I brought my dog to SAH in November; she was coughing. I was hoping it was just a case of kennel cough. When i brought her in, the vet gave her an examintaion, she said that she would treat my dog for... Read More
I brought my dog to SAH in November; she was coughing. I was hoping it was just a case of kennel cough. When i brought her in, the vet gave her an examintaion, she said that she would treat my dog for kennel cough and hope that that would take care of the cough.
I was sent home with a cough suppresant and another drug for nausea (which i have no idea why i was sent home with as Mona was not nauseous).
The hospital called me to check up on mona, her cough had calmed down a bit but was still present. The hospital suggested i finish the prescription and that they would follow up again to check on the progress. After two weeks, Mona still had a cough... i made another apointment to see if there was another reason for the cough.
On this appointment i saw a different vet who checked Mona over, he noticed that she had a pretty serious heart murmur, (stage 4) this is something that 2 weeks prior the vet missed. I'm not sure how a trained vet can miss a severe heart murmur, this is common for the breed and should have been found when the vet had FIRST checked her out on my first appointment.
Until now, my dog has been extrtemely healthy, and now im being told she has a serious heart condition. The vet speculated the coughing was probably due to a condition called collapsing trachea. He was confident that another round of cough supressant and a bronchiodilator would help to clear her airways. An xray was suggested; but the doctor was confident that the prescriptions would help. I was charged AGAIN for a full examination, even though i was visiting for the same reason and it hadnt really improved. i was just given a refill and sent home to hope for the best. In my opinion, charging me again when im returning for the same issue is crooked.
Mona continued to cough and the vet continued to prescribe the drugs, assuring me that they were helping. I even called and asked if there was another type of drug we could try for her cough and they once again assured me that the cough suppresant was best.
Just over a week ago, my worst nightmare came true... mona went into congestive heart failure. It was teriffying watching her gasp for air and her little body suffer. I rushed her to the VEC where they immediatly took her into intensive care. They suspected heart failure and within 10 minutes. She was barely holding onto life, but the VEC managed to get her stable. Monas heart was so big that it was pressing on her trachea and causing her to cough and make it difficult for her to breath. After just over 24 hours mona was released back to me with a heafty bill... thousands i had to pay, because SAH failed to diagnose my dog properly. Paying them for their expertise and medications when they had no clue what the actual issue was. Now im in debt a few thousand and had a very sick dog whos life expectency is only a few months.
I called the SAH to talk to the owner. I didnt think it was possible to be more disappointed with this business, but Mr. Tim Julien outdid himself with his careless attitude and 'college bro' type deminor.
He was so cold when talking to me. He said that had they diagnosed my dog properly she would still have went into heart failure; maybe a month or two from now. I've been treating her with the wrong drugs for 6 months; so dont tell me she would have been in this position even if i was treating her properly. He said to me 'congestive heart failure is serious man, it sucks' Thanks bro, im aware, she was clinging to life a few days ago. I told him about his gouging prices, he said 'if i sold a t-shirt for $50 and another place sold for $100 i'd be missing out' I told him we are talking about lives, not clothing. He was quite offensive. His remedy was to offer me a free examintaion. The second time i brought my sick dog to you should have been my free examination, too little too late. I cant believe youre allowed to treat animals. You see dollar signs vs. lives. It's a shame. I write this review to warn pet owners. beware. Read Less