I’d walk in and tell them that I had intended to donate $100 to help their good works, but since they misrepresented the cat I adopted, I am deducting the extra $60 I had to spend to bring it up to snuff, and another $20 just because I don’t like being lied to. Then hand them a check for $20.
But then that’s just my preferred way of being an asshole.
My point from my post above was that you didn’t call the shelter first. The vet you called may or may not have an arrangement with that particular agency to give vaccines and maybe even spay/neuter services for that agency at a discounted price. Ultimately, whether the vet does or doesn’t have an arrangement like that, you didn’t give them (the agency) a chance to call the vet first and arrange to get your cat in at their expense instead of yours. What cost you $60 may have cost the agency $20. It’s not up to the vet’s office to call the agency on your behalf after the adoption to make sure whether you should be paying full price.
The cat was/is healthy. Unless you were letting her outside or had other indoor/outdoor cats that were not current on their vaccines, she was in no danger of contracting rabies or distemper if it took a week or two to make arrangements through the shelter. It’s too bad things happened this way. Perhaps the shelter group needs to make it more clear to adopters to call them first if there are any questions about medical history.
If someone had done the same thing where my shelter group was involved, and spent $60 without calling us first, we would tell you that you were SOL. If an adopter called us and said the vaccines were out of date by over a year, we would have them bring the cat back right away so we could give the vaccines ourselves. This is because we don’t have to pay retail price for vaccines and vet visits. You do.
I’m not trying to defend the agency you dealt with specifically. Maybe they’re totally disorganized and don’t have accurate records on any of their animals. I’ve certainly run across my share of shoddily-run rescues who may be “doing their best” but still shouldn’t be in business. My point is that you didn’t give them a chance to rectify it on their own terms which could have been far cheaper for everyone, first. It’s not like the cat came home with you and turned out to be in acute kidney failure or something. Yes, she needed to be updated on vaccines, but that’s not a medical emergency.