Animal Emergency Clinic North East

Reviews 3

CH

Christi Robertson

Ive received an email from Animal Emergency Clinic asking for my review of our recent service. Although the staff was VERY nice (those that I came in contact with anyway) my review is quite simply less than stellar. At 9pm one eneving our 7.5 pound Chorkie began acting strange, crying out and scared to death. We quickly examined her and saw nothing but watched her very close and tried to comfort her over the next 15 minutes or so. When she cried out again we gave her another once over and noted the side of her face and neck were swelling and it was then that we found the puncture marks from an apparent snake strike. We quickly googled what to do. Benedryl was suggested so we administered. After about 30 more minutes we became alarmed at the extent of swelling so we called the emergency clinic, explained the situation, and were promptly advised that this was a life threatening situation and we should get there ASAP! To wit, we rushed at breakneck speeds, our precious baby to said ER. Our dog was immediately taken from us and we were told to have a seat in the very crowded waiting room. FOR THREE HOURS WE SAT - Periodically asking about our baby. FINALLY at about 2am we were called in to speak with a Veterinarian..again, very nice. We were advised that pain meds had been administered, she was stable and that we had two options for treatment. 1, we could give steroids and fluid under her skin to combat dehydration or 2, administer Antivenom (which they suggested). Either option would then end with a follow-up with our own vet the next morning. Lets be realistic...insurance wasnt paying for this so I ask...how much is our bill and how much is the antivenom? $295 was our CURRENT cost. Add Antivenom....$700 MORE bucks! (Yes...you read that right...$700) This is when we decide to take her home with the steroids and fluids and follow up with our Vet the next day. It didnt occur to me until later but as we sat there that night and as we completed our own bill I note that NOONE received their pet back UNTIL they had paid their bill. Is this me being over sensitive or is this taking your pet and holding it hostage until you pay a huge bill for next to no services? What we learned with the next day follow up with OUR OWN Veterinarian that has been in practice for MANY MANY years...snake bites are NOT lethal to dogs. Dogs are naturally "immune" to the venom. They can manage just fine, albeit a bit swollen, scared and cranky but they will be fine. Even Benedryl isnt necessary!

JA

Jay Carroll

I Took my 11 year old Cat "Dickens" there on the 22nd of NOV, the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2015. She was having trouble breathing. They said this was due to some trauma, which made her lungs fill with fluid as a result. On her X rays they said they could see 3 broken tips on her vertebrae and the Dr added, that they could tell they were fresh recent breaks. He was so sure that all she needed was oxygen that he never recommended any antibiotics. He said the only way for her to get better was to spend time in oxygen. So needless to say with oxygen priced @ $200, per 8 hours, I had to move her to my regular vet... By the time I was leaving a lady Dr had come in and she did attempt to be helpful, with oxygen and a oxygen kennel cover, to help my vet out, but it turned out they sent it over with about half the parts so it was useless to them except the frame, so my vet used the Oxygen they use in surgery and made up something from scratch around it... but then I got yelled at by one of the staff that night when I bought it back because she had loaned to me, and I should pay them for the privilege.... Really? . Now at my regular vets the Drs there agreed with one of their techs , who I had spoken to that morning. That the injury on her back was an old one as you could never pet her on her back if it was fresh, which they were doing right in front of me. Dickens never had a problem with being petted on her back in any way shape or form since then either , Neither I or my wife, can remember any time when Dickens had any problem with her back ? . ... Also they added that you cant tell by an x ray when the tips were broken off? So my regular vets gave her antibiotics and bronchodilators, diagnosing her with pneumonia, and she came home that night.... , and was doing fine for about 4 weeks. Unfortunately they think she developed some kind of asthma which they think brought on the pneumonia, and my poor baby couldnt breath, actually dying from it on January 9th. She is missed terribly by both my wife and myself... So I wont ever take another cat here much less one of the ferals I take care of as well because they blew the call. Obviously they were wrong on trauma only and could have at least considered trauma plus an infection, which would have been a far more credible position to take, and for Gods sake before making a call on trauma, where applicable , please pet the cat first!

DA

Daily hunter 10

No compassion at all! Sent my daughter with her dog with my care credit because we had her dog spayed the day before and she started chewing the stitches out their policy on not taking my care credit even when I told them I would come up there to go ahead and take care of the situation they couldnt take my care credit because its there policy what a load of crap! She uses it at our vets office all the time.....not only that but would not even give advice on how to take care of it until we can get to the vet in the morning that to me shows no compassion at all and its all about the money needless to say she left there crying with no advice what heartless people! I would not recommend yall to a anybody that would be my best advice.....to find a place with a little more compassion! Its not like we were asking for a freaking hand out we were willing to put our own self in debt! I give you no star at all! I had to check one or it wouldnt let me post! UPDATE:: So my daughter left there crying and called me and came back home to pick me up because something had to be done for her dog and we had no where else to go we went back up there and paid the $97.00 emergency office fee and still waited almost an hour and still was not seen by a doctor so I called woodlands ER Vet office and they were a lilttle more money that I could not afford to spend BUT gave me advice that Banfield inside of petsmart was open and a lot cheaper which is something yall could have done as well but because you were worried that without payment you could not give any advice at all because we could hold you responsible if something went wrong believe me I could hold you responsible even with payment so there was no justification in not giving some advice it shows no heart at all I am very unhappy with the way we were treated there I got my refund and left and went to petsmart they took her right in as soon as we got there and took care of her because they cared and showed they had hearts and were very compassionate about her situation! If you only knew the back story of this dog and us as animal lovers and what we do for animals you might think that what yall did to us was unacceptable but then again when its all about the money it makes you evil its the root!