Quakertown Veterinary Clinic

Reviews 3

JE

Jessica Lynn

First I would like to say that I have tried bringing these concerns to the attention of Adele (Their business manager) who seemed to make an excuse for everything. My husband and I have been in emergency medicine for 8+ years, we are not clueless to diseases, acute emergencies, pathology, procedures and are well educated. We brought in our fur baby, Buster, into the ER after erratic behavior he started having throughout the day. This behavior then worsened, requiring immediate evaluation. Since that morning he was refusing to eat, he began vomiting and drooling, as well as, becoming increasingly lethargic and exhibited class signs of hiding. We then realized that we had not seen him have a bowel movement since the day previously (at night we would leave him out and then let him back in). When my husband arrived home from working a 13 hour shift in the ER and before my shift on the ambulance, we took him down to Quakertown. This is where we met Dr. Jacquelyn McCutcheon. We explained everything that we had noticed with buster and she kept brushing off his GI complaints. She insisted his erratic behavior was a seizure and said he may have just had an “upset belly”. His seizures have always been grand mal, predictable and come in twos, threes and fours. He has never had a simple focal seizure. She suggested we should have labs and an X-ray done but said that she would suggest our primary doctor do them later in the day. She said they could do them there, but she did not think that was necessary. This was even after we explained to her that we both worked and that neither my husband or I would be home to take him. She insisted that she thought he could have pancreatitis (which was very possible because of his use of potassium bromide, which she never explained to us, our primary told us that gem) and said she would give him Cerenia SQ. She said that would make him feel better then sent us home. 15 hours later our primary found the complete bowel obstruction WE thought he had and sent him to Quakertown immediately for emergency surgery. He passed away 1 week and 2 hours later from the moment we saw her. After experiencing all the ups and downs of his treatment, then his death AND 6500 later, their lack of empathy made it feel like we were picking up an order from a meat market. Pay your bill, meet at the back door where no one can see you and take the remains. There was little sympathy from them. It almost seemed routine. Since then, I attempted to speak to Adele about how McCutcheon could have missed this OR why their standard practice is to suggest procedures be done at the primary vet instead of there when it is an emergency but she seemed to make excuses. She accused me of being consumed by grief and said I needed to give it time. She said that their practice would investigate our case and call me back within a few days to week. Well, she has given me over 4 weeks to sit on it. No response, no phone call. I’ve recently reached out multiple times but again, no response. After speaking with 3 other animal hospitals in the area, it seems pretty clear that more should have been done. I was told those things should have been done including an abdominal X-RAY and labs but why Quakertown believe that this should not be done? Why does Quakertown believe it is okay to just push it off to your primary vet so they “don’t step on any toes”? (That came straight out of Adele’s mouth). This experience has really made me question things and really think of the reason’s why we actually used them in the first place. I really hope they can fix this. I really hope they choose to change their policy and offer ALL clients informed consent to have these tests done. Informed consent meaning offering the service, the price of the services AND the risks of refusing these services NOT just saying we should go to a primary for it. I don’t want anyone to every experience what we have when it could have been avoided.

SO

Sofia L.

Before this year, I would have given QVC 4 stars. It is a nice facility and the emergency services are nice to have. They are pricey, but that should mean you get quality service. That being said, my first visit this year with my dog was terrible. Mostly I blame the structure of the place, its simply too big with too many (incompetent) people. My dog had been suffering from joint pain and lameness in his hips, so I made an appointment for 7pm. We didnt end up in an exam room until 7:35 because we were skipped in the waiting room (I tried to point that out politely when they called the next people in line, but I was ignored). The first thing they did in the exam room was take my dogs temperature and discovered he had a slight fever. My dog has had Lyme disease before and I know the symptoms, so I wanted them to look for that. The vet was reluctant to give the test saying "we dont want to blame everything on the Lyme" to which I responded, "If its the problem, I want to treat it." Instead, the vet wanted to push for Rimadyl or some joint medication that would cost $90/week... indefinitely (cha-ching $). I didnt think arthritis was the problem because my dog is only 4 years old. Regardless, they did X-rays and found nothing wrong. So I asked about the Lyme test, and they hadnt run it yet because they were "understaffed." Okay, the Lyme test is essentially like a pregnancy test- drop the sample, wait for results. Not exactly labor intensive. So I made them do it, after all I had been there for 2 hours at that point with nothing to show for it. As it turns out, my dog had anaplasma which is a tick-borne disease very similar to Lyme, treated with a round of antibiotics. And guess what the first three symptoms of anaplasma are... joint pain, lameness, and a fever. WTF?! Bottom line, the vet should have known to test for such a common disease, but it seems she was just trained to upsell to the point of incompetence/neglect. Three hours and $400 later, I left pretty disappointed. Fast forward post-antibiotic treatment, my dog was unfortunately still showing signs of lameness. So my boyfriend took him to QVC and saw a different vet, this one was apparently much better than the one I saw. She suggested that my dog may have had a disc injury of some kind and prescribed Rimadyl and methocarbamol (muscle relaxer) for a time and if he improved, taper him off. Rimadyl can be hard on a dogs liver and kidneys, so when I received a call just a few minutes ago finding out that the label on our Rimadyl prescription was WRONG and we have been giving him TWICE AS MUCH as we were supposed to, I wanted to scream. The prescription had already been refilled once, it was only after this second refill request that someone noticed. So my dog has been receiving twice as much Rimadyl as he should have been FOR TWO MONTHS!! Long story short, BE CAREFUL with this place, do your own research to make sure they are doing their job correctly. Its really a shame it has to be that way.

BE

Becca Clasher

I am extremely upset with the care, or lack thereof, my cat has received here. I first started going to Quakertown Vet after my dog needed an emergency visit for blood in her urine. I was pleased with the visit as well as the follow up visit I made because the dog is old and I appreciated the fact that they recognized this. They didnt push anything on me and the vet I first saw for the regular visit truly seemed caring and compassionate. However I recently took my cat for a huge lump on his tail and am appalled at how they seem to care less about his well being. After a needle biopsy my husband was told the results would be in early the following week. A week and a half went by, no phone call. My husband called only to find out they had the results since the Friday before, and dr. Schmidt, the vet who saw the cat, was "out all week" sick. My husband also mentioned to me that he did not have a good feeling with the dr, and also felt she was pushy and to put it bluntly, not very nice. The dr who called me to apologize for us not getting a phone call stressed that the report did not have enough information to conclude whether or not it was cancer and she said several times I should just "wait". She said she phoned and emailed the technician who made the report and she had my cats file up "on her board" so I assumed by "wait" she meant wait to hear back from the technician and then she would let me know. She made no other suggestion for treatment and quite honestly I dont see how this woman is entrusted with caring for the lives of animals. Her conclusion was hes older so wait. Not make an appt for a full biopsy, not make an appt for an X-ray, not look for these symptoms if you see them call us right away. Not even a dont worry I will follow up with you as soon as I hear back from the technician. Well its been several weeks and nothing from either dr. I guess by wait she meant wait until he gets worse because I now see my cat looking like hes losing weight, and the scab on his baseball sized lump isnt looking great, either. I am disgusted with the treatment from these vets and am now left confused about what the best treatment for my cat is. Basically they just said oh well, your cat may or may not die but whatever not much to do about it, who cares, certainly not us. Disgusting.