[Warning] Don't take your cat to the TianMu care place beside Jason's!!

Just a heads up, we tried these guys twice for 2 different occasions for 2 different things, giving them a 2nd chance for a completely different purpose. Both times, we were a bit traumatized:

The 1st time: we brought our cat, Teemo, here to get a bath (our main one used to be in ZhongHe, JuJu’s, which was AMAZING, but now also a bit far). He’s a BIG CAT:

We dropped him off at 9ish and was supposed to pick him up at 3pm.

We brought him in a little carrying cage that is barely big enough to fit him (we’re going to upgrade soon). However, for moving places 15 minutes at a time, np. We were asked to place him in their big “cat cubicle” and to just leave him inside our mini cage and they’ll let him out “shortly” (foreshadowing).

Well, we were wondering to ourselves why it would take 6 hours to bathe and dry a cat, let alone extras such as cut nails and wait in line (but it was an appointment, so…). So we decided to “surprise drop-in” at 2pm, an hour early. We were shocked what we saw:

HE WAS STILL IN HIS LITTLE CAGE IN THE SAME SPOT WE PUT THE CAGE DOWN! He doesn’t generally “mew”, but he was super crying and it’s obvious they didn’t even open his cage up to let him out in his little “cat room” to stretch, poop, eat, drink, and play. He was in there for FIVE HOURS and they didn’t let him out once! Now, you saw how big my cat was in that little carrying bag. He must’ve been miserable. There was also pee inside, so it’s obvious he was desperate. They didn’t even start bathing him, let alone even acknowledge his existence. We immediately took him home.


We refused to go there for a long time. However, those cat cubicles are REALLY nice, so we thought that if we ensured Teemo would be let out of the cage (and watch it happen), that was pretty much the only issue other than pure neglect… but he’s fine doing his own thing, as long as he’s let out of the carrying case and has food, water, and enough space to at least stretch.

So we made sure of this. We kept him there for 7 hours while we did our thing (father-in-law came over, who is very allergic to cats). While he’s there, a bath is included. Because we didn’t want to take any risks of anything “weird” happening since there’s already trust issues, we cut Teemo’s claws beforehand. We even told the manager that we cut his claws and not to cut them. ON TOP OF THAT, we even left a note saying we already cut his claws. Well, more foreshadowing.

Well, it was time to pick him up.

“How was he?”, we asked.

“Oh, fine!”, they replied.

We got home and Teemo was not himself. He wouldn’t play, he would go to a dark corner and sit awkwardly. He wouldn’t move. We then realize that his leg was shaky and he kept licking his paws. We didn’t see anything. We then pushed his claws out as he screamed in pain. 3 PITCH BLACK claws. It wasn’t even claws though, it was just “meat”. It’s like they cut his fingers off, or whatever the cat equiv. I’ve never seen claws cut that far back before - it’s like they were removed.

We went to the vet. He said it was dominantly cut well beyond the normal spot on all 3 claws. We had to give him a week’s worth of medicine and treat it daily. 7 days later, he’s still crying when we treat his claws and it’s still meaty. He won’t play, or sleep where he usually sleeps, he just wants to go to his corner. He’s traumatized or something – who knows what else they did. This is just what we know.

Then something was also really weird with his mouth. He had two red lines going down the side of his mouth as if there was some sort of “hold your mouth shut” contraption that was super locked and cutting through his lip. It went through his skin and caused a red ring along his gums. We knew it wasn’t there before because we JUST cleaned his mouth (our friend got us a kit, so it was incredible timing). So who knows what happened with this.

You know the worst part? THEY DIDN’T EVEN TELL US ANYTHING WAS WRONG! They thought we just “wouldn’t notice”. Not to mention we not only told the manager that we already cut his claws and not to cut them, but again, we also even included a note - and they did it anyway - brutally.

It’s been over a week and Teemo hasn’t been the same since. He was a very “bitey” cat, always chewing his toys. He won’t even put any toy in his mouth anymore since that visit. Something very strange happened to his mouth/jaw that traumatized him beyond what I told you with just some clues that we found, and we have no idea what happened.

I don’t want this to happen to anyone else’s cat. Teemo is family, and this shouldn’t happen to any cat.

WTF? I’m amazed you’re taking this so calmly. I’d be down there breathing hellfire until the police arrested me.

