I have boarded my dog here several times and never had a problem until a few weeks ago. First of all, I never realized they only feed and take out the dogs twice a day with the last walk being at 5p.m... Read More
I have boarded my dog here several times and never had a problem until a few weeks ago. First of all, I never realized they only feed and take out the dogs twice a day with the last walk being at 5p.m. and then not until 7a.m. the next morning. Even paying for an extra walk, that walk is at Noon. My dog recently spent 5 1/2 days here boarding. I had left my cell phone with them which was with me at all times, and had also provided a local relative's phone number in the case of emergency. The day before I came home I called to tell them when I would be picking up our dog and asked that he get his bath early and casually asked how he was doing. I was connected with the back office who told me he was doing "great."The morning I was to pick up my dog, I received a call from Dr. Jay Empel who is the owner of this establishment. He was calling to tell me that my dog was pretty sick and had developed deep sores all over both front paws from biting/licking/anxiety. When I arrived, Dr. Empel had the staff bring me into a room and started to tell me what had happened and handed me a prescription for a fairly mild antibiotic. He told me my dog had eaten off the bandages they had tried to put on the dog as well as eating through a plastic cone.Upon arriving home, I had a further look at my dog's injuries and realized this was much more serious than I had originally been thought to believe. I wish I could post photos because there were several bloodied areas that were so deep I was worried they were close to the bone. I called Vernon Woods back and asked to have Dr. Empel call me at his convenience. He called me back almost immediately (on his day off) which was almost a sure sign of guilt on his part. He met me at the office, where I discussed my concerns (one being the almost $250.00 for boarding and a bath). Dr. Empel refused to even discuss reimbursing me or splitting the bill 50-50 with me. He did call in 2 of his associates who were very honest. They started reading out of his chart where another Vet had noted that my dog had Cellulitis of one of his front paws 4 days earlier. Nobody ever called me, or the emergency contact to discuss this. I am a medical professional and as soon as I heard Cellulitis I asked why he wasn't put on a certain antibiotic which treats Cellulitis in humans and animals. I never received an answer. Both the consulting Vets recommended suturing both paws. Dr. Empel followed the recommendations of the other Vets and told me to also buy a soft cone and showed me how to dress the bandages twice daily. Several days later I left my dog at home for a few hours during a snowstorm because our power had been out and we went to eat dinner with a neighbor who had a gas stove. Upon returning my dog had eaten the bandages off, and removed the sutures. I continued to dress them regularly and stayed home with the dog almost constantly. We had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Empel the following Tuesday (the one day of the week he works). When I called Monday to confirm the appointment because I hadn't received any type of confirmation for the appointment I was told we weren't on the books and that Dr. Empel was booked. I made an appointment for one of the Vets who had consulted with us. Upon arriving for our appointment, we were put into a room where there was dried blood on the floor and the door. Again, I wish I could post photos to show you how dirty this Animal Hospital is. After an hour Dr. Empel opened the door and said to me "you're going to see the mean Dr. today." The consulting Vet was behind him. Again, we discussed what had happened and was told Dr. Empel wouldn't even discuss reimbursement at that point. As of today I have spent well over $450.00 on boarding, prescriptions, bandages, a soft cone. etc. I was not charged for that visit and once again was asked to come back in a week for the dog's wounds to be rechecked. Dr. Empel refused to leave me alone with the consulting Vet as I'm pretty sure I might hear the truth from him.I will not EVER bring my dog or recommend Vernon Woods Animal Hospital to anyone as a Vet or for boarding. I brought in a perfectly healthy dog and returned to a very sick dog who probably would have developed sepsis and died had I not returned when I did. I have spent over $450.00 boarding a dog for 5 1/2 days. I have since read several reviews of customers with almost the same situation. One even took a tour of the boarding area and said all the animal's cages were the same size regardless of the animal's size and that the stench of urine was overwhelming in the boarding area.PLEASE if you love your animal and want your animal treated as they should be, DO NOT use Vernon Woods Animal Hospital. Once again, I wish I could post photos for everyone to see the wounds my dog came home with. It will probably take several months for my dog's wounds to heal as Dr. Empel told me. It will be forever before I trust a boarding facility, especially this one! Read Less