Awesome staff and top notch veterinarians. I've been taking my dogs and cats there since I moved to…read moreVirginia 15 years ago. I've never been disappointed . Highly recommend !

This is long, however, worth reading…read more I want to start by saying everyone here is extremely friendly. We have taken multiple animals here over the years and always had pleasant experiences. That being said, whenever we are there and there is an issue, I never feel we get clear guidance on what to do. It almost always seems like it's a list of things we can do and let us choose rather than professional recommendations. Almost like, how much money are you willing to spend while you take shots at fixing this? This really came to a head here recently when I feel diagnosing our puppy with kidney disease was poorly handled and almost mishandled in my opinion which has resulted in a 1.5 year dog having stage three kidney failure. After years of only having one dog, we decided to finally get another and we went and got an 8 week old Dalmatian puppy. Immediately we realized that he would not stop drinking water (to the point he would throw up) and had more frequent than normal accidents in the house. When bringing this up, we were told that they could do a blood test, however, he is too young to have kidney issues and it is most likely a disorder that makes him obsessed with water and he will grow out of it. We continued to bring this up on every visit and were told to limit his water and he would grow out of it. Finally, when we came in and he was around 1.5 years old, they decided to do blood work and found out he was in stage 3 kidney failure. They recommended an ultrasound and sterile urine sample which we did. Based on the findings they said he should immediately be put on antibiotics because something they found points to a possible infection and we were prescribed over $100 in antibiotics. It was also determined his bladder wasn't normal size and things seen on the kidneys point to issues. We were told time is of the essence and we had to get him on the antibiotics. They said special kidney food was important but never made it seem urgent. If they had, they would have tried to send it home with us that day. A couple days later they called and let us know an infection was not an underlying issue. Honestly, it seriously felt like it was about the money and not properly treating our dog. They then sent a referral to go to Virginia Tech to see a specialist. Virginia Tech would not be able to get us in until 9/25. Months later. This is where I really start to get aggravated. They claim every second matters but recommend us to a place that can't get us in for months. Luckily my wife knows a veterinarian and they refer us to a Specialist who is in Vinton and was an Internist/Professor at VT for over 20 years. He got us in the following week. Why in the world would Roanoke Animal Hospital not have referred us to him? There is absolutely no way they didn't know about him. Unfortunately, he did confirm Stage 3 Kidney failure and gave us some recommendations. One thing he said was that no matter what, we have to let him drink as much water as he wants. If not, it can start to cause issues with his organs. Because we do not have bloodwork from when Pongo was a puppy, I have not clue if he has always been in Stage 3 Kidney failure. That being said, what if he WASN'T? What if they had recommended we do blood work and we found out what was going on early and immediately did stuff to slow down the progression? How much damage has limiting his water for 1.5 years at the direction of the Vet done? Now my family has to deal with the fact that the puppy we love might only be alive until he is 3 or so. The ball was dropped. And I hope this really makes Roanoke Animal Hospital rethink things and take a much more proactive approach to stuff. Nothing can fix this, however, I hope this prevents another family from having to deal with the same heartbreak.