Apple Lake Animal Hospital

Reviews 5

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Andrea McEntee

Bear with me, this is a long story. We have an 11.5 year old pug (average life expectancy is 12.8 years) who had an abscessed tooth in June 2016. Diagnosed and treated by a very friendly female veterinarian at Apple Lake. Then in September 2016 our pug, who is already basically deaf, lost his vision abruptly over the course of a few days. We brought him to Apple Lake and saw Dr. Petran who advised lab work. Said lab work showed grossly elevated liver function but otherwise generally normal limits. He recommended further evaluation of the liver by x ray. We proceeded. X-ray came back WNL, he said, "well, theres a bit of liver that we cant see on the x-ray, we should do an ultrasound. The tests up to this point totalled nearly $500, the ultrasound would be an additional $300. My pup had no symptoms of liver cancer or failure ( vomiting, diarrhea, blood in urine or stool, weightloss.) So my husband and I made the decision to forego the US unless further symptoms surfaced. Dr. Petran was clearly perturbed by our decision. When I went in to ask him further questions he was completely hostile and arrogant. His advice regarding the vision loss, the original complaint we presented for? We could see a veterinary opthalmologist... so no answers regarding our concern. (We found out later that his vision loss was genetic and at least one puppy from the same litter also lost its vision) Fast forward 5 months and we have watched our poor pug lose all interest in life, constantly bump into walks, fall around outside, etc. But we hoped this will pass and he will become more accustomed to his blindness and deafness. Unfortunately, Friday we noticed our pug didnt want his dinner (clearly a big deal if you know pu ). He didnt sleep well that night, kept startling awake and then frantically walking around as if searching for something. Saturday his condition worsened. Refused his food again and would not rest. By Sunday he was just constantly walking around and crashing into something every few seconds. He is whining, whimpering. We have been forcing him water through a syringe and helping him to lap up a tablespoon of peanut butter half heartedly. We tried kenneling him to avoid him injuring himself but he just became more frantic. To us, watching an animal endure this amount of pain is inhumane. But we also love our pug immensely. We brought him to Dr. Petran this morning to ask if he would consider trying a round of antibiotics in case this is all a result of an abscessed tooth again. His reply outlined below: "I cant confirm its his tooth unless I put him under anesthesia. I cant put him under anesthesia without running labs." When we expressed that as his labs and age likely wouldnt allow anesthesia anyway we think we should try antibiotics before making a decision regarding the life of our pet. His response, "So youre just going to let your pet die then?" We again explained our perspective, his response: "Well, I have a mortgage and a car payment, shes got a mortgage and a car payment (pointing at assistant), in fact everyone in my office has mortgages and car payments. We cant work for free." Mind you it is $50 just to have this exam. Mind you we never asked you to do labs or any other service for free. Did you think that we would just walk in, pay and $50 exam fee, $150 lab fee, $500+ for exam under anesthesia?? For you to come out and tell us he needs a $1000+ procedure? For a dog clearly in an immense amount of distress and near the end of his life expectancy? No one wants to have to make a choice to lose a part of their family. We have lost much sleep and shed many tears watching his condition and happiness deteriorate. How dare you see dollar signs in our misery.

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Amber Bathke

We moved recently from St Paul, and one of our dogs, Gilly, developed severe diarrhea soon after the move before we had time to research a new vet. I called the closest vet, Apple Lake Animal Hospital, and they were able to get us in right away. They took great care of my dog for a reasonable price, and even called the next day to see how he was doing. A choice of convenience ended up being a great find! A couple of months later, Gilly caught some sort of respiratory illness at a boarding facility. Dr. Robinson gave me all the options for diagnostics and recommended the ones she thought were important to do right away, and which could wait and see. She checked his lungs for fluid and there was none, gave us some medicine and we went home. I ended up having to bring him back within half an hour of bringing him home because his condition progressed quickly and he became unable to breathe; the staff got us right back in and decided to keep him at the hospital for the day to keep an eye on him. Since Dr. Robinson suspected dog flu, they had to make him a special little area away from other animals. Again, they took great care of him and he made a full recovery. Im so happy to have found this great vet!

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Carol Ann

I was living in Minnesota for 13 months as part of the corporate team building their new NFL stadium. I didnt really know many people and had to find new healthcare for myself as well as for my beloved dog. During that time, my sweet Chocolate Lab needed a veterinarian and this hospital was located only a few miles from my townhouse in Apple Valley. Let me tell you: we still miss them! My sweet boy LOVED going there, even when one visit resulted in the cone of shame. :) When the time came to move back home to Florida, I had to vacate my townhouse several days before I could actually leave town and my dog was unable to stay with me at a friends house. I called Apple Lake and they not only were able to accommodate him but he LOVED being there. I felt so much better. And even after I returned to Florida and needed records they were so very helpful and accommodating. From the staff to the veterinarian I was able to rest assured my happy boy was well cared for. HIGHLY recommend!

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Kimberly Stuber

What a waste of money! The doc doesnt know what he is talking about and clearly doesnt know how to deal with people. I almost walked out and didnt pay. He did the exam and then just looked at the records form our past vet and said keep spending money to treat it for months more. This after the previous vet was convinced the treatment was almost done. This doc did no tests...recommended no tests...just wanted us to keep spending money on treatment and on future office visits. He didnt answer any of my questions and seemed annoyed that we were asking. He has no ability to deal with people and didnt even seem like he knew how to do deal with dogs. Unless you like wasting money stay as far away as possible. They dont care about anything but the money!

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Jamie Lane

I have been a satisfied client of Apple Lake Animal hospital for well over a decade! They are unbelievably good. The team is warm and friendly. The doctor is great. He knows pets so well he has always been right on with his diagnoses leading to less tests. The costs are very reasonable. Im not rich and am comfortable saying to them look this is whats in my budget is looking like for tests and vaccines. They have no problem helping figure out what is essential and what can wait till next payday. They have never made me feel guilty about my budget either. So if you are looking for the GREATEST team around they are it.

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