MedVet Columbus Medical & Cancer Centers for Pets

Reviews 3

SA

Samantha Schneider

Our 8 year old dog was bitten during a walk by a stray and developed an abscess. We took her to the regular vet, and then MedVet, back to the regular, back to MedVet. Both of them kept missing additional areas that should have been drained and cleaned. This lead to necrosis (dying tissue, the most horrendous sight of your life). She ended up with an open wound with a pump to suction out any remaining infection for a few days and then another surgery ~5 days later to close up the wound. She was released the day after her surgery. All of the care we received at the facility was very good. I think they did their best and everyone was helpful and considerate during visiting hours. Im not sure how culpable they are for missing all of the original infection, but overall, we were satisfied with the care. Follow-up calls were delivered about 70% of the time as promised. However, the release instructions were horrible. We were directed to give her 8 and a half pills, at 4 AM, 6 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 5 PM, 12 PM, 2 PM, 8 PM and 10 PM. For those of you who work, you are cringing and understand that this means severe sleep deprivation. On top of the schedule, keep in mind that you will possibly be forcing pills down the throat of a dog who starts clenching her teeth at the sight of the pill syringe. We also had to force feed her with a food syringe 8 times a day. My boyfriend and I are losing our minds. We have the good fortune that his mother can come and stay with us to help, but all we do is care for her. The worst part is that they told us it is quite common that she need further surgery to remove additional skin and then a later closing surgery again. This means we will need to go through the entire force-feed/pill schedule/wound cleaning/suction device-emptying/1,000 loads of laundry/journal-keeping/carrying outside to pee three times a day process all over AGAIN. Did I mention, our bill currently stands around $7,000? Not including medication and supplies. I do sincerely love my dog. She is a family member. But I believe in this case, the compassionate thing would have been for them to counsel us to euthanize her, which was never presented as an option. They never explained any of the challenges involved with her recovery. It was all, "Heres what wed like to do." This situation is not fair to her (she is suffering) and it is sure as hell not fair to us. If anyone out there encounters this situation I would encourage you to think long and hard before agreeing to go down this road. Knowing what I know now, I absolutely would have chosen differently.

BI

Bill Beagle

Our poodle was having trouble breathing, so we took her to Medvet. I clearly indicated on her admission paperwork that she had mega-esophagus, was syringe fed in an infant car seat, and could not have water – only ice. They admitted her, and no one requested her food, car seat, syringe, or ice. Therefore, I assumed, since they said she would be getting an IV, that she would get any food, water, and medicine intravenously. When I called to check on her the next day I found out that she had been given food and water. When I asked why, they assured they knew how to treat dogs with mega-esophagus and were holding her upright after feeding her and giving her water. Then I asked how they were going about administering her medicines, since we would grind them up and mix them into her pureed food before syringe feeding her. They said they had found some rotisserie chicken in the kitchen and just put her pills in it. I told them she couldn’t have chicken. She had mega-esophagus and was syringe fed. They assured me again that they knew what they were doing, and she was fine. Seven hours later we received a call from the emergency room doctor telling us our beloved pet was in respiratory distress. They had pulled a piece of chicken out of her throat and wanted to know if we wanted to have her intubated. Before our wishes could be relayed to the doctor treating her, our precious pet was gone. I am not saying Medvet was the cause of our poodle’s death. As I said, she was having trouble breathing when we brought her in, and she had a long history of extensive medical issues. However, you should make sure they really know what they are doing if your pet has a special condition and requires special care. Our poodle should NEVER have been given solid food. She hadn’t been on solid food for nearly 3 years. Because I requested an investigation into how it came to be that our pet was given solid food, MedVet did accept responsibility. They acknowledged our instructions were not followed and for that I am grateful. This does speak to their integrity and the situation has supposedly been discussed with their staff. Nevertheless, we’re heartbroken and hope no other pet owner has to go through something like this. In hindsight, I should have monitored her care more meticulously and not accepted their statements that they knew how to treat a dog with mega-esophagus. Unfortunately, I will now have to live with regret.

KA

Katie Karlsven

Let me start out by saying we are extremely pleased with our experience with MedVet Columbus! For almost a month we’ve been going back and forth with our regular vet, trying to figure out what was causing my 1 yr old lab’s eye-squinting/rubbing/tears. Finally they were stumped and referred us to an ophthalmologist. I called OSU first and they didn’t have any available appointments for 6 weeks. Called MedVet and they were able to see us in two days. We obviously didn’t want to wait long to get seen, as our pup was clearly in pain and we didn’t want her to cause more damage to her eye from all the rubbing and by not getting it taken care of. Went for our appointment and were seen very quickly. We had been told and were prepared to wait, but they got us in within 5-10 minutes! Her diagnosis was Ectopic Cilia, and surgery was needed to remove the hair follicle. Surgery was scheduled the following week (3 days later). All went well and our girl is doing great! We are so relieved she is feeling better and no further damage was done, and the folks at MedVet were so kind and thorough. As far as the cost: The initial appointment alone was $170. Which I was told up front, and we knew we would have to pay more to see a specialist. For the surgery, they quoted us $600- $800, and the total ended up coming to $620. YAY! (This included antibiotic drops, pain pills and lots of instructions, and a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. They also sent all the appointment and surgery information over to our regular vet to keep them informed!) So YES this was a little pricey, but we feel like we paid for great service and care, and more than anything are relieved that our pup is A-OK now! We would DEFINITELY go back to MedVet Columbus in an emergency situation or to see another specialist. It was more costly than our regular vet, but this wasn’t a routine visit or check-up. You will always pay more to see a team of specialists- but TOTALLY worth in IMO. Thank you Dr. Webb & Team! Very sweet people and great at what they do!