I took my 2 dogs to the VCA Atwood location. The vet pretty much popped into the room to bill, after we had waited almost an hour to be seen (the waiting room was not busy). He did not introduce himself, and he did not seem to have looked at either file. Nor did he bother to get a name for the dogs- he asked the tech which was which when he was prepping the shots.
Besides the usual exam and shots for my 2 dogs, I had hoped to get some help with 2 issues. One of my dogs had a growth on her paw that had not been there ever before. It had started out small, and now was larger and thus I was concerned it might need to be checked out to make sure it was benign.
The other had not grown out of stranger anxiety, even though he is no longer a puppy. So I wanted to get a handle on that somehow, with the advice of the vet, since all of our positive reinforcements and exposure techniques didn't seem to help.
His suggestion for my anxious dog was a shock collar. This dog is not aggressive- he whines and howls and quickly turns hysterical if the person or dog he is anxious about tries to come near him. Our other dog is the complete opposite, so we know it's not something we're doing or projecting on to him. He does not seek out people or try to bite them. He hasn't grown out of it so I wanted some POSITIVE suggestions besides shocking him. I don't see how shocking an anxious dog could possibly help the issue! The tech, who by the way was kind, had suggested trying D.A.P., before the vet finally showed up. I did attempt to talk to him about other solutions, but he pretty much dismissed it and was unwilling to engage in a conversation.
As for the growth on my 5 yr old, he barely looked at it and told me ""if it doesn't bug her it shouldn't bug you."" What?? I made it clear it was a new growth to the tech, not something she had since she was a puppy. However after the whole ""shock collar"" suggestion I didn't feel like trying to make this vet see that maybe, just maybe, as the owner of these dogs I might know something has changed and actually needs to be taken seriously.
Not only did he not introduce himself, he had to ask the tech which dog was which, and had clearly not looked at their hx. He never checked their gums, and he made a passing comment about being careful because of an issue that plagues the breed. Since my 5 year old had two surgeries relating to this issue, I would have expected him to not only have looked at her hx, but to actually check her movement and make sure everything was OK still and check in with us about her recovery. Clearly he was disinterested in us and our animals.
We felt overcharged (despite the free exam deal, we walked out with a 336 bill).
We were both exhausted, as in the end it was a 2 hour ordeal, and our anxious dog was a wreck. I had to wait at reception for awhile for the file to come up front, even though the place was still hardly hopping. The vet did not write an Rx for heartworm medication, so I ended up leaving because I would have had to sit and wait for him to get around to it some more.
If you go here, make sure you get the vet people swear by. We aren't going back.
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