I brought our Brussels Griffon, Reggie, in to see Dr. Arnold last Friday for symptoms of progressive lethargy, listlessness, PICA, vomiting and most recently very pale pink/white gums and mucous membr... Read More
I brought our Brussels Griffon, Reggie, in to see Dr. Arnold last Friday for symptoms of progressive lethargy, listlessness, PICA, vomiting and most recently very pale pink/white gums and mucous membranes. I was terrified. The new lady up front, with blonde hair, did not want to squeeze her in, but I told her that Reggie's gums were white so she begrudgingly allowed me to come in. I wish she would have told me to go to another vet, as we would have gladly done so. However, we trusted Dr. Arnold though my mom and others, so I ignored her rude attitude and we came in to see Dr. Arnold. It was obvious Dr. Arnold was annoyed that I brought my girl in, as he did not make eye contact the entire visit, pulled up her lip and matter of factly stated that her gums were "nice and pink". I was so confused that he could say her gums were "nice and pink", so I took a picture of them to ask my mom what she thought as soon as I left and gotInto my car in the parking lot of the vet's office. You can see for yourself that they were far from "nice and pink". Anyway, he palpated her abdomen and felt of her anal glands, then he abruptly stated, "that's 99% of her problem right there", and he cleaned her anal glands. He told me she was depressed because we moved to a new home 4 weeks prior and she would be fine. He told us to come back in 4 weeks for a re check of her anal glands. THANK GOD I did not wait that long and finally listened to my gut and reacted to my girl's increasing lethargy. We took her to The Vetenary Hospital of Clemmons 8 days after, sadly, and was told by Dr. Pugh, "I hate to tell you this but you have a very sick dog." Her PCV/RBC volume was 10%!!!! They urged us to hurry to the emergency clinic for a critical blood transfusion, and she now has 20% PCV- which is wonderful, but still ridiculously low. I was told by multiple vets that 10% is so low, my strong girl should be dead. How in the world could he have said her gums were nice and pink when, no dog, at 10% RBC volume, would have nice and pink gums!!! All it would have taken was a simple CBC/blood test to find this out. 10 more minutes of his precious time. My baby could have been treated so much sooner, not to mention on a weekday vs weekend where US and special testing could have been done. But he took his frustration, of having to work her in, out on my little girl. I am writing this, 2 days after taking her to Clemmons for a proper treatment and diagnosis, as my baby still sleeps in ICU at CVS on IV fluids and close monitoring as they try and figure out what could be going on- we are waiting on US testing and possible bone marrow aspiration to get to the bottom of this. Sorry to leave a bad review, Dr. Arnold, but my girl lost 8 days of her life where she felt terrible and we didn't give her an ounce of sympathy because we were told she was just anxious from the move. What a load of crock. It doesn't take a VET to know a CBC and fecal exam should be done to rule out other causes before sending a dog home like that. I should have demanded it and I will never forgive myself for walking out of harmony heights that day without having any tests done. If I would have listened to him any longer, she would be dead. I don't know how she isn't. I listened to his selfish bandaid diagnosis 8 days too long. Dr. Arnold should be ashamed of his behavior and lack of basic care for my precious girl. She didn't deserve that.I will update my review once we know what is going on with our sweet girl. Read Less