VCA Cat Hospital in Philadelphia

Those of you who know me well know that I spend some time writing Angry Letters and making phone calls when companies piss me off. NBC has received two letters during the Olympics coverage (one during the Opening Ceremonies - they didn't make it very far before Bob Costas pissed me off). FOX got more than one call from me earlier this month for showing me snow instead of Daytona qualifying. So, to even out the balance, when someone is awesome, I want people to know that, too.

I need to sing the praises once again of the VCA Cat Hospital in Philadelphia; they are the wonderful, compassionate people who have been helping me take care of the Ocs (this is pronounced like "ox," by the way) for the past week and a half. Specifically, Oscar's doctor is Dr. Katherine Kurpel, about whom I can not say enough good things.

When Dr. Kurpel initially saw Ocs, she wasn't sure what was wrong with him, so she gave me an estimate for several tests. I explained that I had JUST been laid-off and asked her if she could help me prioritise what tests would be more urgent, would make more sense, etc. She was extremely understanding and compassionate about this, especially when I started crying that if I HAD the $600 I would pay for all the tests she was proposing, but I just DIDN'T. She didn't guilt trip me about it at all. To the contrary, she said something (it's all kind of a blur now) about when you have rent and food to pay for, of course you have to prioritise, and everyone can understand that. She talked to me about whether Ocs was the kind of cat who eats foreign objects or chews on toys that he shouldn't, etc., and when I said that he really doesn't at all, she decided to scrap the abdominal x-ray. We whittled a few other things down and got the estimate down to about half of the original.

That all happened on Saturday. She called me on Monday with the blood test results, even though she was on travelling on her vacation. She called her office and left special instructions with them so I could go in and pick up Ocs' meds, some special food, and talk to the other doctor if I thought of any other questions (which I, of course, did). She called me the next day to check on Oscar again because she knew he wasn't eating well, and that impressed me.

But what REALLY impressed me was today. I got another call from the office today. At first, I assumed that it was to remind me that I needed to bring Ocs in for his follow-up blood work testing in 3-4 weeks (well, now 2-3 weeks) to make sure his thyroid meds are at the right level. And I thought, "Yes, yes, I know." But, I was wrong. They just wanted to know how he was doing. Was he still having diarhhea? Was he eating any better? How was the dehydration? How about the behaviour? Was he more himself yet? In fact, I'M the one who had to ask about the follow-up appointment as we were hanging up!

I really, really can not say enough about how much I love this place. I've decided to make Dr. Kurpel the boys' regular doctor. As much as I love The Cat Doctor and Dr. Eigner, I was SO impressed by this office (who, as you may remember was recommended by Dr. Eigner's office), that I'm sticking with them permanently.