Parkside Animal Hospital

Reviews 3

WI

William Rogers

This is an attempt to write a fair and comprehensive review for Parkside Animal Hospital – although admittedly, we’re pretty upset at the care our animals received. We are the owners of a 10-year old female beagle mix and two 7-year old cats – one male and one female. Our highest praise first goes to the staff in the front office. Every phone call, every interaction, and every conversation was cordial, polite, and understanding! Clearly, these folks are on the front lines of the veterinary industry and work hard to keep customers happy. We are so grateful for you! The facilities are also very clean and inviting. This was comforting to us as well. We even noticed a lit candle commemorating a family that had lost a loved pet and alerted other guests that there may be some grieving guests nearby. This too, was amazing. Unfortunately, it is because of the care of our animals that we will never return to Parkside. I will not suggest that you follow suit – however I advise that you consider with caution the professionalism of Dr. Craig Johnson. Dr. Johnson has charm; he is funny and projects an easiness about the care of your animals that leaves you feeling assured your pets are likely fine and statistically speaking, you shouldn’t spend more than you need on tests that will outline clean results. He then would recommend a natural progression of treatment. We appreciated this. At first… The story begins: Our male cat had developed Crystals in his urine and my wife – who is never short on love for her felines – requested an appointment with any available doctor; to whom we were referred: Dr. Johnson. Our cat was admitted for an overnight stay for observation. The next day, Dr. Johnson explained the results and his opinion which was (simplified): Cats develop crystals – male cats will have a difficult time. Make sure they drink enough to break them up. OK. It was at the end of the appointment when we learned that while in Parkside’s care, the cat had escaped his cage, bit an employee, and cut his paw so severely it bled on our carpets for several weeks (thanks, Hoover Steam Vac). We called numerous times to understand why he wouldn’t be stitched and was advised that it would heal naturally. The cat continued to worsen and the paw looked infected so we drove back for another look and a second assessment on the Crystals – which were not healing. The paw was infected and it was corrected, although they tried to charge us for a service repairing a wound sustained while in their care and did not call (as promised) to discuss the issue... (Longer billing problem omitted). Unfortunately, the cat continued to develop crystals and had significant troubles urinating – while I don’t pay much attention to the cats (they are my wife’s), I noticed he was in visible discomfort. My wife was in tears – we were hours away for leaving on vacation and she didn’t know what to do. We made an appointment for an extended observation with a different vet and brought along records of previous treatment. It wasn’t until this time we learned while reading through records that the cat had escaped a second time while at Parkside and was found the next morning on the shelves where the food is stored; he had urinated and defecated all over himself. We were NEVER told of this! Our second vet seemed discouraged that nothing was done to better care for the paw and insisted that vets were experts with animals and should know how to avoid a bite from a feline. He further explained the over-simplification of Dr. Johnson’s diagnosis and prescribed a new diet (reasonable in price) with confidence. He even recommended a third party that would sell it cheaper than his office. Since this visit, our cat has been healthy and happy; AND, we’ve learned to trust the care for our animals to more thoughtful veterinary professionals. Regarding Parkside – friendly staff, however accept care with caution.

CH

Christina Kim

This review is about Dr. Johnson. Our family has been using this Vet for over 15 years with three cats and a recently adopted dog. Overall, unlike Dr. Havens, Dr. Johnson had been one of the worst Vets weve ever seen. First example is when our cat was about to pass away, Dr. Johnson made a sarcastic remark when asked about prognosis and life expectancy: "If I had a crystal ball, then I would tell you. But, Im also not God". Heres another example with our dog. We suspected our dog of having cataract, as weve noticed cloudy lens and some discharge. When we took her to Dr. Johnson, his sarcastic remarks without doing any eye tests were, "Shes fine. She doesnt have cataract. But even if she has cataract, what are you going to do about it? If you have more than $5000 to do a surgery, then go ahead. Do it." Little did he know that another local Vet suggested we do eye tests, and the Vet diagnosed her with cataract and glaucoma. Per another Vet, glaucoma can make dogs lose vision. If Dr. Johnson diagnosed our dog with glaucoma earlier, it couldve been better for our dog. Our dogs glaucoma was pretty severe, with doubled the pressure of normal range. Heres another example. Our dog was limping, and expressed pain. When we took her to Dr. Johnson, he said she was fine, and prescribed pain medicine. A couple of weeks later, a groomer pointed out that our dog lost her nail, and she was probably experiencing pain. Our family never brought up anything about our dog limping to the groomer. Dr. Johnson was unable to observe something that a groomer could point out. Our family felt some emotional trauma from Dr. Johnson whenever he made sarcastic and RUDE comments. We never felt like Dr. Johnson cared about our pets. Needless to say, we will never be going back to his office again. Dr. Johnson, we wish your business all the best.

KA

Katherine Zipper

We have been going to Parkside for over 10 years now and love them! The vets and the staff are extremely nice and helpful. Every time we have called to make an appointment they are usually able to fit us in that same day. Even though we have been using them for years, one event in particular sealed the deal on how incredible this vet is. About two years ago my dog was hit by a car and sustained numerous horrible injuries. We took her to an emergency vet who told us if she was stable enough to undergo surgery to save her life that if would be about $15,000 on top of the $2,000 for being in their care. Clearly we would do anything to save her life but wanted a second opinion. We called Parkside and told them the situation and they told us to send over the x-rays and they would take a look. Not only did they take the time to look over her x-rays to give us a second opinion, but they also reached out to other emergency veterinarians to see if they could find a better price for the surgeries she needed. Unfortunately my dog did not make it through the night. Within a week we had received a condolences card from the staff at Parkside for the loss of our dog. They went above and beyond anything I could have asked for and showed how much they value their clients as well as the pets. I recommend Parkside to people all the time even if they do not live in the Fishers area. By far the best vets!