Shelby Street Animal Clinic

My long time vet retired in March of 2017. I decided to try Shelby Street Animal Clinic as it had a 4+ star rating online. Here is but a summary of my experiences: 1. Reasonable prices 2. Dr. Wilson seems kind 3. Both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Borst are slow to make referrals to specialists when needed and this may have been a critical error for my dog. I asked for a scan of my dog to look for cancer after she had been sickly for a month or so and neither of them wanted to do it; they misdiagnosed her and when a scan was finally done more than two months after my first request for it, she was found to have advanced cancer. How contained might her cancer have been if caught two months sooner when I first asked for a scan? 4. The front office is chaotic during busy times and makes errors even during slow times. Twice my dog’s medicine was labeled with the wrong dosing information and I had to go back and question Julie the receptionist who admitted her error and fixed the dosing labels. 5. Another error came up with my dog’s pain medicine. I was told to give 0.1ml by mouth (the staff prefilled the syringes). However, some syringes had only 0.05ml in them so I asked why some had only half what I was told to give. They said either 0.05ml or 0.1 ml was within the therapeutic dosing range but they would make sure going forward the syringes all had 0.1 ml in them. The next refill, they gave me syringes filled with 0.125 ml…and no reason for the increase in dose. I would think getting a medication dose correct might be important (especially for pain medication) and also, was I paying for 0.05ml or 0.1 ml when some syringes had only 0.05ml? Why after I complained did they increase the amount in the syringe over the maximum I was told to give without saying a word? 6. When Dr. Wilson is away, the clinic does not hire a “relief” vet to help provide coverage/see clients nor will Dr. Borst come in 5 minutes early or stay 5 minutes late to accommodate a sick pet when he is the only vet working. That is to the detriment of the patient and sends a message that Dr. Borst has lost whatever passion or commitment he may once have had to this profession. He should retire if the best he can do is the bare minimum. 7. Things were “OK” until my dog became chronically ill (later diagnosed with cancer) and needed frequent care. The staff seemed annoyed by our visits; I had to really push to get her seen and when I called on 6/1/18 because she stopped eating, Julie the receptionist told me Dr. Wilson was too busy and was out the entire next week. She said she talked to him and he said just to give my dog pain medicine and anti-nausea pills. When I called again on 6/6/18 because she was still not eating, Julie said Dr. Borst was too busy and I should go elsewhere and I said if that is what you want then you should have just told me to go elsewhere from the start. Julie then back tracked and said that isn’t what she meant and she would work my dog in even though Dr. Borst wouldn’t be happy about it. My dog only saw the vet tech for fluids and a shot for nausea that morning. 8. Later in the day on 6/6/18, I had to take my dog to the emergency clinic and again on 6/9/18 I had to take her to the emergency clinic. The emergency clinic sent records of these two visits to Shelby Street Animal Clinic and nobody has called me to acknowledge these visits. 9. The staff complains and gossips about customers, and talks on personal calls at the front desk rather than paying attention to their jobs. My dog deserved better. I am sure if you are reading this, yours does too. Read Less

The staff were great besides the ego fed older vet. He acted as if I didnt know how to fix my dogs problem. He didnt know but i have known my dog for 5 years . He then preceded to act as if he knew my money situatipn and would not give me a quote for treatment that he thought would help. Have since found more knowledgeable and less judgemental vet clinic . Read Less