Sunset Animal Clinic

14740 NW Cornell Rd Suite 20, Portland, OR 97229, USA

Category:	Animal Hospital
Address:	14740 NW Cornell Rd Suite 20, Portland, OR 97229, USA
Phone:	+1 503-629-5580
Site:	sunsetanimal.com
Rating:	3
Working:	7:30AM–7PM 7:30AM–7PM 7:30AM–7PM 7:30AM–7PM 7:30AM–7PM 8AM–2PM Closed

Location

Photos 2

Reviews 9

A Private User

Doctor Labavitch Insisted on unnecessary surgery that resulted in the death of our dog. We took our dog in because she had not been eating well for a couple of days. The doctor pushed for surgery, implying imminent death for our dog if we did not act immediately. The surgery in question was to remove something apparently lodged in our dogs stomach (which turned out not to be true). After the surgery the doctor did not provide us with the alleged object that was "stuck" in our dogs stomach. We were told that our dog was fine and that the surgery was a success. We kept our dog at the clinic for several more days of rest and recovery. We checked on her every day and were told that we could look at her from a distance but not to disturb her. When we were told that she was healthy and ready to be picked-up, we happily brought her home. She died three hours later after we brought her home. The independent necropsy report by OSU indicated that the dog probably would have survived the surgery had it not been botched. Our dog was bleeding internally after the surgery with evidence of blood in her stool and ultimately died from a blood clot that formed during her days of "recovery" while at the clinic. Other veterinarians who knew doctor Labavitch were not surprised. After reviewing the same evidence provided by Doctor Labavitch for surgery, both the veterinarians we sought opinions from suggested that they would not have done surgery so hastily. The result was a settlement in May of 2008 in our favor. We received a settlement that was the largest in Oregon history for a pet case of any kind. Since pets in Oregon are legally considered property, the reimbursement is typically the cost of the animal. Our case did not result in the typical reimbursement as we had documentation, lab reports and expert testimony supporting our prosecution. Gross negligence, dishonesty, incompetency can all be overlooked but when it is at the cost of the lives we love and care about the most, its disgusting. The worst part about this entire tragedy is that the doctor never once apologized. If he had said, "sorry, I made a mistake" we would have been equally devastated but not have taken the measures we did. We did not and do not want this to ever happen to anyone else. We took the time to follow through with legal proceedings and hopefully, others in the future will not have to go through what we went through. If you are reading the reviews I would be very wary of the "5 stars" given to this clinic. It should strike anyone as suspicious when most of the reviews are either 1 star or 5. If you are in doubt please take the time to look up the legal proceeding and judgment of the case, as it is public information.

A Private User

Weve been going to Sunset for almost 4 years now. Ive always known they were pricey, but it was convenient, the doctors were nice, etc. For infrequent, minor issues and shots, they are perfectly fine. However, for the past few months, Ive noticed that my dogs skin has been extremely scaly and itchy. I brought my dog in multiple times, had lots of expensive tests run, only to be told that his blood work only indicated a possible infection and that it was probably due to allergies or to over-grooming. We tried changing his food, his grooming habits, but the itching and scaling never let up. Our poor dog has been miserable. I finally got fed up and took him to a different vet. For $100 less than one of our previous visits to Sunset, we found out that the problem was a staph infection that probably resulted from a flea bite. No kidding his blood work indicated an infection! All of this time and money and worrying, and the issue was a staph infection, not something we were doing to our dog, not an issue with his food (and arent I glad we didnt spend a ton of money on the expensive hypoallergenic food they sell in their office!) We also found out that the teeth cleaning our dog has needed for months now, but that we couldnt afford because the last time it cost us $1000 at Sunset, can be done for $300 or less at another vet. We wont be going back to Sunset.

Macey Bouyea

AVOID FOR ALL SHELTER CHECKUPS Dr. Fred Labavitch was absolutely indifferent about my dog. Adopted a shelter dog and brought her in the next day for an overall checkup and concern about biting her paws and tail. Oregon Shelters have a program for a free checkup for new shelter dogs and Dr. Fred certainly knew she was one. After spending five minutes astonished that we did not have a detailed history on her, he tried to state she was overdue on all her shots. In actuality, his assistant had written down the wrong year from our paperwork. It took a solid three minutes to convince him that she was indeed vaccinated. Our checkup consisted of a temperature, glace at eyes and teeth, and heart rate. He did not check her body physically as all other vets do, and when reminded of her skin condition, he merely shrugged. He did not go over her again to examine her skin, but attributed it to a bad haircut causing irritation. After insisting he do a more through exam, he sold us a spray bottle of antibacterial solution after glancing at her whole body, misting it over her back (the problem was clearly described as her legs and tail). When paying for the solution, the receptionist was extremely clear to point out that the checkup fee had been waived.

Nate M

Dr. Fred is a surgery happy doctor. He will try to scare you into running many unnecessary tests to hike the bill up. He may do good surgical work, however much of it goes well beyond what is necessary. My boxer has been to Sunset Animal Clinic a number of times. Yesterday I brought her in for simple stitches on a wond no larger than two inches. Dr. Fred proceed to do multiple tests on a very cut and dry procedure. He decided that the puppy had to have anaesthesia and go through an exploratory surgery! (On a two inch flesh wond). The two inch cut was opened to six inches by the doctor!! All to find out, she needed nothing more than stitches as first discussed. I am absolutely disgusted with Fred Labavich. To add insult to injury, my puppy was returned to me bandage up... but reaking of urine. Unless you are willing to pay well over a thousand dollars for some minor stitching. Dont see Fred.

Concerned Petowner

ANIMAL ABUSE Heard from someone who frequents this place that a technician has repeatedly hanged large dogs by the neck, choking them. The "doctor" has allegedly defended these actions. Ive also heard that the doctor botches a lot of surgeries, killing peoples pets because of his own incompetence. Im contacting the authorities immediately. Avoid this place if you dont want them to kill your animal.

A Private User

The staff and doctor at Sunset are the best in my experience. I have seen them grow over the year, even with their new remodel and updated equipment the service has not changed one bit.

Adriana Charkhian

They were very helpful kind and took care of my Cosmo kitty while he recovered from his surgery, they did a great job with him im do grateful....

A Private User

We took our dog to three vets before he saw Dr. L and we now take all our animals to Sunset Animal Clinic."

Yolanda Puskas

Labavitch does some really cool cancer care and can handle everything from minor to major health issues.