I'm finally telling this story because it needs to be told. I trusted Dr. Julie with my pets and it was her poor decisions that resulted in my cat, Tiger's, untimely death a year ago. Tiger was an eig... Read More
I'm finally telling this story because it needs to be told. I trusted Dr. Julie with my pets and it was her poor decisions that resulted in my cat, Tiger's, untimely death a year ago. Tiger was an eight-year-old gray tabby. He was a loyal, protective, loving, guard cat who enjoyed chasing lasers and sitting in boxes. Early on when he was younger, we discovered he had feline urinary tract disorder. Not a big deal and completely livable. A year ago, he was experiencing a little... hair loss due to allergies. I took him in for his normal check up and rabies shot and Dr. Julie decided the best thing was to give him a steroid shot. Given his history, a steroid shot should NOT have been the first step, but I didn't know that. She should have started with having him take a Benadryl. If she would have taken this course, we later learned, he would more than likely still be alive. She saw him on a Friday and by Tuesday morning Tiger crossed over the rainbow bridge after putting up a fight at the Emergency Animal Hospital. Every single doctor that helped treat him to try to help him recover all disagreed with how Dr. Julie handled his case. Given his prior medical history, she should have been more cautious about giving him a steroid. It was unknown at the time that he had an enlarged heart and it couldn't handle the steroid. He suffered and died before he should have. I called the office a week after his passing to have my other cats file transferred to a vet that saw Tiger before transporting him to the Emergency Hospital. When on the phone, I talked to a rude front-desk person who acted like my cat's death was no big deal and said with a cheerful tone "Dr. Julie is one of the best." I'm sure there are other instances where she's done well and has built trust, but in our case, she let us down. I never heard anything else from Ark Valley or Dr. Julie. No apology or sympathy for Tiger's death. A simple "I'm sorry" would have meant something. Dr. Julie isn't clueless, but if you have a pet that has more complicated issues and needs more than just routine checkups, my advice is to practice extreme caution here. I could never trust her to treat any of our pets ever again. See More Read Less