I should have written this review when I first stopped going to Rand Road Animal Hospital, in hopes that my review could help anyone considering bringing their pet here. Oh well, better late than nev... Read More
I should have written this review when I first stopped going to Rand Road Animal Hospital, in hopes that my review could help anyone considering bringing their pet here. Oh well, better late than never! When I first moved to the area, I needed to find a new vet for my then-5 year old Rott/German Shep mix, who has had major skin allergies and chronic ear infections his entire life. I was hesitant to switch vets after receiving years of care from our previous one, but had no other choice when we moved. I was referred by my neighbor to Rand Rd. At the time, there were two doctors (Dr. Cole and Dr. Halvorsen) that were wonderful! Unfortunately, both worked limited hours at Rand Rd. and I normally got stuck seeing Dr. Pete. We were averaging a monthly visit for his ear infections, and averaging approximately $300/month on maintenance medications (antibiotics and steroids) to "control" the ear infections. My dog was miserable and we were constantly weaning him off the steroids when we thought the infections were under control. As I am NOT a proponent of giving my dog steroids, I constantly asked Dr. Pete what else could be done. My dog had already had one ear surgery (to remove a hematoma), I was feeding my dog only high-end natural food brands (at the time, he was on no meat, no grains, no wheat, no animal byproducts), and although he was healthier in every other aspect, his ears were terrible. I asked Dr. Pete if we could schedule monthly ear cleanings at his office, as the deep cleaning in his floppy ears always seemed to relieve my pup of some of his pain and temporarily keep him off of meds. Dr. Pete said, "absolutely not. I cannot have 2 staff members held up on cleaning your dog's ears for the $40 we're going to make." I was SHOCKED! Since when do veterinarians only care about making money and not about the animal's well-being?! (FYI- the vet office I have since switched to charges me $21 for an ear cleaning, which we do every 4-5 weeks and my dog has not been on ANY medication since I left Rand Rd. 1.5 yrs ago!) The final straw for us was when my dog got a fatty-tissue growth on his neck. The doctor recommended we put him under for it, but said we COULD just do local anesthesia, which I much preferred. When I picked my dog up after surgery and brought him home, the stitches broke upon and he was gushing blood. I applied pressure to the wound and called Dr. Pete immediately. The doctor was telling me I was probably just exaggerating and that he doubted it was "gushing" blood, but told me to come back over and he'd take a look (the office was closing in just a few minutes, so I was told to hurry since he wanted to close). By the time I got over there (15 min. later), the wound was bleeding much lighter, he put two more stitches in, and told me that "I told you we shouldn't have done local anesthesia." I looked at him, said, "you're the doctor and you said local would be fine for this procedure", and I never came back. Read Less