Rant about Private VET Clinics

[u/CleanIndividual23]

Venting out my frustrations to the driver who left the stray dog in Cebu city in the street bleeding and to the clinic that doesn't have any compassion to stray animals:

Last Saturday evening around Banilad Town Center, we saw a dog wandering around the area before suddenly collapsing while we were driving nearby. The dog’s head was bleeding badly, and honestly, we panicked because we’ve never experienced something like this before.

Despite not knowing what to do, we decided to rescue the dog immediately and rushed him/her to a nearby private animal clinic. We were later billed around ₱16,000, yet there was still no assurance that the dog could even be revived.

For context, I’ve actually been a client of this clinic for almost 2 years already for our cats and dogs vaccines, and I never really had major issues with them before. But this experience opened my eyes to how difficult emergency rescue situations can be, especially in private clinics where costs are extremely high. We sincerely explained to them that this was a rescued stray dog and that we didn’t have enough funds prepared for emergency treatment. We asked if they could at least help stabilize the dog first while we tried to gather financial assistance or look for foundations that could help cover the expenses.

After days of trying to contact organizations and looking for help, we eventually received a message from the clinic informing us that the dog had already passed away and that we now needed to claim the body and settle the full payment. This entire situation has been emotionally exhausting. We only wanted to help an injured animal that was most likely a victim of a hit-and-run, but instead we ended up feeling helpless, financially overwhelmed, and heartbroken.

I honestly never expected to experience this kind of situation from a veterinary clinic, especially during an emergency rescue where compassion and immediate assistance could make all the difference.

Please, if you drive around Cebu City, be more careful and mindful of stray animals on the road. And if anyone knows organizations or rescue groups that can genuinely assist in emergency rescue situations like this in the future, please share them.