Both good and bad experiences have come from this Veterinary. For starters, I have been coming here for years to get all of my 4 dogs their vaccines. They have been great and we have never had a problem. Until my puppy was diagnosed with a CKD, Congenital Kindey Diesease.
My dog Lily (1 year old) had been showing abnormal signs. She was skinny, would not eat a lot (sometimes she wouldn't eat at all), would throw up, consume a ton of water, vomit every now and then, would be depressed, would constantly get itchy bumps and lumps and always hurt her shoulders. The first time I explained all this to the doctor he gave me medicine for her itch that worked for two weeks and then stopped working. I took her back and after some tests, out of the blue they said "your dog has kidney failure. You have three options: take her to the hospital literally right now, put her to sleep, or take her home and wait for her to pass away." I was completely caught off guard. Nothing was sugar coated; everything was so subtle. The only thing I could do was ask "are there any other options?" and break down to tears in my car. The vet, Dr. Alexander Stern spoke to me over the phone. He said "I really think you should consider putting her to sleep. Trying to treat her illness is like a shot in the dark. It could cost you $5-10k dollars. She needs her kidneys flushed and even that cannot cure her." The nurse told me to go home and "process" everything and come back when I was ready. She took my payment and told me "we close tomorrow at 2pm, just to let you know." I thought.. they want me to put her to sleep tomorrow???
After hours of crying my eyes out, I did my research. I kept looking for positive things. I asked a friend's vet for a quick consultation based on the blood work. She recommended to go to a different vet, get an ultrasound, urinalysis, and blood work again. I went to a different vet (Thrive) and without giving them any explanation, they said they needed to do all the tests my friend's vet recommended. I approved and two days later they called me and told me to rush Lily to the ER to get an ultrasound.
I went to Access Specialty Hospital where there is actually a Nephrologist (I did a ton of research). I actually already had Lily scheduled with him in late December (that was the earliest available). Ultimately, they said Lily's kidneys are abnormal but not life threatening. She will end up living a shorter lifespan but with treatment she can be with me a little longer.
She has been taking special medication, prescription food, getting blood work, taking supplements, and over the past month, her blood work has improved so much and she has actually gained a little over a pound which is amazing. She eats normal and now she is super energetic and looks very happy. She has not hurt her shoulders since and she is no longer depressed. From the expenses with Five Star to the new Vet to the hospital ER visit along with her routine blood work and everything has cost me around $1,600 compared to $5-10k that Dr Alexander Stern had said.
I am sooooo glad I did not take Five Star Vet's suggestion of putting her to sleep. I still wonder why they jumped so quickly into "put her to sleep" mode instead of offering me multiple alternatives. I am assuming they mainly treat people with low income and they automatically assumed I would not be interested in other alternatives or treatment because of the price? Or maybe he is not a good "long term" veterinarian. I don't know, they were very good with everything else with my other dogs. I am not rating this a "1" because of how they have been good to me in other situations. However, with Lily, I felt they didn't put effort and were like "either she is rushed to the hospital NOW or you put her down NOW." Of course, they gave me time to think about it but still. It was a stressful and hard situation. I will probably still come here for yearly vaccines but Lily has her own treatment plan elsewhere.
I thank them for seeing all the signs and for the proper diagnosis for Lily. They were able to find the problem, they just didn't handle it the way I would have preferred. Where Lily would stay here with me. read more