Southside Animal Hospital

Reviews 5

KE

Kelly Griffor

I have lived in the area for about 2 years and have struggled to find a vet for my dog that I liked. I struggled so much that I actually gave up finding a vet here and scheduled all my dogs appointments with our normal vet back in Michigan for times I knew we would be home. However, my dog got sick and was acting very weird so I had to bring him to a vet down here. I called and told the receptionist my concerns and they allowed me to bring my dog in early that same morning. When I met with the doctor she recommended an x-ray. It turned out my dog had a large mass on his spleen. The doctor was fantastic in talking to me about my options. She sat on the floor of the office and pet my dog the entire time she talked me through my options. She was very patient with me as I asked all of my questions. We probably talked about my options for almost an hour. The whole time she pet my dog and was very sympathetic. I left to think about my options. Later that same day I returned to have an ultrasound on my dog. This time another doctor met with us. Again, the doctor was fantastic and very patient. We ended up having to have surgery on my dog. The doctor called me the night before surgery at 7:30 PM to answer some last minute questions I had thought of. After surgery they called me right away to let me know things went well. They also called later at night, again after office hours, to give me another update on my dog. When I picked my dog up they very carefully explained what I needed to do with the meds. Two weeks later I had to take my dog to have his staples removed. This time, I did not need to meet with a doctor. Instead two assistance removed the staples. Both assistance were very friendly and gentle with my dog. In two weeks I had 8 encounters with this office and each time they were patient, knowledgeable, and friendly.

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JU

Julia Hickey

The staff at Southside are generally well-meaning towards animals and your pet will (probably) receive at least decent care. However, it is a terrible place to work. With the exception of a few, staff attitudes towards humans are not good. I was given a "training packet" by the very young girl who "trained" me, containing almost 50% information I was later told I did not need to know, and missing at least 30% information I was later told was the entirety of my responsibilities. The receptionists were rude to me every single day, and the staff talked badly not only about me, but about their clients! Instead of correcting me on the spot when I was doing something they didnt like, they talked about me behind my back, in some cases in a manner that was personal and cruel. Obviously, this could have been a bigger danger to the animals than it was to me or them, as open and professional communication is essential in a medical field. While the owners are also well-meaning people and kept the employee discount on my account long after I left, the receptionists have continued to be exceedingly rude to my boyfriend every time he takes our dog there. Many of these people are, for the most part, immature and inconsiderate children. They spend a great deal of their time on and off the job complaining about other people. They also have serious authority/hierarchy problems that get in the way of the job getting done. I would recommend taking your pet somewhere with better staff communication and relations.

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A

A Private User

Where do I begin? This is my first dog so I was looking for a vet and when I saw that this Southside Animal Hospital had such great reviews I went to it… boy did I regret that decision! I took my 5 month old puppy to the vet because she was scratching her ears a lot and she had been coughing. Dr. Phillips came in and started to look over my puppy. Then told me that she had an ear infection, gave me some medicine for her ears and then didnt even tell me how to use it, or even how much of the medicine to use (I had to ask him all this, and then he acted like I was stupid for not knowing how much to give her). I then told him about her coughing and he said "I cough and I dont have pneumonia. Shes just coughing to cough." He then proceeded to make a rude comment about the color collar that I had on my puppy. It was purple and she is a female dog!! How is the color of her collar going to help her ears and cough get better? A week later, her ears looked worse (even with the ear medicine that he gave me) and she was coughing so badly now she couldnt even run around and play!! So I took her to another vet and what a difference! He cleaned out her ears because he said that looked horrible and told me that my puppy had bronchitis and has at least had it for 2 weeks!! WHY DIDNT DR. PHILLIPS CATCH THAT?! Because he was too busy being rude to me! PLEASE DONT TAKE YOUR PETS TO SOUTHSIDE ANIMAL HOSPITAL!!! It was over priced and had horrible, unprofessional service!!

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JO

John Hawks

Just a note for my dogs former vets at Southside Animal Hospital: In the future, please remember that some of your clients struggle paying our bills month by month, and its a huge stretch for us to pay for the treatments, tests, and medication refills that our pets need. Were not stupid - we trust what youre telling us, but when its a choice between the rent and my beagles heart meds, there will be months when hell have to wait a couple of days before his next refill. I mention this because (a) when you step outside the exam room and shut the door, you may not be aware that I can still hear you when youre standing in the hallway talking loudly with your techs about how sad it is that Im not taking better care of my dog, (b) when you tell me in the lobby, in front of other clients and the front desk workers, that I should consider "giving up cable and maybe not going out as much" so that I can afford the meds, that just embarrasses me to my core, and (c) when you sent me home last night with this months refills in bottles with labels that carried new instructions - in ALLCAPS, so I wouldnt miss them - such as "NEED TO REFILL SO HE DOES NOT RUN OUT," the only thing that snark accomplished is that I took 5 minutes at the office this morning to call the vets on Murphy Road to set up a new client consultation next week ...

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AM

Amy Lynn Larwig

This veterinarian office is very close to our home and had good reviews, so we began taking our cats there about a year ago. Last December 2011, our 7 year old domestic was losing weight, vomiting, and refusing food, so we brought her in for an exam. We were told that she seemed fine and was probably having some acid reflux. There was nothing more than a physical exam performed; no bloodwork, ultrasound, etc. She continued to lose weight and get sick over the next few months and developed lumps under her skin. We had also been taking our other cat there multiple times due to some urinary problems and were getting no answers, so we decided to switch to another vet all together. Unfortunately, our sweet kitty lost her battle with cancer in Aug 2012, which explained her weight loss, vomiting, and refusal to eat back in December. I cant help but feel like the vet at Southside didnt dig deep enough to investigate the cause of her symptoms and instead dismissed them, leading to her disease progression. Had there been further inquiry when we brought her in, we may have been able to do more to help her. Overall, Southside doesnt seem to have adequate ability to diagnose and offer solutions for sick pets.

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