My wife and I never thought we'd reach a point where we would be writing this. After defending Cudahy Vet from other reviews/complaints on social media for the past few years, it is with a heavy heart that we write this after a 7 year relationship with Dr. Bob Shampo. Their Clinic and services have unquestionably descended over the course of the past year. This is not limited to one bad experience, but several, including the death of our 5 month old English Bulldog puppy, Charlie, that passed during a spay procedure.
Frustration set in around June of 2020. Our male St. Bernard, Sheldon, was having chronic diarrhea. We called Dr. Bob. His staff suggested "It's probably just the heat". We knew that was not the case. After a few more weeks of no change, we called again. This time, his staff suggested, "He's probably drinking too much water". We also knew this was not the case. A few more weeks passed by with no change, we called again. This time, it was Dr. Bob himself that suggested "He must have gotten into something in the yard". After hearing makeshift excuses, we expressed our frustration and told them we need answers. Before they could get him in for an exam, we had to rush Sheldon to the ER for excessive vomiting. Long story short, after tests and ultrasounds, Sheldon had Pancreas issues and was severely anemic. In all the time Cudahy Vet wasted by giving us unjustifiable excuses, Sheldon went through several months of diarrhea, being lethargic and experienced a 25-pound weight loss. I don't think Sheldon would be with us today if we didn't get him to the ER.
In the midst of what I just described, we scheduled our 5 month old female English Bulldog puppy, (Charlie) to be spayed by Dr. Bob. Charlie was a happy and healthy puppy. We dropped Charlie off at 8am on July 8thof 2020. Less than 3 hours later, we received a call stating that Charlie had passed away after surgery(during recovery). Our first question was 'How, how did this happen'. Dr. Bobs response to what happened..."I don't know". They proceeded to blame it on the breed itself, stating that with brachycephalic breeds, there is a higher risk of putting them under. This is only true when the proper precautions are not taken. In contrast to other breeds, bulldogs under anesthesia CAN NOT maintain passive respiration, so to maintain airway patency, they require active compensatory hyperactivity of their upper airway respiratory muscles, meaning, they need pre and post-surgery oxygenation. If these steps are not taken, they can not breathe on their own and they will virtually 'suffocate' to death. To blame this untimely death on her breed, is just reckless. Bulldogs are put under anesthesia every day. As a matter of fact, less than 1% of dogs die under anesthesia every year. It just doesn't happen. It is also strongly recommended that an anesthesiologist is on staff with Bulldogs due to the level of care that is required. There was no anesthesiologist on staff. Nothing but vet techs. Charlie did not receive the level of care that is required for a bulldog. And because of that, she is not with us today. While they did pay for Charlie's cremation, that was after they billed us $900 for her spaying, including a $20 nail trim fee they did during her spay. They couldn't even leave out the darn nail trim fee from a surgery that resulted in her death.
These issues do not end here, and if I had more characters to work with in this review, I'd go much further into detail on other issues, such as inadequate exams, product pushing and downplaying symptoms. This past year we have experienced nothing but headaches with Cudahy Vet. They claim that they are a full-fledged animal hospital who has the most advanced technology, which they will defend all day long. But that could not be further from the truth. They mislead their level of services. They conduct their surgeries in a windowless basement, and if you have a large dog that does not do stairs, prepare yourself to have to carry them up and down if they need x-rays or a procedure. This clinic is not equipped for large animals, among other things.
Like others, we thought they were great too. Until they weren't. read more