Animal A.M. Emergency Clinic of Pasadena

We recently rescued a partially deaf and partially blind cat. She is all white with beautiful blue eyes, very small (a "runt") and a bit skittish, though very sweet. After bringing her back to health, stabilizing her diet and socializing her with our other animals, we took her to Animal Medical Hospital to be spayed. With so many other animals in our care, we needed to find a vet that would provide good medical care for a good price.



The staff is mostly caring and kind, and seemed to appreciate that we were trying to give this cat a good, safe home. Following her surgery, our cat nearly doubled her weight and is now quite healthy overall.



When our older dog, a shepherd-chow mix, started having difficulty walking up stairs and had some trouble with his back legs, we took him here to be checked out. As we suspected, he was suffering from arthritis with no hope of reversal, which is common among shepherds. The vet assured us that this disease advances quite rapidly in dogs, and after answering all of our questions, he told us that our beloved dog was in quite a bit of pain and the best option for him would be to put him down.



Before making this heartbreaking decision, we asked the doctor to walk us through everything one more time - any possibility of treatment options? any medication or surgery possible? anything to save our dog? He showed us x-rays, and explained that the dog's back leg muscles had begun to atrophy. He also took the time to assure us that we'd already done everything possible for our dog - health exams, glucosimine treatment, etc. - but that it was just "his time."



Tearfully we made the decision to say goodbye to our beloved dog that day. I was too distraught to stay in the room while the procedure to put him down was done, but my son was allowed to stay by his side until he took his last breath. Before he went down, one of the technicians assisting the doctor was kind enough to remove a muzzle that had been put on our dog when we first arrived (he never did like going to the vet!), and the tech also made sure we took possession of his collar and tags before we left.



After our dog was gone, the receptionist explained that we had options as to how his remains would be treated, and she was kind enough to give us a day to make a decision on what we wanted to do.



Even though this last experience was very sad, we were treated with care and compassion by the doctor and his staff. As a result we'll be transferring the rest of our pet's care to Animal Medical Hospital in the future.