Westside Animal Emergency Clinic

Reviews 3

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Amber Affleck

Last week on Thanksgiving around 6 pm, our 2 1/2 year old Saint Bernard developed bloat. At first we didnt know thats what he had he kept stretching so we thought he hurt from playing outside with him. Then he started to cry in pain and moan which wasnt right, then he started vomiting so we took him into this place because we were worried it was bloat. When we walked in there, there was no receptionist, there was another guy in there very irritated saying were gonna have to yell for someone to come up here. We waited about 20 minutes for someone to come up there. They took their sweet time, they didnt even do an emergency bloat procedure to try to relieve the gas. They printed out an exam plan for our dog and it was about $500 to do blood work and X-rays and they want the money up front. We decided to not do blood work cause we knew this was bloat so they did the X-rays which took them an hour, they werent even busy. The let our dog lay in some kennel in pain for a hour not even trying to help him. SO then they came out with the results and it was indeed bloat and something much worse, stomach torsion. We just broke down and were so upset that our 2 1/2 year old dog on Thanksgiving didnt have much time left. One minute he was perfectly fine then the next he was in a lot of pain with a true medical emergency. So they went to print out another sheet with a plan for our dog and it was $2400-3600 for surgery and hospitalization. First off we are a young couple and we didnt have pet insurance. My husbands family was there with us and talked to the people to try to get them to work with us and had no sympathy for us and refused to work with us on the price. Well we had the doctor come in and wanted to know the statistics of the outcome for this surgery and he really had no idea, thats really comforting. He said I need to go look some stuff up in the computer before I give you an answer. Im sorry but it you are working for an ER you should know a general idea of statistics. When you go to the regular dr for a person the dr never says oh let me go look in my computer... so he goes to look and comes back and its basically a 50/50 chance. We had to make a very hard decision to put our 2 1/2 year old dog to sleep, on Thanksgiving of all days. These people only care about your money they dont care about the animals. So we left and my MIL said to the nurse this has been a crappy thanksgiving and the nurse had the audacity to say oh we have a lot to be thankful for... so anyways a few days later I called to possibly get our dogs ashes...$435 dollars... So we decided not to get them... This is such a sad sad place to go to, they dont care about the animals, they shouldnt be vets they are soley in it for the money and God will take care of them. They sent us a sympathy card yesterday, meant nothing to us and doesnt make up for what they did ...do not go here unless if you have a lot of money..

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Morgan McDonald

I normally never write negative reviews unless I find them to be absolutely necessary. This is no expection. I went to the vet there about a week ago to find out what was wrong with my yorkie, lexi. She was very lethargic, throwing up, and would not come to you when called. She wouldnt even recognize you calling her name. We knew something was wrong. So we drove an hour to get to the vet, it was after hours and the ones around us was closed. We called when we were on our way to let them know to expect us. Once we got there, we were met by a vet tech who didnt even acknowledge we had called. Once we got back to the room, the girl who took care of us examined lexi and told us she would go get the doctor. Once the doctor came out, she told us lexi had low blood sugar due to not eating enough. She said it was common for small dogs. Granted, three weeks before this event I had another dog who passed away from just this very thing. So this was a touchy subject for me. After that, she gave us a whooping 600 dollar bill and said even then it might not be enough. We were thinking it was parvo, and the vet refused to even test. She said what the bill included would be enough to get through if it was parvo. YEAH RIGHT! We all know parvo is a very deadly viris and most young dogs do not survive. Well, we are a young couple who obviously did not have that amount, so we asked for other options. That was were it all went down hill from there. Immediately, you could tell she had already ridden us off as cheap and poor. Her bedside manner became awful. The tech could not answer any of the questions we were asking. There was a $100 fee for professional services AND and $85 doctor visit fee. We were confused as to why the bill needed both. Finally, the tech rolled her eyes and just walked out of the room to go get the doctor. Then the doctor literally yells at us while trying to explain why we need to spend $600. After about 30 minutes of this, we just said to give her a shot to help boost her energy to hold her off till we could see the regular vet. They gave us some high calorie food and told us absolutely no water intake allowed. $200 later we are finally out of this awful place. We are so glad we did not simply spend the six hundred because the next day our regular vet told us she just had a virus due to stress of being seperate from her mother and the process of transitioning to a new home. All of this was symptoms from the virus.They were blown away at the "no water" rule, because that is something a puppy desperately needs when sick. The visit only cost around 100 bucks. She is now so much better and going to be perfectly healthy again. I will NEVER go back to this place again. They have horrible bedside manner and overpriced services. Please do no take your dog there. All they care about is money.

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Angela Downs

My three-year-old Schnoodle, Bernie, has epilepsy. He was diagnosed about five months ago, and has been managed very well on phenobarbital since then. Last night, though, he began to have seizures one after the other, about five minutes apart. I called Westside and Danielle told me to bring Bernie in. Bernie had a seizure on the way to the clinic and then had another one as soon as we got there. Danielle took him back to the doctor - Dr. Barnes - immediately, who got busy administering doses of Valium and phenobarbital right away, to try to alleviate Bernies discomfort and tension from the seizures. They recommended that they keep him overnight on seizure watch and gave me an estimate of between $281 - 381 for everything, including the medications that they might have to administer throughout the night (we paid the $281 up front, with the realization that additional money might be owed upon pickup of Bernie the following morning). This morning, when I picked him up, I learned that he continued to seize all night, about once per hour, and I did indeed owe a little more money than originally estimated. I was happy to pay it, though, because they actively kept my dog alive all night as he seized over and over. Dr. Barnes came out and explained everything she had done overnight and what her recommendation was (to take him to see my regular vet for blood work and possible dosage adjustment). Danielle faxed my paperwork right over to my vet (Douglasville Veterinary Hospital) and then she carried my Bernie out to the car and hugged me before I left, wishing both Bernie and I well. The other reviews on Westside here made me apprehensive at first, but my experience could not have been better with this animal clinic. Danielle and Dr. Barnes clearly care very much about animals and they were quick to respond to the emergency situation we found ourselves in last night. As to other reviewers here complaining about the amount of money it costs, all I can say is that when you are paying for *emergency* services, you often do pay a premium. If my heater stops working in my house at 2am on the coldest night of the year, I am going to pay more for a repairman to come fix it at that hour than I would if it were during regular business hours. Plain and simple. In my mind, every penny of what I spent last night and this morning at Westside was justified, because they took excellent care of my furbaby. Thank you, Westside Animal Emergency Clinic, Danielle, and Dr. Barnes for providing a service that pet lovers hope they never have to use but are so grateful for when they are needed. You guys are rockstars.