I know there are lots of conflicting ratings on here, but here's our experience. We took our dog to Grady at 3:30 a.m. because she was clearly in some kind of distress. At that time of the morning they could see her pretty much right away, though they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They did blood work and x-rays, which didn't show anything, and sent us home with some meds with instructions to follow up.
The next evening we had to take her back, as she was getting worse. This time we needed to leave her overnight for observation and IV fluids, as she wasn't eating or drinking. We had to wait about 2-3 hours before one of the vets could talk to us. We understood that coming without an appointment meant that we should expect a wait. They had a waiting room full of people and pets, and it was obviously a busy evening for them. While we were there they had several urgent cases that took priority. One was an emergency - the pet didn't survive - and two were euthanasias, as well as some other emergencies we didn't know the details of. Again, the wait was completely understandable. And whenever the staff interacted with us they were kind and caring.
We left our dog there for two nights, then brought her home again rather than leave her over the weekend. They were very concerned that she still wouldn't eat and gave us more meds to stimulate her appetite, something for nausea, something for pain, etc. They weren't sure what was wrong, but they were extremely caring and professional.
On Monday we took her back in for an ultrasound, which showed a mass in her intestines. After their internist did an exam, she called and thoroughly explained the options moving forward for futher tests and possibly surgery to determine whether it was cancer and if so, what to do next. Our dog was old and we couldn't put her through surgery or chemo treatments, so we decided to have her put down. It was absolutely gut-wrenching, and the staff there was fantastic through it all. No waiting this time. They understood how hard this was, and they were so compassionate.
Everyone there - the three different vets we interacted with, the vet techs, and the front desk staff - were fully professional and empathetic. Yes, we had to wait at times, but an ER for people is so much worse. Waiting with a sick or injured pet is exasperating, but we're so thankful that the people at Grady's seemed to care as much about helping our girl as we did. read more