Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center

Reviews 3

ST

Steven Palm

UPDATE on 10/13/16: Our Canon sweet boy golden retriever had VALLEY FEVER. After they wanted to remove a lung lobe all he needed was Fluconazole and he is now 100%. thanks for the call SAVS. YOU MONEY HUNGRY DISGRACE OF A VET. This is the Fort Lowell location. 8/18/16 Please note: this is really about a certain Doctor (Dr. Bailey), than the hospital as a whole, but then again, they recently hired her. We were referred to SAVS from our local vet who claimed they "could not do anymore for us at this time". In reality, all she had done for us was take x-rays and a blood test that cost us $700 and sent us out the door, but that review is following this one. We felt good the first time we called SAVS and were able to get in at 9am the next morning for a specialists appt. I mean we thought our 5 yr old golden only had a few days left the way our local vet was talking. So, we fight our way through the flood at 9am to get there only to be told we would not be seeing the Dr. we were suppose to..which came highly recommended. No, we got the new girl in town, Dr. Bailey. She comes in the waiting room greets our boy, good start. She seems to be listening to his past history and sharing her personal experiences with us...still going good. We all proceed to go to an exam room where she comes in with his x-rays and blood work results and gives us the cancer talk. Wow, that all happened so fast...we have not even diagnosed him and you are already talking about removing a lung lobe? Should have been my red flag to pay the outrageous $98 specialist fee and run out the door swimming for home. Well, now we are told, he is going to need an ultrasound and if his masses our near the wall she will take a biopsy. We are told it wont take too long, but it is really necessary. The tech comes in with the old price sheet. Ok fine, hes our son and we would pay anything, they must have seen us coming....$920. Along with that, please sign a DNR...we are now in tears and told they will call us when they are done. 4 hours slowly pass and we hear nothing, we have gone to lunch and eager to get our buddy back. We are told they have not started on the ultrasound and it should be done in a couple hours. So our son is still in the cage after you told us not to feed him in the morning and is in pain? Its now 3p and we head back to the specialists. We sit in that same waiting room and Dr. Bailey comes out says the ultrasound was clear (thank God!) and she did not do a biopsy. We go back into the room waiting for our son and she gives us our options. We could do a $2500 ct scan or we could test him for 2 fungals ($400) that he may have got from traveling. Of course, we choose the later..we might as well rule out somethings before we put this kid through anymore pain. At this time, there is a lot of in/out from Dr. Bailey and the tech and we really just want to see our boy. Finally he comes in ecstatic to see us, shaved and wet from the ultrasound. Along with the bad customer service who did not call and update us, they stuck it to us as we were billed for a $107 catheter that they did not use, but still "had to charge us for". We go home, still with no answers, no diagnosis. Now this is the surprising part and it floored us--- Fast forward a week Aug 15th. We have waited for these fungal tests to come back so we can make an action plan...we get no call in the morning so we call twice to check in..we go through 20 minutes of holding to be told the Dr. will call us soon. We just want a negative or positive test result or did you forget we were your customers last week? After the service (or lack thereof) we would not let Dr. Bailey treat our goldfish.

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A Private User

My dog died there. I took him to the ED because he suddenly couldnt stand and was having trouble breathing and they wouldnt touch him until I paid $500 up front. This INFURIATED me! I dont know how long I spent trying to reason with the receptionist, then the "DR" about how unethical it was that my dog was on the verge of death and they wanted $500 up front when other vet clinics bill you AFTERWARDS. Their "reasoning" was that people dont pay when they bill them later. They couldnt explain how they came up with the amount of $500, they only said this amount was needed to "stabilize" him. I didnt have time to drive him around looking for another clinic so I decided to pay so they could hurry up and save my dogs life. It was a Sunday night, the banks were closed. My bank doesnt allow me to withdraw $500/daily from the ATM. If I hadnt MIRACULOUSLY had cash at home, I dont know what I wouldve done. I ran home to collect the money and paid them. I was in the waiting room for a few hours. They wouldnt let me know WHAT they were doing back there, HOW my dog was doing, and they wouldnt let me go back and see him .Afterwards, they didnt even explain how my $500 was used or what they did to try and save him. I dont think they did anything. Thats probably why they wouldnt let me watch what they were doing (or not doing). When the DR (Kraus) finally emerged, she told me what she THOUGHT was wrong, then told me she wanted to perform EXPLORATORY SURGERY to find out for sure. She really pushed for the surgery. I began asking questions about his chances of survival and it was VERY unlikely that he would even SURVIVE. They gave me an estimate for the surgery $7000. Oh yeah, and if I opted for the surgery, Id have to pay UP FRONT. I decided not to put my dog through any more pain and have him euthanized. They were very insensitive and pressuring me to hurry up and make the decision whether or not I wanted to have him euthanized. I wanted to spend a few moments alone with him before they injected him and they kept coming in and interrupting me like I was wasting their time and they just wanted to get it over with. When I finally gave them the ok, they didnt even take him to a private room. I insisted on being with him when he was injected and they had him on the floor with all the other recovering animals in cages around us. They euthanized him right there with vet techs stepping over us while he was dying and I was crying hysterically. Maybe it was just my dogs time to die but it sure didnt feel like it, and everything about the situation just felt SO WRONG. When I got home later, I did some research online and that surgery that Dr. Kraus was REALLY PUSHING FOR, has a survival rate of 10%. The dogs that DO survive, stay alive for 2 months post surgery AT THE LONGEST. Im glad I didnt put him through the surgery.

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A Private User

This review pertains to the location on Broadway and Prudence. On April 26, 2011, my 17-year-old Persian/Tabby mix was brought here on the advice of her regular veterinarian. The x-rays they did on her abdomen were inconclusive and an ultrasound was recommended for a diagnosis, and treatment, if any. Upon arriving at the office, everyone was warm and friendly and understood my fears. Jasmines vet had set me up for the worst - cancer - and the staff at SAVSEC were very supportive and sympathetic. After a short wait, we were shown into an exam room and Dr. Rubin came in to examine Jasmine. He told me he could feel the tumor in her abdomen but would do the ultrasound to confirm, if that was what I wanted. He gave me the quote up front for the cost of the ultrasound, and it was in line with what Jasmines regular veterinary office had told me. I agreed to the cost and about an hour later she had the ultrasound done. It was cancer, and the prognosis was not good. It had already spread to her liver and in Dr. Rubins opinion, there wasnt anything that could be done. I made the decision to put her to sleep as I could tell that she was ready. Dr. Rubin and the staff were VERY accommodating, allowing me to be in the exam room for as long as I needed and only came to check on me every so often to make sure everything was OK. The ONLY mention of paying for the services was in regard to the fact that I could do so after everything was done. In total, I spent 3 1/2 hours in that exam room from start to finish, and at no time did I feel rushed or that I was causing anyone any inconvenience. And afterward, when there was a problem with our credit card, the staff suggested we go home and take care of the remaining balance in the next few days. As we were leaving, I even got a hug from one of the staff members. Even though I have sad memories of this place because of Jasmine, I would not hesitate to bring my other animals here if they needed it. I am so thankful that Jasmines passing happened here, in the way it did, when I think of how it could have gone under other circumstances. Thank you to all of the staff at SAVSEC for making a very difficult situation as convenient as possible!