First, I would like to say that I am someone who tries to put positivity out into the world and I am not living my life trying to stir things up. I am only writing this review in the hopes that Sisters Veterinary Clinic hears me, and to hopefully prepare other pet parents for what they might be facing when they take their pet to Dr. Barton. To avoid writing a review that is too fueled by emotions, I have waited over a week to write this.
I recently moved to Sisters and brought my two dogs to Dr. Barton for a check-up. I adopted one of my dogs recently and this was the first time I had taken her to the vet.
I was impressed with how friendly the admin staff and the vet tech was to both me and my dogs. And then Dr. Barton walked in. There was no warm introduction, she just jumped into very sternly telling me that both of my dogs are overweight (only 2-3 lbs overweight and they are 30+ pound dogs). She then bluntly told me that the dog I recently rescued has a heart murmur. The way our conversation went regarding the heart murmur was not unlike when your mechanic tells you that the transmission in your car is going. I realize no dog parent would enjoy hearing that their dog has a heart murmur, but there's a way to do it and there's a way not to do it. One element of a veterinarians job is to be sensitive and understanding to how attached each of us are to our pets and to understand how devastating news like this can be. During our conversation, Dr. Barton never said anything to make me think this wasn't a death sentence. She didn't tell me what I know now, that many dogs can live long and happy lives with a heart murmur.
I do not think Dr. Barton is a bad person. It is clear that she is intelligent, but based on my interaction with her, it's also clear that she isn't an empathetic or sensitive person that can tune into pet parents. You could be the smartest vet around, but if you don't make pet owners feel safe and listened to, business is not going to be good. I hope Dr. Barton learns to give diagnosis's in a more thoughtful way, and I wish her a great career.
The other main issue I had with this clinic is that they didn't offer me a quote or estimate for how much all of the services were going to cost. I was asked a whirlwind of questions regarding if I was willing to run the recommended tests or if I would purchase the recommended food, medications and supplements, and I said "yes" to everything because I was overwhelmed, all the while having no idea how much everything would cost. My bill ended up being $405.00 and no quote was given.
After this visit I have decided to go back to my regular vet, Dr. Putnam at Riverside Animal Hospital. At Riverside you will always know how much the services they are recommending for your pet are before agreeing to them, and they treat their patient's humans in a way that removes the fear factor and makes you feel like you are being taken care of. Sisters Veterinary Clinic is a two minute walk from my house and I will be driving the 35 minutes to Riverside Animal Hospital. I gave Sisters Veterinary Clinic two stars because of how friendly the front desk staff and the veterinary technician was.
Update on my dog, for the readers who are curious:
Riverside listened to her heart and they did not hear a heart murmur. They did hear a "S1 S2 split" meaning that one of the valves of her heart are not closing all the way. So they ordered a blood test to measure a heart enzyme associated with an over stressed heart, and that test came back totally normal. Her X-ray also showed a normal size heart without any defects. In one year we will do the blood test again and if the enzyme is elevated we will go see a canine cardiologist to get an EKG (sorry, not a vet so I can't get too technical in describing this stuff).
Thank you for reading and I hope that all of your pets live long, happy and healthy lives! read more