulsions, IV and fluids right away. Instead she suffered for about an hour until we were able to pay a deposit, of which we paid the bill in full. We brought her in at 8:30am and she was finally treated over an hour later (bathed, fluids and sedated). I called at 11pm to check her condition and they said she was still wet. Did they just bath her? At 2pm the vet left a message that my cat "EXPIRED" and that he apologizes for not answering the phone (I tried calling him back when he was leaving a message on my cell phone voicemail) because he was leaving the office. They closed that day at 1pm. I called him several times seconds after he called, so I could pick up my cat and bury her. I knew if he didn't answer, I would have to pick her up 2 days later. Could the vet be that heartless. My family had to pick her up 2 days later, frozen in a white bag tied in a huge not. I've had other pets put to sleep because of old age and the clinics placed them in a thick bag, placed them as if they were sleeping. The vision of this notted bag reminded me of a small bag of trash. 3 days after, I called the clinic for her blood results and they still haven't received them. Why did he send out a taxoplamosis titre knowing it wouldn't come till more than 3 days later. He did not take any other blood test besides that one.

I will always wonder if my pet could have been saved if she was taken care of differently. I am just furious and disappointed that her emergency situation was handled poorly. There are other families in this island that feel the same about Kailua Animal Clinic with nothing positive to say about this place. When my cat's regular pet clinic asked me where this happened they mentioned that they do not ever refer pet owners to Kailua Animal Clinic. If only I knew all this.

It's sad to say that I entrusted this professional with my cat I loved dearly and now feel cheated but worst of all my child thought all vets are heroes and this vet had to ruin it for other hero vets out there. It will take her some time and our family time to heal and we now know were not to go if this happens again. Hope other pet owners in Oahu read this.