Balaclava Veterinary Surgery

Dr Matsui has been caring for my handicapped rag doll cat who has one eye and a wired jaw. I wouldn't trust any other surgery in Cairns. Here to stay with Balaclave surgery with my inherited grand baby boy. Originally first operated on at the North shore Animal Hospital Sydney.

Our cat had symptoms indicating that she had been poisoned by a paralysis tick. We called the vet and were advised to bring her straight in. We dropped her off asap (around 9:30am) and the vet agreed that it was likely to be paralysis tick poisoning. We left her there for treatment and returned around 3:30pm to check on her. The vet took her out of the cage and placed her down and we were discussing what to do next. I wanted to take her home because she had already been given the anti-tick serum and felt that she would be more comfortable at home. The vet was encouraging me to leave her overnight. I insisted that she was coming home with me and when the vet realised that I would not leave her there he pulled the paralysis tick off of her neck in front of me and handed her to me. I couldn't believe that she had been there for around 6 hours and the tick hadn't been removed. I asked why the tick had just been taken off then and the vet said that they had a very busy day. I was shocked and upset but just wanted to take her home so I could check her myself for other ticks, so I paid the bill and left. Once I checked her for ticks I called my daughter to explain what had happened and to get a second opinion. She was appalled and called the vet. He advised that they were busy because they only had one vet on that day. She argued that they shouldn't take on animals if they don't have time to treat them. The vet apologised and said our cat would have been checked for ticks if she had stayed in care overnight and that they started checking her and stopped because they found a crater (site where a tick had been) on her neck. Instead of completing the check the vet thought that only one tick would be present. This is frustrating considering multiple ticks are typically found on animals. The vet agreed that the tick was in an easy to feel location on the neck and it would have been detected that night when they checked our cat. I am very disappointed with the service overall. I was meant to be called back today by a supervisor to discuss the situation but no one called back.

We came across Balaclava by accidentally hitting a kitten that ran across the road.. We called the after hours emergency service and the vet arrived 20 minutes later and we were able to save the kitten.. The next day we picked the kitten up and it was eating and drinking.. The clinic lowered our bill as the cat was not ours and we're thankful we were doing the 'right thing' which was amazing .. They even assisted is in finding the kittens owner.. No one came forward for her after many ads on animals lost and found so she is now in a happy house with us. We have since been in again and had her desexed and again the staff are amazing.. After the surgery she was running around like nothing happened.. They must have been so gentle. Without balaclava we would not have our little companion who is just so sweet and has so much character.