I have been a client of College Park Animal Hospital (CPAH) for two years. During those two years, I was satisfied with the care my pets received and with the manner in which the hospital staff communicated with me and my family. However, in January 2008, my old cat, Smokey, became very ill. I took him to CPAH three times and twice to the ER. CPAH missed a serious and potentially life threatening heart condition in Smokey, even though it was obvious on the X-rays taken by one of its vets (recognized immediately by the emergency vet, by which time it was too late). As a result, Smokey deteriorated quickly without any medication for over two weeks. Alarmed by Smokey's symptoms, I began doing reading on the Internet, which lead me to believe that Smokey might have a serious heart disease and should be treated urgently. I called CPAH, and one of the vets there agreed to put Smokey on rescue medication and refer him to a cardiologist. The medication started helping Smokey right away. Unfortunately, it was given too late, and the disease had progressed and weakened Smokey beyong where he could be helped. The heart condition could have been treated more successfully if caught in time. Smokey died on January 29th at the ER after a sedative was administered to him. One of the veterinarians treating Smokey at CPAH admitted missing the condition, but the other one and the owner of the hospital refuse to acknowledge that mistakes were made (even though one of his staff member admitted them) . To add insult to injury, the owner became defensive and vindictive against me and my family. He has distorted facts, given me false medical explanations, and when I confronted him, began stonewalling. He refused to release Smokey's records and X-rays to me and stopped allowing me and my whole family (including my son's girlfriend) to come onto the premises in order to volunteer with rescued dogs cared for at CPAH, leaving these dogs without the walks and socialization that the four of us have been providing to them prior to the incident.

This is a very sad experience because the hospital has some good people working there. However, when mistakes are made, we should be able to expect maturity, honesty, professionalism and integrity. Instead, in addition to loosing a pet, I was confronted with dishonesty, evasiveness, and nastiness.