Westarbor Animal Hospital

I was originally referred to Westarbor because my cat had serious dental issues. Dr. Clarkston got to the root (pun intended!) if the problem and provided relief for my cat. (It turned out my former vet extracted some teeth from my cat but failed to extract the entire tooth - some roots were left which caused extreme pain for my poor boy.) I was so impressed with his care - and the great staff - I brought my other 2 cats to his practice. I would feel comfortable referring anyone to Westarbor - and have! more

My cat had been displaying signs of illness for a very long time. She had vomited blood, lost weight, become weak, continued to vomit, and had times where she trembled and seemed to be collapsing. She vomited blood (a few times that I noticed) well over a year before she was finally, correctly diagnosed by a cancer specialist as having pancreatic cancer. When I phoned and told Westarbor and Dr Clarkson that she had vomited blood, he laughed and said his cat vomited all the time and then ate its own vomit. I asked about the blood and was told in a dismissive way that it was probably a ruptured blood vessel. Months later, I started bringing her in because I was concerned about her wellness. She seemed to be in pain. She was losing weight. She continued to vomit. She would become weak. He kept diagnosing constipation and hairballs. This went on for MONTHS and all the while in reality she had Pancreatic Cancer and was suffering more and more and slowly dying. Her body could not digest food. Anytime she ate she would have been in great pain. One night I phoned around 11 pm because they had a vet on call for the phone until then. I never would have phoned unless I was very very worried, and I was. I spoke to Dr Clarkson. I told him, and I remember specifically using the word COLLAPSING. While on the phone I massaged and spoke to her and finally she seemed more alert. But obviously I was still very worried. Dr Clarkson wasn't. Later, when he forwarded her records to the cancer center, he downplayed this whole conversation. (Also I noticed when he forwarded her records, all the sections where her temperature readings would have been for the last year were empty. I know now a low temp can indicate cancer. They had taken her temp a number of times.)And it was many weeks after this when again I told him something wrong, more than constipation, more than hairballs. FINALLY, he took an x-ray. I took her to a cancer specialist who diaganosed pancreatic cancer, got her on pain meds, but we only had a week left.Please take heed more

Good: This is a first class animal care facility with top notch vets and a caring staff of technicians.. Bad: It's a little more expensive than some places but you get what you pay for!. Improvements: I'm happy that they are adding new examination rooms. They need more room!. Other: They also have a superb blog at http://www.westarborblog.com. more