They murdered my fur baby- Dr Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet they are not!

Please don't use this clinic except for the very basic services, not for ill or aged pets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      I took my aging dog with heart issues to Paws2help  for blood work, before I moved to NC in 2012. The vet told me his white blood cell count was off, but that the machine needed "recalibration". I accepted this and moved to NC, and my dog started to age before my eyes in very short order. He ultimately died within that year of either cancer or kidney failure, but I always felt the blood work done at Paws2Help before the move was probably accurate, and that the machine calibration excuse was probably a lie,  and the vet was not being honest and didn't want to deal with my aging dog.I suspect my aging dog was in beginning stages of kidney failure then, and that information would have been vitally important to know.           Flash forward to 8/ 25/ 19. I moved back to WPB, and had my "grandpuppy" Charlie, a Shih Tzu, who I'd loved since birth and have been his full time owner/caretaker for the past 5 years. He was 4 months shy of being 14, but had shown no real signs of aging. He was vibrant, walked up and down the steps from my 2'nd floor condo, loved the dog park, and was a good and happy boy.  I took him to the dog park on Friday evening and sensed he over heated from running so much. However, he still ate his dinner when we got home, went potty and drank water.         The next morning, Saturday, he was vomiting his dinner and couldn't keep anything down all day. I thought he'd probably caught a doggy flu bug at the dog park, and it would run it's course. By Saturday afternoon I decided to take him to Paws2Help, but they were closing so I took him the next morning.  Charlie had stopped drinking water and hadn't peed since the night before, which I told Paws2Help staff as I checked him in.  Someone at the check in desk and took his temp, and it was only 94 degrees. I think it was obvious that an aged dog with a 94 degree temp (normal is 101) is in an emergency distress state, but even so, they told me they wouldn't deem him an emergency and basically said that if I didn't like it I could take him to the vet hospital. I told them that if I had the money I would have gone there in the first place. I'm a 67 year old semi retired,  single woman, and only get a limited amount of social security.         So I sat in the large waiting room with Charlie, who was going down hill in my lap. After 2 hours of sitting there,  the "male supervisor" came out and said because his temperature was so low they would now put us in a "room"-something they should have done  at check in, as nothing had changed in the two hours I'd been sitting there but his condition. When we got in the room he got a heating pad for Charlie to warm him and basically started quoting prices for different procedures. I said just get the blood work done and we'll go from there. After what seemed like forever, a vet named Maria Sierra came in and took Charlie into a large room where they did their medical procedures and drew blood, commenting as she left the room that it was 2:30 already and she hadn't had lunch. All the while Charlie seemed to be getting worse and worse, he was becoming unresponsive and beginning to twitch.  After being in that clinic for almost 3 hours he was now virtually comatose and beginning to have seizures.       After another long wait the vet/lady came back in and showed me the blood report, said his kidneys and liver were shutting down, and advised to put him to sleep. But if I didn't want to do that, for between $400-$500 more she could give him IV's and try and bring him back, but couldn't guarantee it, and at his age, who knows how effective it would be for how long, and since they don't keep pets overnight, I'd have to bring him in for 9 hours each day and pick him up at night. It was obvious she didn't want to mess with it and just wanted me to kill him and be done with it-probably so she could eat her lunch. A tuna sandwich more important than Charlie's life.       I was pointing out the obvious to whoever was around that he was starting to twitch and seize, and they all acted nonchalant, like "yeah, that's what happens when the kidneys are shutting down". They showed no real concern and seemed like they couldn't care less.It was like being in a bad dream.        I told her I'd do the treatment, just desperately wanting them to make it stop and do SOMETHING FOR MY CHARLIE, but instead of FINALLY scooping him up and taking him into the medical room where they treat the pets, and getting an IV into him and hydrating him WHICH IS WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THE MINUTE I CHECKED IN 3 HOURS BEFORE, she left the room again! Then I heard her tell the workers in the medical room: "She said she'd do it".  As if: it looks like we'll be here longer today...or maybe they had a betting pool going as to whether I would or not, who knows.          I sat there getting frantic, because Charlie was starting to have seizures, and I opened the door and called to them to just come and put him to sleep. It had to stop, and frankly,  I did not trust them to try to revive him anyway. I couldn't take his suffering any longer. During this time she asked me why I didn't take him to a normal vet office. Like what, she wasn't a "normal" vet? Like what, my dog had to die because I brought him to Paws2Help??? In my moment of grief, I looked at her incredulous, and told her I'm on social security and can't afford it. And, I DID take him to a vet, THEM!  What kind of world are we living in when me, a woman who appears educated and decently groomed is held suspect because she uses a low cost vet clinic?!  Did my fur baby have to die because they resented a woman who looks like she can afford a normal vet office, but came to them instead?! There is a large segment of single baby boomer women who will age with a substandard amount of social security to survive on, because we stayed home and raised families during our peak earning years.      On top of all of that, because the male supervisor didn't put Charlies's weight right on his chart. I think he put something like 12 pounds-and I know he was closer to 20 pounds, she didn't give him enough meds to put him to sleep and I had to watch him gasp for air while she left the room twice to reload her killer drug.      It has been 4 days since this nightmare, and I'm still traumatized, have a huge hole in my heart, and am feeling guilty for not taking Charlie a day earlier while he was vomiting, because then he had the 3 hours to waste in their  mis-managed, poor excuse for a caring vet clinic. Obviously, if I'd known it was kidney failure and a not doggy flu virus that would pass, I would have. Obviously if I'd known they were going to stall around until he was almost dead  before treating him I would have. Obviously if they'd taken him right in and got him on IV's and hydrated him and tended to him, he'd still be alive. He spent his last hours in a cold, impersonal clinic, just wanting to be helped. When I walked through their door I expected them to help my dog, not set me up to kill him. I expected to take him home, not drive home with tears streaming down my face.         Now I live with the guilt that I couldn't get him quality help and save his life. Because he wasn't ready to die.  I don't expect to get over this for a long, long, long time.    In closing, I think this clinic should be investigated and put on some sort of probation until their staff is retrained, monitored and held accountable for their lack of duty to animals, and owners who are in fragile states when they come in with an ill pets-dependent on them for proper concern and care.

Aug. 29, 2019