This place is affiliated with Empire Puppies-when you buy a puppy from them, the first general checkup by Animal Clinic of Hollis Court is free. While we do recommend Empire puppies, we do not recomme... Read More
This place is affiliated with Empire Puppies-when you buy a puppy from them, the first general checkup by Animal Clinic of Hollis Court is free. While we do recommend Empire puppies, we do not recommend Animal Clinic of Hollis Court.We took our puppy to them around May for a regular check up. We are first time dog owners and our puppy was peeing 12+ times a day, sometimes 4 times an hour. We weren't sure whether or not to be concerned. The woman vet (forgot to note down her name but she wears glasses/medium set) told us we could run a urinalysis. When I asked if it mattered what time I collected the urine, she said it didn't, it just mattered if it was fresh, and to just suck up the urine off the floor with a syringe and fill the tube they would provide for us. When I asked how much a puppy should be peeing per day, she couldn't give us a straight answer, and dodged the question, then answered about 5 times when I kept asking. She recommended some products and particularly heartworm treatment that she stated you could only buy at the hospitals (that we later learned was untrue, just need prescription and can order from Foster&Smith online). Misleadingly, we felt like we should just buy all our puppy's recommended products here. With the vaccinations he needed at the time and the products we bought, we spent about $150+ on our first visit, plus an additional $50 for the urinalysis. My husband and I got rung up at the front and despite being told they would give us a syringe and tube, I had to remind them up front about this. They did not seem very professional at all and I had to repeatedly give them information they did not note down the first time around. We dropped the urinalysis off as instructed. We were told the office would call us with the results within a day, but 2 days went by and they never did. We called them ourselves, only to be told the results were possibly positive! What kind of office doesn't even give you a call about positive results!? She told my husband that it was possibly positive due to the specific gravity but no white blood cells, so it might be a contaminated specimen. My husband, who is not in the healthcare profession did not understand what she was talking about had to ask her to speak in laymen terms. She said to just bring our puppy in and she'd check him out. When we brought our puppy back in, we were told the vet wanted to take not only another urinalysis sample, but also kidney function tests that required bloodwork. When we asked how much all this would be, she checked with the vet who was standing nearby, and she said just the cheapest kidney function tests were needed (but had we not been within earshot, I wonder if she would have said the most expensive ones?). With the vet visit, repeat urinalysis (another $50), and kidney blood tests, the charge came out to be about another $200.We honestly felt conned into coming back to Hollis Court with more tests and fees. Not only did we feel like they were trying to charge us as much as possible, but we also felt like no one in the office was professional (besides for the vet assistant who helped with our first visit -she was a sweet young lady). After the bad impressions the first and second visit, I swore up and down I would never take our puppy here again. We walked out that second visit.We have another vet, Dr. Giangola, with Narrows Animal Hospital in Brooklyn, affiliated with our rescue kitten that we decided to take our puppy to. I did some extra research prior to taking him into Dr. G, and found that you should actually be taking the FIRST urine of the day for a urinalysis and placing it in the fridge if it wasn't possible to have it dropped off immediately. I also found you should be collecting it fresh, without it falling on the floor first. Isn't it funny that Hollis never once mentioned any of this? Maybe it's a tactic for them to make more money. We filled a clean container with the first urine of the day and fridged it. When we brought it to Dr. G, he told us the Hollis urinalysis may have been faulty because it was an afternoon, dilute urine. He was also able to answer how much a puppy should be drinking/peeing based on a mathematical formula that he worked out for us. When we asked about kidney tests, Dr. G. said let's try the urinalysis first, that he didn't see a reason to waste more money, and that the frequent peeing may be behavioral. Dr. G. even trimmed our puppy's nails and did a much more thorough examination. He also called us with results (negative) a day later, as he also did with all our kitten's tests previously. In addition, everyone at Narrow's office was very professional. The urinalysis was also only $40 at Narrow's versus $50 at Hollis. We do NOT recommend Animal Clinic of Hollis Court for your vet needs. They are unprofessional, awful at communicating, and seem like a greedy practice in it for the money and nothing else, with very little medical knowledge. Read Less