Fulton Animal Hospital

Like Tie T, I recently had a horrible experience myself. I saw Dr. Datellas for my cat. My first visit was with a new cat on 1/20/14. Got her the worm treatment, flea treatment, ear mite medicine and a rabies shot. Kept her quarantined for a week as I have 3 other cats. Once she was in the mix with the other cats, she started sneezing, so I took her back to Dr. Datellas on 1/27. She said that she thought my cat had allergies, gave her an injection & clavamox drops. Then, one of my other cats (Black) started sneezing so I took him over on 2/3. Same deal--an injection and clavamox drops. Allergies? I don't think so! On the night of 2/4, he was coughing and sneezing so bad, I thought he was going to choke. So back we went to Dr. Datellas on 2/5. She admitted him for what would be a long and costly stay. She did every kind of diagnostic test possible and at one point even suggested opening him up for exploratory surgery! Xrays, blood work, barium xray and even a thyroid test which she said came back showing he had hypothyroidism, which I later found out is extremely rare in cats. Some of his symptoms were fever, congestion, gas in his intestines and loss of appetite. The fever went down after a day. On 2/6, I ended up at Urgent Care for an infected finger. They gave me augmentin, which is the same thing as clavamox. Reading the possible reactions, I noticed that some of my cat's symptoms were on there. I called Dr. Datellas and asked her if Black could be allergic to the clavamox and she said to me,""If he was allergic to the antibiotic, he'd be dead."" (He stayed in their hospital until 2/10. While there, they gave him baytril instead of clavamox.) On 2/10, I went over to pick him up. He was still very congested. One of the things she said to me was, ""I don't care if he's congested for the rest of his life, I just want him to eat."" So I paid my huge vet bill--$1044--and left with my cat and another bottle of clavamox. The next day, 2/11, he was very ill again. I ended up taking him to Black Creek Animal Clinic, where he stayed until I brought him home on 2/17. I am very happy with Black Creek and I will NEVER go back to Fulton Animal Hospital! more

Absolutely horrible experience. They were not willing to work with us at all on any kind of payment plan. Over 75% of the time spent there was the doctor telling us how bad off our cat was and how he would do nothing without UP FRONT payment. (Which in this case was 37 dollars for tests and over 200 in medicines.)When asked if there was anything we could do for our cat, he replied with. ""No your cat is incompatible with life"". Those exact words. I highly recommend anyone with the means or will, to find another vet to go to. more

Do NOT recommend!!! Unless Dr. Spier has changed his approach to managing diabetic dogs, in my opinion his treatment was nothing short of negligent and he has no business treating pets at all given the lack of care our diabetic boy received. \r \r For ten years we took our two large mixed breed dogs and two domestic cats to Dr. Spier without incident. One of my mixed breed dogs was dx. with diabetes in Nov. 2011. Was left in the care of Dr. Spier overnight to be regulated.\r \r He was picked up at 4:30p the next day. We were given instructions to give him 40u of NPH insulin twice a day. He came home shaking, unable to walk, unable to put one foot down at all, saturated in urine, blood shot eyes, hoarse bark and slept for two days straight. \r \r Had we not been home testing we would have killed him the first week he was home. After three days we contacted Dr. Spier because his blood glucose readings were hypoglycemic low. Dr. Spier said he may be honeymooning and to stop giving insulin. He never once mentioned that the amount of insulin should be reduced. It was 40u or nothing. He was, in fact, not honeymooning. He was being overdosed. \r \r In December we switched vets and in March got a copy of his records while there. Prior to that point, we had considered leaving our two cats and other mixed breed dog in the care of Dr. Spier. \r \r His records showed that one hour prior to being picked up to come home his blood glucose read 'lo' on the vet's machine. Meaning his blood glucose was under 20. He was hypoglycemic, near coma and death range. His records show that he was only given one shot of 40u of insulin that day - one shot put him in that state. Yet Dr. Spier felt confident telling us to give 40u twice a day. No notes on his record of his hypoglycemia being treated. The hypoglycemia was not mentioned to us at pick up. It does, however, explain why he was shaking and unable to walk when he was brought home. \r \r His records don't show him being tested after 4p his first day there - leading us to believe he may not have been monitored at all during the evening hours. We will never know if he went hypoglycemic at night or if he experienced seizures as a result of low blood sugar. His records don't show when he was fed, how much he was fed and what type of food he was fed. His records don't show if water was provided or if he was allowed potty breaks. All important details for a diabetic dog. \r \r A full diagnostic workup was never run on him at time of diagnosis. Turns out he is also hypothyroid - which would have come up had a CBC been run on him. His fasting triglycerides were 383, fasting cholesterol 1055 and he was suffering from chronic pancreatitis. Those factors likely led to his diabetes diagnosis. \r \r Because of the overdosing he was not able to be regulated on the NPH insulin and had to be switched to levemir. His maintenace dose is 4.5u - equivalent to 18u of NPH. More than 50% less than what Dr. Spier prescribed for him. \r \r Dr. Spier also never explained that exercise can lower a diabetic dog's blood glucose. Our dog will drop 120 points on a 20 minute walk. Given his overdosing, had we taken him for a walk we likely would have killed him as his blood glucose didn't have room to drop. Thankfully it was November and the weather wasn't decent enough to walk. He never explained that elevated blood glucose can cause diabetic dogs to develop ketones and that you can buy strips at a local pharmacy to test for them, as anything more than a trace can be deadly. \r \r After reviewing his records in March we decided that none of our animals would return to Dr. Spier's care. They have all since been switched to a new vet. \r \r more

