Cat Clinic of NE Seattle

I truly believe this clinic, unlike many or most vet clinics*, puts on a premium on providing accurate and useful information to pet owners rather than on maximizing profits as a business.

A few weeks ago one of my cats was urinating on my bed. I did some quick research on the Internet and suspected a urinary tract infection, (I had suspected my former cat I had had one, though it turns he did not).

Unlike the first clinic I contacted, which is much closer to where I live, when I called here they did not immediately "bring him in at once, it could be really dangerous," the Cat Clinic of Northeast Seattle provided commonsense advice: Remove the top of your litter-box.

I did it, and the problem stopped. Earlier I had switched from using a litter-box with an opening--and no flap--to one with a flap.

In fact, they told me that most cases of inappropriate urination in cats as young as mine were behavioral and rarely UTI's (urinary tract infections) or crystals (struvite).

If I lived closer to Shoreline (and had a car), I definitely would go here.

Integrity really DOES goes a long way (time, $$, and worry).

http://www.catclinicse...

* I would certainly include in this category the Cat Clinic of Seattle (don't confuse the two!) and the Queen Animal Animal Clinic.
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5/14/2007
The respected http://Checkbook.org gives The Cat Clinic of NE Seattle "top rating" for both quality and price.

Choosing the right vet is a matter of life and death for your pet. At the same time, it can make a significant dent in your pocketbook. And either free up, or tie down, your own precious time.

Despite the proximity of their names, do NOT confuse this business with the Cat Clinic of Seattle.

Dr. Romatowski is very thorough. For instance, the time he spent actually examining my cat was at least two to three times that either vet at the Queen Anne Animal Clinic spent doing the same. He took the initiative to do these things on his own rather than wait for me to ask him to do them.

Of the six vets we saw during an 18-month period, he was--hands down--the most conscientious.

He doesn't push expensive procedures of dubious value, as is often the case today with vets.

I would hazard more than a guess that an annual check-up here for your cat would be outstanding.

I sought a secondary opinion on my cat's health from him, and the office visit I received was the best one my cat ever had. He was congenial, knowledgeable, caring.

Another plus is that unlike some clinics, there is NOT staff rushing around. You don't get the feeling that you're just one client coming through a "revolving door" here. Only one vet (Dr. Romatowski) and a very experienced one at that.

He was also the very first of four vets to test for high blood pressure, which is a serious condition for cats in renal failure. We promptly got my cat on amlodipine to keep it within the normal range.

And he brought to our attention a very serious problem with theregime set out for us by the Cat Clinic of Seattle.

Unfortunately, when my cat was seriously ill with melena (black tarry stool with diarrhea), he was unwilling to write a prescription for sulfacrate, a protectant/absorbent for upper GI tract ulcers, which may have been helpful in jump-starting my cat's appetite.

My cat' s health began to go rapidly downhill only 24 hours after the last visit here, which the vet had not been able to foresee--and I had to go to another clinic to let him go another 24 hours later, which, for me, was devastating.

The explanation of the treatment that day was particularly unclear--to what end was the injection of prednisolone? He also told me to return in 8-9 days if it "it didn't work" and we'd "try something else." My cat was dead within 48 hours.

"Stuff happens," I guess. What is troubling is the thought that if I had brought him in, say, only two days after I had noticed his appetite was "off," that THAT probably would not have made any difference, since the vet had not been able to, apparently, predict the seriousness and urgency of the problem even just one day before the final crash.

Also, I wonder, with great sorrow, if my cat had been immediately treated for the melena and diarrhea that had occurred three times during the two-week interval before my cat's death? I had requested him to write a prescription for sulfacrate, a common upper gastrointestinal tract absorbent/protectant , which he declined to write.

However, maybe nothing could have been done. I'll never know.

In sum, although I think Dr. Romatowski is an extremely competent vet, I do believe that communication with clients is less than ideal. When I wrote to inform him, for instance, of the death of my cat less than 48 hours after he been to his clinic--and of my concerns about the injection given, as well as what his findings actually had been that day, I received no response.

I did receive a card of condolences, six days after.

I trust Dr. Romatowski's judgment more than any other vet I have been to.

Also, he is one of the few veterinarian here in Seattle who has not pushed me to do unnecessary tests or other things I could easily done myself.

A friend also recounted how the vet was forthright in stating that he was unable to pinpoint the source of an ambulatory problem of my friend's elderly cat. Dr Romatowski did not push her to do more "stuff."

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