Newton Veterinary Hospital

Reviews 3

OK

Okan Esendemir

I was going to give five stars but had to take one away for some miscommunication on my pets after surgery care. When my dog bash was attacked at the dog park I was frantic as my regular vet didnt have doctors available on the weekend so they couldnt see him in an emergency. The police officer told me about newton and I called and they were very nice on the phone. I brought bash in and didnt wait very long to receive care. His ear was really ripped up on the inside and Dr Cha told us exactly what will be done and you could really tell she cared about the animals well being. We left him overnight and picked him up the following morning and he seemed pretty happy for a dog that just went through all that trauma. We got post op care instructions and were told to return in 3 days to remove his bandage. Fast fwd to the first attempt at bandage removal. The tech took him in the back and when he came out his e-collar was all bloody, definitely not the sign you want to see. The tech told me Dr Cha was about to start her shift so they wanted her to take a look at him. She did and told me that he needs the bandage again for another 5 days and prescribed some different pain meds. That night bash would not sleep just kept panting and panting so I called up and they told me to bring him back in. Dr Cha took an X-ray to make sure his belly was good because he is a big dog and you need to worry about bloat. Everything checked out ok but bash was really restless. So now fast fwd to his second bandage removal; tech took him inside and came back like 20 min later with a new bandage. I asked what was going on since now its been 9 days with the bandage. She said I need to take him to my dr so he can get checked out. Im like well I want to start bringing him here and make this his new vet. So they said now come back in 4 days to have a dr check him out and remove the bandage. Again when I got home bash was restless panting and would not sleep. The next day he was the same and at night he shook his head so hard his ear came out of the bandage. I called again and they said bring him in. I got there and was immediately attended too. It turned out that bash had an ear infection due to the moisture of his ear being bandaged. I am very happy that Dr Cha and the tech that looked at bash were able to figure out what was bothering him so much. They gave him an ear wash and he is already doing better. Not shaking his head as much and finally sleeping. Dr Cha really made us feel like everything is going to be ok. I read reviews about the hospital just caring about making money and let me tell you that is the furthest thing from the truth. They didnt charge me for the X-ray, ear cleaning or the exam visits just any extra meds that were given. Aside from that one instance with the bandage the 2nd time which might have caught the ear infection a day sooner. I am really happy with the care my Komondor pup has received. I finally saw the sutures under his ear and again it was pretty bad but DR Cha did an excellent job fixing him up. I plan on having newton vet become bashs primary doctors.

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Adam Steinberg

CLINICALLY COMPETENT BUT VERY PRICEY AND LACKING PROFESSIONALISM AND COMPASSION Our 7 year old dog Lucie, unfortunately developed immune hemolytic anemia (IHA) after receiving a routine rabies vaccine at her local vet. IHA results in severe and progressive anemia which in turn leads to progressive fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath. Because Lucie became very ill on a Sunday (Fathers Day 2017), our only solution was to take her to Newton Veterinary Hospital. The good news is that she was rapidly diagnosed, admitted, and started on treatment, including steroids and, ultimately, 2 blood transfusions. The bad news is that this only occurred after I paid them $2500 IN ADVANCE (!!) , representing a down payment of 50% of what turned out to be a total of a $5000 bill for 2 1/2 days of treatment. I am fortunate to be able to afford this kind of large expense at short notice . However, I am sure that many people can not, and would therefore be forced to contemplate euthanasia or taking their pet home to die. 2 days after taking Lucie home, despite ongoing treatment with oral steroids and azathioprine to try to control her IHA, she started failing again. This, unfortunately, is not unusual with IHA which carries a very high mortality in the first 2 weeks. I called Newton Veterinary Hospital and asked to speak to one of the vets to discuss the benefit (or not) of a third transfusion. After waiting over an hour , I finally received a call back from a junior vet technician (NOT the vet) who informed me that the vet had told her to tell me that a third transfusion, in their opinion, would be futile. That opinion may be entirely valid medically, but , given the fact that we were discussing a life or death issue, that I am myself a board certified adult cardiologist and internist and therefore a clinical peer with significant medical knowledge, and that I had just paid them $5000, it was grossly unprofessional and discourteous to not have the vet contact me personally. Needless to say, I told this very bluntly to the technician. Lucie died at home the next day. It is now some days later and I have yet to receive any follow up call from any vet on staff at Newton Veterinary Hospital.

ZO

Zorik123

24 Hours means that surgery can be performed in 24 Hours or more after pet admitted. Timing is totally up to Hospital. We called and tried to schedule surgery yesterday but were told that the surgery is on First Come First Serve basis with plenty of doctors available. I was there at 7:00 P.M. In a large and friendly facility several polite people talked to me without major progress ( payment , weight , etc, etc). Finally I left dog at 9:00 PM ( 2 Hours later!!!) and was promised that surgery will start very soon and the only reason for delay could be admittance of other animals in a critical condition. We did not expect a lot of night gun violence to pets in the area and expect that "soon means soon". Every couple Hours my wife called to the hospital and heard that surgery will be done soon. We were nervous because there was chance of cancer according to personnel in Newton hospital. At 5:00 A.M. they told that there will be no surgery until "who knows when" because there only one night doctor who was ill and left hospital. They expect now that surgery will be done around 3 PM when new shift of doctor/s appear. But they cant commit to any particular time. We were puzzled : either neighborhood is really violent to pets and they arrived wounded in groups or doctors tend to be sick and leave shift often. How Vet cannot guarantee time of surgery in 24 Hours span - it beats me. Again, the hospital is huge with name of 10 vet doctors on a wall. We took dog back in the morning. After such mistreatment Newton hospital still treat to charge me for "whatever was done already". I do not know what they mean under this statement. Definitely not the facts that poor dogs condition became worse after spending night in pain in unfamiliar place , my wife was not sleeping all night worry about dog condition and waiting for a call from doctor with surgery result. In any case we arranged surgery in another location. Talked to doctor( not to football team of technicians) who was listened to us and had time to look at our dog. By the way, blood test made by Newton hospital was not accepted by another location. Newton even could not do this simple thing right.