It might be worth going to the police; ask the vet about it. This is absolutely abuse of a deeply unpleasant kind, and it is, theoretically, an offence. Whoever did that to your cat is not just incompetent, he’s a psycho.

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Life can be tough sometimes. You have to breathe deeply and try to be strong.

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Oh trust me, i was NOT calm. The first time, I asked them in my broken Chinese why they kept him in his cage this entire time. My wife was there and they didn’t even deny it. They just apologized. I was flaming red, but that’s all i did because I didn’t want to be on the news lol.

2nd time, we had no idea it was bad til we came home. My wife called and asked wtf happened. They apologized again. We hung up, took him to vet. Then a day later when we realized “damn, this is really bad…” and my wife called back to the shop and pretty much told them how it is. They didn’t have anything new to say, just apologetic.

Apple Daily or NextTV. Better extend the warning.

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Yeah, I would escalate this for the sake of other cats/customers. Something very, very weird is going on at that place. This isn’t just someone not knowing how to trim claws. It’s even possible the shop was set up with the express intent of hurting animals with impunity. There are some sick bastards out there.

Obviously, it’s up to you how far you take it, but I would suggest at minimum going back to the shop with your vet’s bills and asking the manager to bring out the actual person who did this. Then inform that person that he’s going to pay every single bill, out of his own pocket, and that his manager is going to make sure that he does; and that if he fails to do so, you’ll be either bringing a private prosecution or going to the media, at your discretion. I know it’s horrible, but animal-abusing-psycho stories are good page-fillers for the media and they will be interested: as per Icon’s suggestion, you might just want to go to the sensationalist newspapers anyway.

Take photos of what they did just in case you need court evidence - even if you don’t prosecute, I bet somebody else will eventually.

If you do go back, just ensure you have a clear idea in your head of the desired outcome, and a plan for getting it. Ranting at them probably isn’t going to get much more than a bu hao yi si.

The thing is that serious incidents at pet partlors have been publicized, from baking dogs in the driers, to letting cats and dogs fight it to the death, to actual deaths in the hands of unprofessional stylists. These services are not cheap, and truly it gets chaotic. But a professional knows how to handle pets without harm to themselves or others.

As to time, I am used to dropping Bobby at 9am and getting him back between 3 and 5pm, because they do not use the “oven” kind of drier. Those are really dangerous. The dogs and cats gets naturally stressed from the confined quarters, the strange environment and the strangers around them, both canine/feline and human. That is why it is important to develop a relationship with the stylist, a trust worthy stylist. One who knows what they are doing.

It is also a matter of match. Toto had this very nice woman stylist. She was very patient with thsi blind, nervous, epileptic dog. Wherever she worked, I took Toto there. However, Bobby and her did not get along. Maybe it was because Bobby bullied Toto. But Bobbby was always stressed after his bath with her. However, Bobby has also been banned from most pet parlors in my area. he has bitten most of the stylists in Xindian. So I do not have much of a choice: vet or her. Mostly vet for hair cuts and me for baths.

I promised my wife I’d keep it low-profile, we don’t want any drama. It’s over and Teemo’s safe. Today, he sat by the window and stretched out for the first time since he came back. I just want to warn others subtly (I posted on reddit and here – that’s it). The vet bills were only like 500NT, not enough to go crazy about for the money – it’s more about awareness.

Either way, I don’t have any evidence – it’s just my word against theirs. However, hopefully my word is strong enough that you’d find another place. Thanks for the support guys~

I recommend JuJu at ZhongHe on RuanTong road (however, they don’t do cat sitting - just bathing/claw trim/drying. FAST. Like 1-2hrs); they’re on Google Maps iirc.

To show how close they cut, his worst claw STILL is meaty since when i posted this, minus a week ago.

He was playing with a ball in a box and there’s blood all over the floor… from his claw wound. We’ve been treating it daily, but still not even good enough to play.

Ugh, maybe I should submit an anonymous tip.

Yeah, don’t sit on this. I believe a vet told me that declawing a cat is illegal in Taiwan, animal abuse should not be taken lightly at all.

If you have all the evidence, swing for the fences.

Cat nail clipping is a stressful event as it is, at least for our drama queens. We have decided to just leave them be and get them when we can.