I HAVE BEEN GOING TO DR. SPIER FOR MANY MANY YEARS WITH A VARIETY IF PETS. CURRENTLY HAVE A CAT. HE HAS BEEN EXCELLENT TO BOTH OUR CAT AND OURSELVES. HE TENDS TO BE CONSERVATIVE IN TX AND I FIND THAT WORKS VERY WELL. HE SEEMS TO KNOW WHEN SHE IS SICK AND HOW MUCH TO TREAT HER. WHEN SHE NEEDS MORE AGGRESSIVE TREATMENT HE IS RIGHT THERE TO DO IT. WE HAVE FOUND HIM TO BE VERY COMPASSIONATE AND GENTLE WITH ALL OF OUR ANIMALS OVER THE YEARS. THE NEW VET WORKING WITH HIM SEEMS VERY NICE AND KNOWLEGEABLE AS WELL. DR SPIER ALWAYS SEES OUR CAT EVEN IF WE HAVE A WEEKEND EMERGENCY. HE IS VERY LOYAL TO HIS PATIENTS AND THEIR ANIMALS. ALSO WHEN HE TREATS OUR CAT FOR AN ILLNESS HE WILL SEE HER BACK TWICE FOR THE SAME PROBLEM WITHOUT AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE. DONT KNOW MANY VETS OR DOCTORS FOR THAT MATTER THAT DO THAT.ALL IN ALL GOING TO THE FULTON ANIMAL HOSPITAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GOOD THING FOR US. more

After 10 years, you might wonder why the negative review. Yes, Dr. Spier is technically a good vet, that's why I went to him for 10 plus years. But, he is also extremely mercenary, the most money grubbing vet I think I have ever visited. The straw that broke the camel's back was today. We went to Dr. Spier's to pick up $161 worth of medicine. While there, I saw Dr. Spier sitting in the back (it was a quiet day with no clients, probably due to the previous night's snow storm). I made an offhand comment about my little baby Leonard and asked him if he thought a crouching problem (a problem which I paid him to look at before Christmas, but hadn't determined a cause at that time) might be due to a luxating patella. He said, well we can check it real quick if you'd like. I hesitated and said, well, will it hurt Leonard? The vet said, no not at all, would you like to have it checked, Dr. In Training (sorry don't know her name) can do it. I said, well ok I guess. Dr. Spier said well go in the exam room. The Dr. In Training spent all of 2 minutes (if that) and said there were no problems with Leonard's patella. So, then we went to pay the bill (for the worm check for Leonard we thought - we had already paid $161 in medicine) and found out he was charging us for a full exam too! I was shocked, after 10 years, I sincerely thought this was merely a courtesy check, especially since Dr. Spier never even looked at Leonard! How could he charge me a full exam rate when he did not perform a full exam? My husband went ballistic in the office, but we paid the bill and left. Several months earlier, we had brought in our cat Leonardo for vaccinations and teeth cleaning and Leonard in for an exam regarding a scratch he had on his hind quarters (Leonard was not treated for the scratch). This cost us $500!! And, no teeth were extracted!! What was the $500 for? You'll never know with Dr. Spier because HE NEVER GIVES A RECEIPT!! Can you believe a vet that doesn't provide receipts? Well, just go to Dr. Spier and you will see for yourself. There was also a very painful incident with Dr. Spier several years ago with my son Neelix. Neelix was very ill, and the Dr. knew this. Neelix was my son and the Dr. knew this too. When it was time to make that final awful decision, I was holding Neelix in my arms in the vehicle and I just wanted the Dr. to come out to the car so that I wouldn't have to move poor Neelix. The doctor refused. That really should have been it for me, but like I said, I have found Dr. Spier to be extremely capable and knowledgeable and so I returned. There must be other capable and knowledgeable vets in our area and now my quest is to find them. Because, at least for me, I am finished being screwed by Dr. Spier. more

My experience at the Fulton Animal Hospital was nothing like the other reviewer describes. The doctor took plenty of time answering all the questions I had about my animal, and when I asked, they had already weighed my cat and readily told me. I found the help courteous and helpful as well. My animal is overweight as well, but I asked the doctor about it, and he happily discussed things I could do to help get my pet back on track. All in all a very good experience, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Spier and the Fulton Animal Hospital. more