Veterinary Care of Ithaca

Reviews 4

BR

Brittany Rollinston

Were currently suing them for malpractice, as their incompetence and negligence directly lead to the terminal condition of my dog. The vet was not qualified to prescribe chemo and did not inform us of this until 8 months after she had assured us that she was, after the drugs had already destroyed my dogs liver. While we might have saved him with simple supplementation before it had progressed to end stage liver disease, she never suggested this and in fact ignored me several times when i asked for prescriptions for Denamarin, which his previous vet had issued. Instead they watched his bad liver enzymes climb and climb for months, and again waited for US to suggest that perhaps we should take him off chemo. The second opinion we sought from an internal medicine specialist concluded that he should have never been on chemo in the first place, or at the very least should have been taken off it months ago, but that it is too late to do anything about it now. If you care AT ALL about your pets, dont take them here. They also failed to forward his medical history EVERY time we took him to specialists or the emergency hospital, twice when they had several weeks notice and I called to remind them more than once. The receptionist is also extremely rude, and made fun of my dogs appearance right in front of me on more than one occasion (he has masticatory muscle myositis, so his head has lost all muscling - it doesnt look funny or cute, it looks tragic). When I called to tell them we were finding another vet because they had again failed to forward his medical history with 2 weeks notice, they told me I was being rude (I wasnt, see below), hung up on me, then sent me a letter saying they were dropping me as a client. Can you believe that? They killed my best friend and then told me to get lost. They obviously care nothing about the quality of the care theyre providing or they might have bothered to ask the long time client why they were leaving, rather than send a nastily worded letter in the mail. I can send letters to, and Im addressing one to the state licensing board, one the the Tompkins county veterinary medical association, and one to the BBB. *I was a receptionist for 11 years and am NEVER rude over the phone or otherwise - my voice was shaking because I had been crying, and I prefaced the statement with "please dont take this personally,but the level of care I have received at this establishment...etc."

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A Private User

I have been using services of Veterinary Care of Ithaca for about two years and unlike some reviewers, my experience was very positive. I have a 10 year old small dog called Lucy. The services that we have done are standard health visits, teeth cleaning/removal, and I took my dog one time when she got sick. First, the staff is very very friendly. They meet you and your pet at the front door with smile and never made me wait. I had a chance to meet three different doctors (Barnes, Holmes, and another male Dr whose name I cant remember). All seemed to pay more attention and spend more time with us during each visit than I ever got myself when I go to see doctors (And my visits are $100+, not $50 as I pay for my dog) My 20 month daughter is the only one I can think of who got about as much attention from the pediatrician as my dog got from the Vets. I am not sure why someone mentioned that they got ripped off. First of all, both times my dog was treated, I got both low and high end estimate of the expected procedure which I had to sign. So I new ahead of time how much I will have to pay for all the services performed. Secondly, when Dr. Barnes has accurately diagnosed my dog with Lyme decease, she actually offered me to start with antibiotics and opt out of expensive blood work (the results of which were not expected until after the weekend anyways). As they promised, 48 hours later on Saturday my dog could run again (she could not step on her foot at all when we saw vet). Finally, It is so convenient that they open early and let you drop off your pet around 7:30AM and leave it until 6PM. I work out of town and could never make it during normal 8-5 hours as other places have. Saturday is also my favorite day for regular visits as I dont need to take any time off from work. Overall, I would definitely recommend Veterinary Care of Ithaca.

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A Private User

Went here for a check-up for my dog, there was a lot of waiting time and not nearly as much vet/check-up time. At a different time, I had to take my dog to get some vaccinations. They took her out of the room to give her the shots. I mention this because I much prefer this to be done in my presence. At the cornell vet school, everything that could be done in your presence are, and you can see that your pet is not being restrained with excess force. This is also true at most other vets Ive used in the past. The last time I went here was when my cat started having a lot of discharge in the nose/eyes. They performed no tests, told us it was an upper-respiratory infection and just gave us broad-spectrum antibiotics, aka really really powerful antibiotics. These are only given to people as a last resort. A few months later, this cat started getting discharge in his eyes again, went to the Cornell vet school animal hospital. They actually did some tests and checked him for a number of eye diseases, the conclusion is that he has a viral infection from the same family as distemper. This virus is much less symptomatic, and the symptoms (discharge) are caused by stress on the animal. Bacterial infection is a result of the discharge building up in a bacteria-friendly environment. At a different time, I had to take my dog to get some vaccinations. They took her out of the room to give her the shots. I mention this because I much prefer this to be done in my presence. At the cornell vet school, everything that could be done in your presence are, and you can see that your pet is not being restrained with excess force. This is also true at most other vets Ive used in the past. Compare the service for yourselves, I will not be taking my animals here anymore simply because there is a much better alternative.

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A Private User

We had a bad experience at this hospital. We brought our cat who used to be a stray but adopted by us and turned out to be pregnant. The vet, A. Barnes, did not bothered to listen to my nine-year-old son till the end but instead completed it on her own, determining that we let her roam outside without neutering her. I had no chance to correct her. She went on to lecture us about the danger of "teenage pregnancy" and told us it was a good thing that my nine-year-old son, presumably sexually active, could draw a lesson from the cats pregnancy. To our many questions, she only gave us half-cooked, indirect answers. It was obvious she didnt want to deal with us. Every time we asked questions, she would roll her eyes halfway toward the nurse. In the end, she told us to get a book and learn about cats pregnancy, which, was something we were going to do anyway, but for paying $50 visitation fee, I felt we deserved something more out of her. At the end of the visit, when I was attempting to ask her just one more question, I was interrupted by my son. When I looked up to her after responding to my son, lo behold, she was gone. A part of the reason that I paid $50 for the vet visit was my son, who I hoped would get excited about the kittens arrival, and learn something about the birthing process. This vet really brought down our spirits. Unfortunately, this is the reality of Ithaca, which prides itself for open-mindedness. Im like, um, excuse me? Open-minded where? Hello? September 2009 ************************************ Update: Today I had a chance to talk with Dr. Alexis Lorenz at the clinic -- she is way, way, way nicer and seemed like she really know what she was talking about. I never want to even see Dr. Barnes again! (I dont even want to call her "Dr."!) November 2009

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