VCA Pahle Animal Hospital

Reviews 4

MI

Mike Halbach

Short version for those that do not want to read : Their techs and vets were always very nice to us and our pup and always treated well. The concern comes in with the vaccinations as part of their 1st year care club. Each one caused our pup to get extended bouts of diarrhea. Wouldnt think twice about going here in a pinch if we needed to get in somewhere on short notice, but do your research on vaccinations and ask questions!! Long version : First of all my wife and I were first time dog owners and we took some time to figure out where we wanted to take our pooch. We decided to take our 8 week old Husky here as we heard via word of mouth that Dr. Jewel was great, and he is. Every time he seen our pup you could tell he was great with animals. Him and the techs always made our pup comfortable and were always good to us. We bought into the care club package which covers stool samples, 1st year vaccinations, castration surgery and microchipping. GREAT! Well first round of vaccines came and tummy issues followed. Fast for 18 hours and then bland diet. Voiced our concerns before 2nd round of vaccines, but were told he should be fine and that well watch closely. More diarrhea follows along with another bout of fasting and bland diet and even probiotics to help combat the issues. 3rd and final round which also included rabies vaccine, we were hesitant but again were told he should take to this round a bit better as his immune system was building up. This was worse than the others lasting almost 2 months. A pup should not have to go through all this and it really left us with a bad taste and angry. Some people might say, "Maybe it was just your dog..." or "Maybe it was the food." We had him on Fromms puppy food which is not TOP notch but its up there in quality and well, our pup is now over a year old, very health and energetic, still on Fromms. He is a bit undersized at 43-45 lbs (male Huskies are typically top out around 60) and really hasnt put on weight since 8 months. Though we cant prove that this is due to what he went through, you cant help but wonder.... As far as my statement above goes, we had our first visit with a more "homeopathic" vet this time around for our dogs boosters to avoid the same outcome. One of the first things the new vet had to say was, "I cant believe how many vaccinations your dog has been given, no wonder he had all those issues. I wanted to cry when I seen that." Whether or not this is the vet playing into the information that they were given, we also had our dog into 2 different puppy classes and shared our experience with other parents and none of them had the issues with diarrhea because none of them ever got the cocktail of vaccinations that our little guy received in such a short time span. Shame on us for not doing more research into vaccinations, but as a first time fur parent, there is SO many and you always want to protect them from the worst. One would think this day in age you can trust your vet to disclose what is all in the vaccines or maybe listen to your concerns, err on the side of caution and maybe taper them back a little bit. My intent in this review is not to bash VCA Pahle, they have been good to us in every other way. I just want to inform anyone that may be in the same position that we were and maybe save them the heartache and stress of potentially dealing with these very same issues.

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Erin Schaffer

Its an older location, so the building has that typical "vet smell" - but dont let that scare you away. Weve been to several vets in the MKE area, all of them pretty great, but one thing we noticed is - VCAs vet techs are definitely the cream of the crop. They are so incredibly friendly, positive, and pleasant to deal with! While the vets themselves seem a little stressed (Im sure this is due to high volume) they are very friendly as well. I love that someone FINALLY explained to me WHY lepto is needed in my local area (rabbit and raccoon urine is a transmission vector). So many holistic vets steer away from vaccinations, so its great to have a vet explain the "why" of a particular vaccine in a way that the owner can clearly understand. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the techs greeting pets by name, and the clients in the waiting room were all smiling and friendly, even when our exuberant dog sniffed them. There was a distinct, family atmosphere about the place that we really liked. There are pros and cons to each type of location - if you want or need a quiet office for a shy pet and a vet who takes a lot of time with you, a smaller clinic is probably better. It was definitely a little loud and hurried. But if youre like us, with healthy, friendly pets who love saying hello to other friendly faces, youll love it. Prices were comparable to other vets in the area, as well. Very happy!

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A Private User

We took our 3-4 month old Yorkie to Pahle to get checked over immediately after we purchased her. They stated she had a case of kennel cough, luxating patellar, and interlocking canines, which we should have done right away of course. We were given a prescription and sent on our way. However, she was not getting any better, in fact ended up in the Animal ER and was near death because she was misdiagnosed and she had gotten to the point where we asked if we could take her home and the ER said if we do chances are about 90% she would not make it through the night. We let her stay 1 1/2 days and they had her on antibiotics and IV and she was getting better, they got her on a new prescription and she was very weak but we were able to take her home. We asked the ER clinic about the other issues Pahle said she had and they said that she had none of them. We also asked our wonderful new vet at our first visit with him, not mentioning neither issue at all during the initial visit and he agreed with the ER clinic that neither luxating patellar or interlocking canines existed. We thought about taking action against Pahle, but our breeder felt so bad she actually helped with all the near $1500 we spent.....please feel free to email with any questions.

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A Private User

Staff is rude. I took my dog for a simple weigh in due to weight loss. He was seen in December and at that time I declined to have blood tests because of a change in diet. The vet would not come out to speak to me personally but relayed messages to the receptionist. I was told now I would have to pay for blood work and another exam plus some other tests because I REFUSED to have them done in December.He was just seen a couple weeks ago. I asked several times if there was a higher protein food I could give him. They would not give me an answer. Just bring his food bag in February when he is scheduled to be seen again. Clearly this is not an urgent issue. I felt like a horrible "parent" because I was trying to budget. I did go to the pet store and and they did help with food diet and said the change of diet would increase weight loss. With that said...I feel like Pahle is trying to screw people out of money by using guilt. I will be trying the new diet and will be taking my dog to a new vet in February after 7 years with Pahle..of you use them be prepared to pull out your wallet!!!! They tug on your heart strings.

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