I am from out of town and visiting friends in the area when my Irish Wolfhound started acting in a way that could indicate a life threatening problem. I called ahead to this office to ensure they could take an emergency visit for an Irish Wolfhound. Before I had even spoken to a vet, the receptionist was trying to explain to me that it was most likely bloat - how can a person diagnose over the phone without hearing symptoms!? This immediately threw red flags but I was caught between driving 10 minutes here or 25minutes to the next doctor - a huge amount of time when it comes to emergency care.
She then placed me on hold and went to speak with the vet, at which point she returned and explained they were able to handle the task.
I arrived and the staff was 'oohing and ahhing' over my wolfhound like it was some type of dogshow. This was supposed to be an emergency visit!
No sense of urgency was felt throughout the entirety of the visit. The vet did suggest an Xray which I agreed to, no problem. After the 45minutes it took to return the dog to us in the waiting room, the doctor explained that it looked like an enlarged spleen and that we had two options: wait for another doctor to arrive and do exploratory surgery or go somewhere else. I asked about what non-invasive options there were and she explained the only way to find out more would be with an ultrasound. Here's the kicker - They do not have ultrasound capabilities at MAH!!!!! Then why did I waste an hour coming to see them?
This office took advantage of a person at a stressful time so that they could make $280 and then send me off without ANY care being provided.
To make matters worse, the Xrays that were administered were not sent when my next vet called to request them.
The people on staff, starting with the vet, should be ashamed of how they handled this situation.
All USA
I am from out of town and visiting friends in the area when my Irish Wolfhound started acting in a way that could indicate a life threatening problem. I called ahead to this office to ensure they could take an emergency visit for an Irish Wolfhound. Before I had even spoken to a vet, the receptionist was trying to explain to me that it was most likely bloat - how can a person diagnose over the phone without hearing symptoms!? This immediately threw red flags but I was caught between driving 10 minutes here or 25minutes to the next doctor - a huge amount of time when it comes to emergency care. She then placed me on hold and went to speak with the vet, at which point she returned and explained they were able to handle the task. I arrived and the staff was 'oohing and ahhing' over my wolfhound like it was some type of dogshow. This was supposed to be an emergency visit! No sense of urgency was felt throughout the entirety of the visit. The vet did suggest an Xray which I agreed to, no problem. After the 45minutes it took to return the dog to us in the waiting room, the doctor explained that it looked like an enlarged spleen and that we had two options: wait for another doctor to arrive and do exploratory surgery or go somewhere else. I asked about what non-invasive options there were and she explained the only way to find out more would be with an ultrasound. Here's the kicker - They do not have ultrasound capabilities at MAH!!!!! Then why did I waste an hour coming to see them? This office took advantage of a person at a stressful time so that they could make $280 and then send me off without ANY care being provided. To make matters worse, the Xrays that were administered were not sent when my next vet called to request them. The people on staff, starting with the vet, should be ashamed of how they handled this situation.