My partner and I brought our dog Koda to Ridgehill almost his entire life, and after our last…read moreexperience, I would never bring another dog again. I am truly blown away by the blatant disregard and disrespect we experienced at the end of our dog's life.
We brought our dog in Monday, 7/6 after he began to experience some discomfort in his front right paw. Our appointment was late at night, and we understand they close at a certain time, but we felt ignored and rushed out by the vet that we saw. Not only did she completely disregard what we were telling her about his limb lameness, lethargy, etc., she chalked it up to allergies, which he has had his entire life. She prescribed an antifungal, apoquel (which we expressed we have tried and it has never worked, and we had switched to cytopoint), and gabapentin that we later learned was not appropriate for his weight. We told her he wasn't eating or drinking, she didn't bother to pursue that further. She essentially said his allergies were bothering him, we could take x-rays, and then proceeded to tell us she didn't have time for x-rays, and sent us home. We gave him the medication, he showed minor improvement.
On Tuesday, 7/14, our dog started to show signs of total paralysis and he couldn't move at all. We brought him in that day to see Dr. Pierce, who is FANTASTIC. She was kind to Koda, listened to us, and showed compassion. She told us half of the medications the first doctor prescribed were basically pointless, and the gabapentin was 1/3 of the appropriate dose for his weight. Dr. Pierce hydrated Koda, gave him food, and took x-rays, which should have been done the week before. Koda was given steroids, and we were told to check-in.
Wednesday, Koda did not improve. He got worse. We had to give him water through a turkey baster. We were told we would be called in the morning for his x-ray results, and we weren't. We had to call. We didn't get a call back until almost 4:00 in the afternoon. As the day continued, Koda continued to go downhill, crying in pain, unable to move. We called them back around 5:30 seeking advice, expressing fear he needed to be euthanized, and asked for a call back and appointment. The person who answered the phone said, "um, no.... I need to talk to someone and they'll call you back." Nobody called back that evening, and we had to take Koda to the emergency vet to get euthanized. The following day, 7/16, as I am typing this end of day, nobody returned our call. I am willing to wager we will never receive that follow up call. I am absolutely DISGUSTED at the way Koda and his symptoms were ignored the initial visit. I am disgusted that Dr. Fracasso didn't dose him properly, listen to our concerns, x-ray him (even if that wouldn't have made a difference), and diminished his pain as allergies. I am disgusted that we were dismissed when we called back scared and seeking advice, and I am DISGUSTED that nobody bothered to reach back out.
I would NEVER bring any pet I may have in the future here again, and based off of several recent reviews, I know this is unfortunately not unique to my partner and I. Ridgehill wants to get paid, they do not care about your animals, or you. It is absolutely disgusting to me that an animal hospital would treat an animal at end of life like this, and their family. I saw more compassion in an hour at the emergency vet we had to go to than I ever had at Ridgehill. Avoid them at all cost.
