--------
It was interesting because the place where we boarded our cat (which is a
large veterinary office/hospital where we were clients for 15 years)
ostensibly has the policy that all animals which are boarded there must be
vaccinated. If an animal is not vaccinated, they will vaccinate it at the
time of intake, which is quite useless, as both of us have said. The way the
events went down regarding Alex were rather interesting.

As I am remembering this... I misspoke (or miswrote) when I said I was
unwilling to have him vaccinated. I was actually willing to have him
vaccinated (although I wasn't happy with the idea). What I was really
objecting to was that I didn't want him to have the $40 medical exam before
the vaccination since had already been examined two times in the preceding
six months at that facility and once at their sister facility for a second
opinion. So, when I phoned in the reservation, I told the secretary that I
really didn't want the cat vaccinated but if that were the policy I would go
along with it, but I was mostly unwilling to pay $40 for his fourth medical
exam in six months. She told me I would have to speak to the director when
the time came.

When the day arrived, we dropped off the cat, and we had another
conversation with the secretary where again we were told that we would need
to speak with the director, but the cat was accepted for boarding. Several
hours later, the director phoned us at home and told us that the $40 exam
was required before they could vaccinate the cat. We said no because our cat
had already been examined three times in the preceding six months, twice at
that facility and once at the sister facility. Then, he started questioning
us about why we had taken the cat to the sister facility. After some
discussion on that topic, he finally said "Well...how about the mini-exam?"
We said "How much will that cost?" He said "$33." We said no. Then, he got
mad and said that if we didn't agree to an exam, he would not vaccinate the
cat. We said that was fine by us since we never wanted the cat vaccinated in
the first place. Then, he was insisting that he couldn't take responsibility
if our cat got distemper. We asked him how could our cat get distemper if
all the other cats were vaccinated? He then babbled something about how our
cat could pick up other respiratory diseases. We told him we would take our
chances. It was obviously just a money-making thing because, as you stated,
even if we had gone along with the vaccination, our cat would not have
developed the antibodies until a month later, but we would have been out an
extra $75 in the meantime ($40 for the exam and $35 for the vaccination). I
am happy to report that our cat did not develop distemper or any other
respiratory diseases.

FTR, we now see a vet at the much smaller, more personal sister facility,
and we are much happier.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

"Cheryl" <jlhshadow@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote>

We're the same this way.