After moving to Gahanna, we received a postcard for a Free Consultation Visit for this place and figured we'd try it out for our healthy 1-year old Black Lab. We took her to Dogs Only and were happy with the waiting room and how it really seems built for dogs. The facility overall seemed to be very nice.
After getting into the room and being shown a slideshow on how dogs are wolves and that we shouldn't feed her just regular dog food as that's primary vegetarian - we thought the place to be a little odd but kept an open mind. After all, the slideshow did have a good point. Another point of the slideshow was to sell themselves as experts which also also seemed odd as we were already in the office, but it was nice to have something to do while waiting for the doctor.
As we were in the waiting room, we were asked to come up with 3-5 questions about our puppy to ask the vet. We guessed that this was in part to help us see their expertise and knowledge and to make a better judgement if we should continue to bring our dog to their facility. We strained our brain and finally came up with a few questions in regards to our dog, one of which was that our dog tends to start her business before she actually finds a spot, lending her to pooping in a circle. This really isn't so much of a problem as a curiosity, which we expressed to the vet.
When the doctor came in, she was incredibly professional and answered all of our questions. In response to the rather odd pooping pattern, she suggested cleaning of the glands and a test of some sorts but ultimately came up with no concrete answers. Then they also gave our puppy her shot and gave her flea/tick pills (which imo, she doesn't need as she's never had them) and heart worm pills, telling us we needed them for her.
Now, I'm not a stupid woman and know that generally you don't get an entirely FREE consultation, but when we got to the counter and had to pay $300+, I was pretty pissed off. As we'd already had the service there, I didn't say anything but I tell you, I will NEVER go back. $300+ when they knew very well that we were coming in for a FREE consultation is pretty ridiculous. You'd think that they would have at least mentioned the outrageous costs to us when they suggested the tests. In general, we have the same thing done at our current vet and never pay more than $100.
I will also definitely agree with the comment about judgmental/condescending - they are dog people, not people people there and will guilt you and be very mean if you disagree or choose to not do what service they recommend.
The entire experience left me and my husband feeling more swindled than we would at a used car lot and our dog was no more healthy or happy than before we went.
Pros: NONE!
Cons: Used-Car Swindling, Condescending Attitude, EXPENSIVE++
more