Dr. Rao Abruptly Resigns

.
I met Dr. Rao once. I liked him--a lot. He seemed kind, concerned and dedicated to the well being of animals. He left a big whig reception to examine and treat a fatally injured cat I brought in.

However, it was also Dr. Rao who never checked the sex or sterility status of Mason's cats. In fact, I was told Rao had examined both Simba and Foxy and determined they had not been spayed despite the scars. How true that is, I don't know.

When I was at West Valley today I found out Dr. Rao had abruptly resigned, giving a two week notice; the employee told me he heard Rao was leaving town. Another unnamed ACT also suddenly resigned.

Possibly Rao was frightened away by the latest ADL alert that talked about the LAAS/Porter screw up that led to Mason's cats being unnecessarily opened up again. Possibly by the emails about what happened I sent to everyone. Maybe he was asked to resign. Maybe he is resigning so that he can submit a proposal to be a contract vet for a spay/neuter clinic at West Valley.

Strangely, when I was in the Evidence room, on one of the cats' cages who had just been adopted, there was a note that said it had been neutered three days ago.

Apparently someone got the message somewhere along the line that the cats should be checked for sex and sterility status. This after almost six months in the slammer.

Also, very funny, another cat, Rocky, was listed as a neutered male, while in fact, she was a spayed female. The name Rocky, I guess threw them off.

Get this, they were going to send her to Porter for surgery. The ogre at the desk didn't even say "to be checked," she said she was being sent for surgery to Porter.

This makes me think that there is more to meet the eye than a casual linkage of West Valley with Porter.

What is Porter's arrangement with West Valley? Are all females, neutered or not sent there for spaying? Is Porter going to submit a proposal to run a spay/neuter surgery at West Valley?

I had thought Noreda was a far better choice, because the doc appeared competent. But when I was at the shelter, I heard a lot of negative things about their spay/neuter performance too.

I wonder what the survival rate is for their spays.

I'll tell you, one of the best vets I ever had was Steve Feldman, now Chief vet at LAAS, unless he has been replaced by Ken Jones who apparently was in the running a few months ago. Ken was my former vet in Santa Monica for many years.

Steve has a great, low key manner dealing with his clients and their animals. AND, of all the vets I went to, he was not greedy, not greedy at all. His prices were VERY reasonable compared to any VCA, McClaves, Porter, Noreda, and even Ken Jones whose wife drove prices through the ceiling.
.
Hopefully Feldman will resign and go back into private practice.
.