Paumanok Veterinary Hospital

Reviews 3

NI

Nicholas B.

PLEASE READ: This is an honest review written to help others who deeply love their pet and are looking for a veterinary to take their pet to. I write this review with the utmost sincerity & I hope that those who find their way to read this review will go to another vet that will truly do what is right for their pet and their family. If you are looking for a veterinarian who is truly compassionate for their pet patients & their owners then DO NOT go to Dr. Dave or his wife at Paumanok Veterinary Hospital. ( 1.) Dr. Dave played on our familys love for our beloved dog that ending up passing away a couple of months after over $7,000 of surgeries. Each of the several surgeries our dog went through in just a month or so of time were between $900-$1600 each, & Dr. Dave played on our emotions heavily as he advised us to have our dog undergo each of these surgeries since he stated that there was a good "chance". Obviously we dearly loved our dog & wanted to take any "chance" we could so we listened to what we thought was professional, sound advice. ( 2.) Like another reviewer suggested in other words, Dr. Dave is extremely incompetent. He first stated that my 14 year old dog "ate some wood pieces outside". First off, my dog has never in her 14 years alive done such a thing. Secondly, when we leash walked her outside, we always monitored all of her actions-she did not eat anything outside ever, especially not "wood". Moreover, Dr. Dave then came out with another fraudulent story telling us that our dog had a bacterial infection from an unknown cause and that if he immediately operated then there was a very good chance that he could remove it. Dr. Dave again played to the occasion, adding that he himself would move forward with the surgery if it were own his dog. Dr. Dave had another story for every aliment that came up after every surgery. After her third surgery, an unusual 1-inch wound like hole appeared on my dogs back. Dr. Dave said that it was the bacteria eating away; then the next follow-up visit, another doctor in the office told us that this was the cause of the medication that Dr. Dave was giving us for our dog. Finally, Dr. Dave told us that he really did not know what was going on with her & that she was just an old dog that was dying & he advised us to put her to sleep...Of course even after over $7,000 of consecutive surgeries, Dr. Dave needed to squeeze out every last penny from us & he even charged us the lousy one-hundred dollars to put our poor dog to sleep before the procedure took place that awful afternoon. ( 3.) Furthermore, like another reviewer stated elsewhere, Dr. Dave will "casually" ask you about your work/what exactly you do for a living. He wants to calculate how much youre worth before he plays on your emotions to squeeze every dollar out of you. Typically this question is part of casual, small talk, however it is NOT appropriate small talk/conversation when our dog is lying on a table dying, half-conscious with our entire family looking on in the room while in tears. Completely INAPPROPRIATE, unprofessional, & just outright very unusual. I know that Dr. Dave played on our familys emotions and he also understood that our family ran a family business, so he figured that he saw another ($$$) opportunity to take advantage of us. (4.) In closing, please avoid this veterinary practice if you want whats best for your pet and yourself. Dr. Dave is not only unprofessional, and apathetic to your pets health, but his level of veterinarian training and knowledge are LACKING (his diagnosis are constantly changing, his opinions change and are inaccurate if you talk other vets, etc.). Perhaps Dr. Dave has now changed his business model to keeping patients over a course of several years and will slowly take advantage of them, contrary to his old business model of taking advantage of families in such a short time frame. There are other words I would like to share on here for a man to be so heartless as to take advantage of my family during such an awful time but I will refrain...

A

A Private User

13 Years ago, my 140lb Rott was having trouble walking. My normal vet just explained to me that she most likely sprained her knee. We took her to another vet who also said the exact same thing. Still not convinced, Paumanok was recommend by a family member. We live in Brooklyn, NY so to go out to Paumanok was almost a 2 hour trip each way. When I called to make an appointment on a saturday, they told me that the office was closed on sundays but since I was coming from such a trip, they agreed to meet me early on a sunday morning. We figured that since it was just another opinion, it was worth the trip because it was to be a one time deal. When I walked into the office, Dr. Dave dropped down onto the floor and started playing with my dog. After a complete physical exam and x-rays, Dr. Dave said to us that she had blown out her ACL. We scheduled surgery with him for the next day. Ever since that moment, I would NOT ever bring my dog to any other vet. Since that surgery, shannon (our dog) went on to have 3 other surgeries over the years - ALL done by the Paumanok family. Dr Dave, has ALWAYS treated shannon and family with the utmost care and respect. Ive boarded shannon there MANY times and have NEVER thought twice about it. Even though I live almost 70 miles away, I would never even conscider using another vet. Over the years, Ive grown to know the staff at the hospital who have become like a family to us. Ive spoken with just about every staff member. When I would walk into the office, many of the staff would come right over to shannon and start playing with her as if she was on of their family members not like just a patient. The staff at Paumanok understands that an animal is not just a pet but a family member. They understand that to many people, this is a child... and they treat them that way. Their main concern is to see to it that every animal that they come across has the best quality of care that they can provide - no matter what! Ive grown to know Drs Dave & Dee over the years and I can honestly say that they are 2 of the most compassionate people for animals that Ive ever met. We have many other vetrinarians at our disposal (living in brooklyn, ny) but we chose and will always choose to make the almost 2hr trip to go to see the Paumanok family for our familys pet care.

MI

Michelle Zelany

I took my cat to Paumanok Veterinary Hospital last week and the care we received was atrocious. I took my cat for an infected wound I had discovered by my cats anus. The doctor (Dr. David Roy Hensen) looked at it and said (and I quote), "What the hell is that?!!!" Then he told me my cat must have gotten in a fight. I told him my cat is strictly an indoor cat and we have no other pets. He told me it was a wound. As if I had not already figured that out. He tells me that since my cat is old, his "skin is like an onion" and that is why it happened. He said he was going to clean the wound, and did a very poor job of it. He gave my cat back to me and instructed me not to let him lick the wound, but in the same breath told me that he doesnt like putting Elizabethan collars on animals because "they dont like it". I asked how I would stop my cat from licking without a collar. He said to "distract him". I cant be monitoring the cat 24-7. He gave me some ointment and told me to apply it to my cats gaping open wound. The next morning I tried to apply the ointment and my cat screamed in pain. Before calling the animal hospital I googled "lesion near cats anus" to find tips on keeping him from licking it. Google finished my sentence and led me to a page on ruptured anal glands. I went to google images and the first image was EXACTLY what my cat had! So my question is- why was I (with no veterinarian degree) able to identify the cause/condition within a matter of seconds, when this "doctor" with training and experience was unable to figure it out? What I find most upsetting is that he didnt even search for other possible causes for the wound other than his fight theory, which was totally wrong. I took my cat to the Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists and they did a fabulous job. They examined him thoroughly and even did blood work and sedated him to look for further clues. They cleaned his wound (which I was right about, by the way) and gave us pain killers as well as 2 oral antibiotics to use over the course of a 2 week period. Shame on Dr. David Roy Hensen and his negligence!!!!!