Grassy Park SPCA, the worst place to ever take your pet

If I could give my overall experience at the SPCA a zero I would. The staff are unfriendly and unwelcoming. There were only about 3 staff members who genuinely showed they cared. I took my cat in on the 26th of August because she could not stop throwing up. She was not keeping her food down at all. When I arrived at the SPCA there were a few people in front of me and I read that emergencies would be seen to first, understandable. I waited almost 3 hours to see a vet because they kept on calling people who came in after me who were not emergencies. The first time they did this, I brought it up to the receptionist and they said I would be seen to next, but then proceeded to call someone else again. Eventually they called me. When I came into the consultation room, the dr seemed so disengaged from the whole situation and was not even listening to what I was saying. For the most part she was only in there for 5 minutes. She told me if my cat continues to throw up that I would have to take her to a private vet to get X-rays as they do not offer these services. Their systems were down as well so they could not even run my cats blood work. They only did the FIV test which came back negative. The nurse then gave me medication to take home, but they do not even explain what the meds are for and how to administer it. When I came to the front they billed me R510 which I found to be insane considering that they took blood samples of my cats blood but could not test them. On the packets it stated how much the medication was which was around R40 for both packets of meds, so why was my bill R510? They said to me should this persist to bring her in again. Around the 5th day my cat stopped eating and around the 6th day she stopped drinking and going to the toilet. I then decided to take her back to the vet where this vet seemed to have our best interest at heart, but I was wrong. Mind you the SPCA does not have any visible price list. They base your quote on your household income. The dr proceeded to ask what kind of food my cat was on and what we do to minimise fleas and ticks. When I told him that my cat was on the mature Hills Science Plan and that she has monthly tick and flea treatments done he then said he will be getting a quote for my cat as she needs to have her bloods taken and X-rays. I was so shocked when he mentioned X-rays because the previous dr said they do not offer it. They then said they would have to admit her to do these things. He came back to us with a quote which was R1800. We asked if we could please speak to reception about this quote and he was really cheeky and said no we had to speak to him. I explained to him that I was a student and I do not think I am able to pay such an amount he then walked away while being spoken to and kept on interrupting. He eventually said with regards to money please speak to the people at reception. We then settled on a quote which was R1200. Fair enough. My cat was admitted for 3 days and all three days we had to constantly phone them to see what was happening with our cat. They would never take the initiative to pick up the phone and tell us what is happening. My cat had to go for 3 urinalysis. She was not eating at the vet either. She was on a drip as well. Day 3 they asked us to bring her chicken and rice which we did. They then released her later that day which was on the 5th of September. The doctor told me that she had an inflamed bladder and kidneys/ Feline idiopathic cystitis. They gave me medication that was supposed to last for 5 days and only ended up lasting for 2. They told me that my cat now had to be on a prescription diet which will maintain the health of her kidneys and bladder. They charged us an additional R1681. They said we should bring her in for a check up a week later which was the 12th of September. During the time she was at home and closer to her check up appointment my cat started throwing up, not eating and drinking and not using her litter. When we took her in, the same dr who saw to her on the 3rd of September told us if this happens again we should not bring her to the SPCA again. How rude of a dr to turn a patient away who has been under your care this entire time. My cat was seen by three drs at the SPCA. My cat was in ICU! My cat could have died. Have some compassion. If anything you should be happy to know there are people in this world who actually do care about their pets and if it weren't for people like me these pets would be on the street. People go to the SPCA for help and it is supposed to be a cheaper alternative compared to private vets. For the check up they charged us R183. On Saturday the 14th of September my cat was showing the same symptoms again and was not doing well at all. We decided to take her to the TAH vet in Rosemead where they saw to her and gave her medication. The dr who saw to my cat showed empathy and explained everything to me in detail, examined my cat properly and said she will retrieve my cats medical history from the SPCA on Monday as the SPCA was closed. Monday came and I called the TAH for an update on my cats diagnosis, they said they were still waiting on the SPCA, this was at 2pm Monday, 16th September. On Tuesday I called again and they said they are still waiting on the SPCA. Eventually I called TAH again and they said the SPCA had only sent part of my cats medical history and that they are still waiting on her X-rays. I then called the SPCA to release the record and eventually they released all her medical records to TAH and the doctor found that my cat has arthritis from her tail into her spin and back. The pain had caused her nausea which lead her to not eating and drinking and when she did eat she would just throw it up because of the pain. This lead her to not urinating or ****ing which then caused her to have inflamed kidneys and an inflamed bladder which could have been prevented if the first dr did not lie to me when she said you guys do not offer X-ray services. The SPCA ran all these tests and my cat was seen by multiple drs and nobody picked up that she has arthritis. It infuriates me that I have spent so much of money on an organisation who simply does not care to do their jobs properly and would rather give you false information and turn you away. The SPCA seems to care more about money, the sad thing is people do pay the SPCA and they deliver the worst services. I am extremely disappointed in the way my pet was treated during this process, now leaving her with two life long diseases.