Zebras Against Horses

I find it ridiculous that some people can't take a little constructive criticism. Looking back at it, I should take it personally. It's like saying if I was served the wrong item on the menu and expected to eat and praise the food instead of complain that they got my order wrong. Yes well, the customer isn't always right, but at least they should be honest about their experience. I was honest, not brutally, but honest enough.

So here we go, my review about a certain veterinarian clinic on Yelp was asked to be taken down today. No not from the Yelp people, nor other users, but the actual clinic. I got a phone call today from one of their doctors and he immediately defended his diagnosis and case with my dog. He asked for me to take down my review and that he'd appreciate it. There were equally good and bad reviews of this place and some members had reported worse experiences with their pets there than with my review. What's up with that? I don't see why I had to be targeted to call and be asked to take my review down.

Here's the back story: Last week my dog was walking extremely funny and we didn't know what was wrong with her. Her legs looked like they were in bad shape. She couldn't sit properly and definitely didn't want to walk. So we took her to Vet A. The doctor took a look at her and said she had a tumor right away. Never offered to do tests on her. We said her legs were swelling, but he never paid attention to that. Never explained why my dog was walking funny and brought our attention to something else that was a lot more serious. We didn't know for sure if his diagnoses was true. Zebra! Medical term for rare diagnosis. And even if it were true, shouldn't you treat something that's curable right away and then worry about whatever long term disease is present later?

My parents took our dog to Vet B for a second opinion. They brought the medical notes the previous vet had written and he took one look at my dog and found what was the problem. She had a thorn in her leg. Right then and there it was extracted and she was given antibiotics. Horse! A more common diagnosis for the cause of illness or pain. The source of the swelling was a lot more probable than quickly ignoring that area and suddenly pointing out a tumor to some unknown area of the derriere. They did tests for tumors and didn't find anything. That was it. Our dog was fine once she got home and is in better shape.

As for my review, I merely stated how my family's experience was there, I did not bluff and certainly did not say anything about wanting to shut down the place. I'm not cruel. Yelp or no Yelp, if anyone asked my about Vet A, I would have told them the same thing I reviewed. It wouldn't have mattered anyways. Talk about freedom of speech. What's funny is that during the phone call, the doctor mentioned about the thorn and was defending himself that he said the tumor wasn't in the leg but somewhere else. If he knew that the thorn was there, why didn't he treat it right away? Or maybe worse, my review gave the result of my dog's condition and he used it to act like he knew what was going on.

Yes I know doctors are only human and are able to make mistakes. It was just the way things were handled were not professional and I'm not impressed. Either way, my review still stands. I took the first review down, but I'll make sure to put up a briefer account. Horses over zebras, jerk.