Our sweet girl had unforeseen complications during her spay surgery, and Dr. Pike took great care of her. He was very communicative and transparent during the entire process, and I felt that he genuinely cared about our dog’s well-being. He has always taken time to explain medical jargon and answer my many questions. It’s really nice to not feel rushed out the door, and to have time to feel educated enough to make good decisions for our baby. The technicians we’ve worked with during various visits have all been kind and their energy puts our dog at ease. Thank you guys.
So, we've been here a bunch. Mostly saw Dr. Caravaty. He's wonderful. Also huge shout out to Paul who cuts our dogs nails. We've also boarded with them, etc. After today, however, I'm not sure we will be going back. Which I'm honestly really upset about. We have 4 pets, its a huge pain to switch.
We took our dog to an urgent appointment because of a cough. She's old so I was worried it was her heart. We saw Dr. Rocco and she and her team did a chest X-ray.
However, during the x-ray process our dogs leg was sprained. Pretty badly imo (see video). When asked about it, Dr. Rocco didn't really tell us what happened, but implied it was our dogs fault for being too reactive during the x-ray. Dr. Rocoo examined our dogs leg, and the treatment for her cough ended up being the same for the leg.
I understand accidents happen, and I'm sure getting a chest x-ray on a dog is probably pretty hard. That's however, their job, reactive dog or not. It literally what I paid them, $400 plus to do.
A dog being reactive is not an excuse for her leaving in worse shape than she arrived. Also, she's 14 years old and weighs 16lbs. That level of mishandling was completely unacceptable and inappropriate, but how they responded was worse.
After talking to Dr. Rocco about it, it just still didnt feel right so I wanted someone else to know what happened to hopefully prevent it from happening again. After our previous positive experiences I was hoping for some assurance and a reason to stay with this practice. I didn't want it to be kept quiet, so I brought it up as I was checking out.
They brought me into a side room, where I spoke to the owner Dr. Pike. For the bulk of the conversation he stared at the computer screen instead of talking to me like a person. At no point did he apologize or say sorry or ask if she's okay. He doubled down on blaming our dog.
There was no rush, they wernt busy, she wasnt dying. They could have taken the time and had the patience to soothe her before hand or if they couldn't do that, at least let us know. We could have brought her back the next day after some anxiety medication or something. There was no reason her leg should have been sprained during an x-ray. And a sprain like that isnt an easy recovery for a dog her age.
The conversation wasn't going anywhere and we needed to get our baby home (it was past his bed time) so I chose to leave. There wasn't a point. He didn't seem to care about anything except defending his staff.
Obviously they cant fix our dog, but they were the ones who hurt her and I just wanted them to take responsibility and apologize.
So, I'm letting all of google know instead. Don't take your dog here if they are reactive. The technicians dont have the patience for them, or at the very least its not worth the risk.
Video of the limp she left with (and definitely did not arrive with).
I get it, our pets are our babies and they deserve nothing but the best. Let me say, Dr.Rocco and Dr.Caravaty are the absolute BEST! I will admit AAH wasn’t my first choice bc they’re a little far for me but I am SO glad I took the plunge. The entire staff genuinely loves animals and cares about every single one of their patients. I trust them with my dog and cat’s lives. Truly.
Yesterday was our first visit, and both Bear and I loved it. Everyone was incredibly nice and welcoming. Dr. Jonson and the staff were fantastic; I felt very comfortable bringing my little Bear there. It's wonderful that they also offer grooming and daycare services. I will definitely be using all of their services for my puppy! Thank you! :)
