St. Francis Animal Hospital

Reviews 3

LI

Linzi Laufenberg

Unfortunately I did not have the same excellent experience as everyone else. I realize that they are a non-profit, so I wont go into the obvious age of the facilities themselves. theres only so much you can accomplish. My issue was more with the process of being seen and the misdiagnosis of my pet. In my twenty years of being a pet owner, Ive never been to a veterinary establishment in which the owner was not allowed to be present for the taking of the vitals. My dog is an incredibly anxious dog and seeing as this was one of her first health problems, this was the first time since I adopted her five years ago that she was in the presence of only strangers. Sure, maybe I had some anxiety too. The waiting room is relatively small considering the volume of patients they had. I was told on the phone that they did not take appointments after 5 pm. We arrived as a walk in at 4:30 and ended up waiting an hour. There were several walk ins that were seen before us. This being said, once we were taken to an examination room, we were seen within five minutes. The vet came in with a tech and introduced herself. I explained the issue that my dog was having. Everyone was very nice. The two star rating comes from the misdiagnosis that we encountered. They advised me that the swollen and red anal gland just needed to be expressed and the dog would need pain meds and shed be good to go. They expressed both glands (out of the room and of my view) and sent us on our way. Unfortunately, less than two hours later, my dog was bleeding from the original expression. I tried to call this facility because I know they are open late, and it seems as though you cant ever get a live person on the line. You will have to leave a message and wait for a call back. Its worth mentioning that I had the same experience earlier in the day when trying to get appointment information. I called multiple times between 8-9 and received only voicemail. With my dog bleeding from her anus, I cant wait for someone to check voicemail. I took my dog to an emergency vet close to my home and had a vastly different experience. The gland that they tried to express actually was an abscess. The dog had to be sedated, the abscess lanced and drained, and then antibiotics had to be administered. The second vet advised me that when he checked the other gland that it did not appear it had been expressed at all. Or, if it had, someone had done a poor job of it as there was still a great deal of stuff left over. A week later, my dog is on the mend and the abscess is gone. Im sure others have had good experiences here. Unfortunately, I did not. I wont be returning.

KA

Katie Strickland

I wish there was an option to put zero stars. I originally went to St. Francis because I heard their prices were the best. I went online and read the Google reviews and even though they only had 3.7 stars and a lot of negative reviews, I decided to give them a chance. My dog was really sick. He needed to be seen and I didnt have a lot of money. Im going to keep this as short as possible. We saw Dr. Johnson and his bed side manner is heavily lacking. Even the lady up front made a comment about his bed side manner and apologized for his behavior. He was judgmental, rude, and condescending. He spent more time showing us an FDA article on bones and why your dog shouldnt eat bones instead of trying to make our dog better. He constantly had a judgmental smile on his face and made my husband and I feel very unwelcomed. We came in because my dog was having horrible diarrhea, not able to gain weight, his hair was falling out in clumps, and he had a lump on his back. They took fluid from the lump, did an exam, and tried to get a fecal sample but wasnt able to because of the diarrhea so we were sent home with a vile to retrieve a poop sample in. Dr. Johnson sent us home with zero advice expect to wait for test results and bring the fecal sample back in. He told us to keep feeding him his normal food and just wait around. So I spent $250 for you to send me home in the same shape that we came in? Two days later I call them to tell them that my dog has gotten worse but I wasnt able to afford another $250 payment. The lady advised me to come in and speak with the office manager about a payment plan. When I went in that same day to speak with the office manager, I was turned away because I didnt have any money. I wasnt even able to speak with the office manager. When I tried to explain that my dog was worse, the lady smiled, cut me off and said, "I wish there was more we could do for you. Come back tomorrow when you get paid." If you call, do NOT trust whatever the receptionist tells you. She told me that they take walk-ins up until 5pm. However, another lady in the waiting room was upset because she had called and the same lady told her that they take walk-ins up until 6pm. If you want to know how unprofessional and how bad their attitude is towards you and your animal, check out the picture Ive attached that shows his "very detailed" medical records. Almost everything is completely blank. I will never go back to St. Francis. I am angry, frustrated, and disappointed by the service that my dog and I have received.

DE

Dean Brown

I was not from the area and was traveling with my dog when a cyst on his back ruptured. After having already been to a VET ER in Jacksonville, they told me to contact a local vet for surgery and that my dog needed to have surgery within 24-48 hours. So, I looked at the reviews for vets in the area and St Frances was highly rated. So, I called SFAH was told that their vets dont see any pets between 1-3pm. With no time to waste, I rushed my terrier down there and arrived at 12:34 am. I saw a lot of other people there before me but thought it might go quickly. I told the receptionist that I needed to schedule surgery that day or the day after and she told me I would have to see the vet. Every 15 minutes or so someone would order carry out. I saw a couple of the customers order carryout and thought it was such an odd thing. So, I waited and 2 hours later I went back up to the window and asked her if the vet could just briefly look at my dog to schedule the surgery but was immediately and sternly told that I would just have to wait in line. By this time, I was pretty hungry and decided Id better order carry out too. So, I did and of course I had to buy some dog treats for my dog too because I felt bad. Then, 30 minutes later they called me back to a room where I sat for another 30 minutes (falling asleep several times). Then the doctor came in and said that they would not be doing surgery for a couple of weeks!!!! I couldnt believe it. So, when I protested that I was told my dog would have to have surgery today or tomorrow at the latest he said that I had received enough medication from the ER Vet and that my dog would be fine to wait to travel back to my home state to have the surgery. Then, he sent the Office manager in and I told her that I had just waited three hours for nothing and she had the nerve to tell me that she heard the receptionist tell me that they couldnt do the surgery. I told her that she never said that and I walked out. They didnt charge me for the visit but made sure they charged me for the treats, I wouldnt have had to buy if they had just done their job right the first time! I would strongly recommend taking your pet elsewhere. Instead of touting the rules for customers perhaps they should invest in training their staff to ask the right questions so that people arent wasting their time sitting in a waiting room only to be told that what the customer needed done cant be done by this staff. Voted Best Vet in Jacksonville for 2014!??!??!? Please!