VCA Hawthorn Animal Hospital

Reviews 4

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Kevin Lu

Let me say first off that I rarely review places unless I think there is truly injustice occurring. This place is a shining example. Be sure to read this article: google search "how to avoid getting ripped off by your vet" by craftycreatures (he/she is a veterinarian) My background- As a human physician who works in county hospitals, thinking of ways to make it easier cost-wise and medical systems-wise for his patients to complete treatment, I could smell the upcharging and disingenuous tactics from a mile away for my nearly 18 year old german shepherd mix. I will be discontinuing my care here, and dont think for a second this hospital has had a hand in getting my dog this far in his life as healthy as he is. Unfortunately my parents already put a great degree of money into this place before I was adequately medically trained. The vets and ancillary staff here have a thin veil over their true disdain for their pet owners. When I objected to bringing my dog in to get antibiotics for a corneal ulcer to avoid their $300 mark up, I was last told by the veterinarian that I should know better as a doctor that it should be examined in the hospital despite the fact that I am an emergency medicine physician and my significant other is an ophthalmologist (simply put, we know our stuff - a lot of stuff overlaps between human medicine and vet medicine as most drugs and interventions go through animal models first). I ended up realizing that the costly triple antibiotic they use is unnecessary, and treated my dog with a cvs generic bacitracin/polymyxin B with white petrolatum vehicle ($7 from CVS). Hes doing great with it btw. When I used the example of them going overkill with a gentamicin/clotrimazole/steroid mixture in the past for an ear infection, and stated gentamicin (a ear toxic agent in the human world, very controversial for topical ear infection) was too much, the vet said she does it all the time, and proceeded to disrespectfully object (btw, they also marked it up to $50 when its $13 online). In human medicine, if its controversial or you dont know if its ok to use, we DO NOT use it - we dont just say "based on studies with a sample size of 15...yada yada" - which is what Im pretty sure this vet is basing her stuff on. Save your pet excessive and unwarranted health interventions from this place, and save money.

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Susan Snell

In Sept 2011 I took my 8 yr old Golden in for not eating or eliminating. The same thing had happened a week before and she got something then to help with the accompanying nausea and more. She was back to normal very quickly. A week later she repeated those symptoms. I had a supervisor flying in that week, and I thought that she would be ok if I dropped her off for treatment which turned into an overnight observation. The second day Hawthorn xrayed her and found something she had eaten that was tearing her intestines. I okd surgery. She stayed there Tuesday to noon on Sat. I visited her every day; they would take her off her drip and we would walk gently in their backyard which was fenced. She would always head for the gate. They have no one in the building between closing the day before to 8:00 am when they opened the next day. The place closes from noon on Sat until 8 am Monday, so you have to pick up your pet no matter what its condition. They put Maggie in the back of my CRV and I drove home, arriving 20 minutes later. When I opened the back of the car, all I could see was ths long incision on her belly oozing blood and puss. I called them and they were gone, so I drove her to the emergency vet further south off Milwaukee. They examined her and told me that her blood pressure and potassium were way too low for them to operate so they would try to remedy this and would try to improve these conditions so they could. They said it was 50-50 once they were able. She had the surgery in early evening and passed at exactly 10 pm. I since learned that if a vet does not staff overnight to care for Animals; they turn down any drips and the animals were alone from closing to 8 am. I told the woman vet in charge what happened and that I felt her death was at least in part their responsibility. She offered to return a third of their bill, but I would have to keep my mouth shut. I told her that I wouldnt sell my dog for $800, and I told everyone I saw about Hawthorn Animals cynical approach to your pets well being. BTW, the bill from the emergency vets bill was $11,000. Two months later I adopted another 8 year old Golden and a terrific new vet, CARE Animal Hospital in Libertyville. They saved Sadies life twice. I am forever grateful to them.

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A Private User

Hawthorn is filled with complete idiots. I am the president of a no-kill animal shelter in Wisconsin. One of our cats got lost. A Nathan Hoff found the cat and kept the cat for over a week. The cat became extremely sick and Hoff took our cat to Hawthorn to get a free check up. Now, this is where Hawthorn demonstrates its utter stupidity and complete lack of caring for a sick animal. After Hoff told the morons in Hawthorn that he found the cat, the morons scanned the cat and found a microchip showing that the cat belonged to me. The geniuses at the clinic called me to tell me that a Nathan Hoff had brought in a very sick cat who belonged to me but that he took the cat with him because he did not want to spend money on the cat. Now here is where these incompetent morons really show their true colors. I asked for the telephone for the man who had my very sick cat who was on the verge of death. The clinic refused to tell me the telephone number or tell me where my cat was. So, I called the Vernon Hills police department. The police contacted Hawthorn and again Hawthorn refused to give the police Hoffs telephone number. The genius at the police department thought it was a good idea to wait a few days to see if Hoff called me. By the time I find Hoff, my cat will most likely be dead because of the stupidity of this clinic. I WOULDNT TAKE A COCKROACH TO BE TREATED BY THESE MORONS. THEY ARE TOO STUPID.

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Wendy Angelacos

I brought my cat in for annual one year vaccine. They gave a Benadryl injection first due to a reaction from the same vaccine previously given. My cat was taken out of the room for the Benadryl injection& vaccine injection. They brought my cat back up in the carrier and I went home. Once I was home I took my cat out of the carrier and he was not able to use his left hind leg he was dragging it. The cat I heard scream was my cat I was devastated that they would send me home with my cat and not even tell me what had happened. When the vet gave the injection she hit the sciatica nerve. It has been a year now and my cat cannot squat to pee. He has to stand he is able to have use of his hind leg however he has a slight limp. They had me come back in to take x-rays the same night and I could not believe they charged me for that as well. I have not heard from the California main office nor from anyone at the Vernon Hills office either.

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