Birch Lake Animal Hospital PA

Reviews 4

ST

STEPHandDAIM Sawyer

If I could give them NO stars, I WOULD. I am a Certified Veterinary Technician and I work at a Veterinary clinic in St Paul. I have 10 years of experience in practice and this clinic is so wrong for what they did to me tonight. I received a phone call from my mom tonight, who lives only a few minutes from Birch Lake Animal Hospital, that our family dog was in distress. His gums were pale, his breathing was very labored and he couldnt get up. My mother is the practice manager of the clinic I also work at, so she is knowledgeable enough to know that the dog needs IMMEDIATE help! I instructed her to have a neighbor help get him into the car and head straight over to Birch Lake Animal Hospital and that I would call them to inform them of the emergency that we were dealing with. They were the closest clinic to her and it was about 5:25pm, they close at 6pm according to their website. I got ahold of someone and told them that my mother was on her way with a dog that was clearly in distress-actually he was near death. The receptionist told me that they couldnt see her, I clearly asked if I was hearing her correctly-- that they WOULD NOT SEE THE DOG if she showed up there. She responded NO the Dr has several appointments before we close at 6pm. This is horrible! Any emergency trumps appointments...this is an unwritten rule in any good practice. If an emergency came in during your pets annual exam are you going to tell me that you wouldnt give up your time slot?! It could be your animal some day. Most people understand that. I will repeat that I WORK AS A CVT at a VETERINARY CLINIC! We would never turn someone away if their pet was in distress and there was a veterinarian on staff to help the pet. Need I remind these people that the patients wellbeing is WHY WE ARE IN PRACTICE AND WHY MOST OF US WENT INTO THIS PROFESSION IN THE FIRST PLACE?! By the time my mom made it all the way to St. Paul to the clinic that WE BOTH work at-our family dog was half dead, covered in bloody diarrhea and barely breathing. We ended up euthanizing him immediately. My mother in a panic, the dog in a panic and myself A VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL absolutely irate at the way this crappy clinic handled our very own personal crisis. I can also say that this is NOT my first terrible experience at Birch Lake Animal Hospital. Years ago we had a different family pet that had to be euthanized. They didnt administer enough euthanasia. Our poor old dog struggled to breathe as her body thrashed on the appointment room floor. The only reason that we even considered them again was because it was urgent. Im glad that they didnt put a hand on another family pet after all is said and done. Im absolutely appalled at the way they treated not only an animal in pain and discomfort, but they also simply brushed me to the side. By the way-a clinic should always offer some sort of alternative clinic that you might be able to take your pet to. Although I am a technician they shouldve still given me information about clinics close by. They offered nothing.

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A Private User

First off Gail, I am trully sorry about your pet but I really think you need to take a deep breath and calm down. Your review of this clinic is not fair in the slightest and I believe it paints Birch Lake AH as some sort of animal cruelty center. My experience is quite the contrary. I transfered both of my dogs to this clinic because the one I was going to were extremely over priced and ended up killing one of my other family members pet birds not to mention over medicated my rottweiler to the point of near death. As I mentioned I have a 3yr old female rottweiler and same age female boxer. Back in 08 my rottweiler was diagnosed with a torn cruciate ligament and needed surgery in order to repair the joint area. The clinic I was going to at the time wanted to charge me over $3000 to perform the surgery. I called around and ended up talking to Birch Lake A.H. and found that they could perform the surgery for about $1000 less!. Outside of the cost savings, they were very nice and friendly to both of our dogs but most important the surgery on her left knee was a resounding success and she made a full recovery. Now unfortunately she has torn the other cruciate in the opposite knee and here we are again in the process of scheduling the next surgery. I trust Birch Lake A.H and I will continue to bring my dogs there for all of their health related needs. Ok so after reading this you may wonder why I did not give a full five stars, and this is why. Upon contacting B.L.A.H. to schedule her next appointment I was greeted by what seemed to be a very inexperienced receptionst that admitted to me that she did not know how to set up a surgical appointment. I was told she would ask around and have somone contact me within 3-4 days. The Vetrinarian called back within the hour and got the ball rolling on setting up the appointment.

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A Private User

We had been taking our golden here for 4 years and were never ecstatic about it but thought the staff seemed nice and somewhat knowledgable, despite nickel and diming us on everything. We were charged for bandages, a collar and paper towels after an expensive surgerical procedure. Still, we continued to go because it was close and we didnt mind the staff. The vet we were seeing was always very rushed and would never fail to interrupt us when we were trying to give as much info as possible. He made it clear that he had too many things to do to sit and address all our concerns. As a result, he missed an early diagnosis of a fatal disease that could have extended our goldens life. We had mentioned every single one of the symptoms several times, and every time he dismissed it as him being overweight, which he was not. His condition was not diagnosed until it was too late to reverse the damage. Despite that, whats done is done and we had to move forward and help our golden. This vet told us he had days to live and pressured us to put him down. We said we wanted a second opinion an he said he would give us a referral which he never did. We took him to another vet and got him the necessary treatment to restore his puppy energy and lust for life. He lived another happy, active 6 months. I would have never forgiven myself had I followed this vets advice. He gave us no other option and said no treatment would help him. We have two pups now and we avoid this vet like the plague for the sake of their health.

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Angie Schottmuller

The staff is very friendly and responsive, though I question their competence. Im personally looking for another clinic that I feel will provide better quality care. A few years back our dog had all the classic symptoms of lyme disease (though we didnt know it), and the Birch Lake vet sent us home basically with ibuprofen for 2 weeks to reduce the pain. During that time a family members pet with the same exact symptoms was diagnosed with lyme disease. When I looked up the symptoms and saw that lyme disease is basically an epidemic in Minnesota, I was shocked that the vet did not give us antibiotics on the spot for our dogs condition. They eventually did, but the damage was done and our dog has never been the same. On another occasion they gave us the wrong antibiotics for our dogs abdominal infection. When we had to return several times for care, they finally actually did a lab test and said, "oh, well the prescription you were using wont work for that type of bacteria infection." Really? I need a vet that can accurately diagnose problems and prescribe effective solutions. Again, the staff has always been very nice and responsive, Ive just lost faith in their actual expertise and ability to provide the *right* treatment for our pets.

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