Animal Emergency Care

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The Survey Sez: That the Animal Emergency Care Center located in Acton, MA at 164 Great Road is the pits. They must sell meat by the pound here based on the hideously poor care we received this past Sunday. In a nutshell, out dog had been vomiting with pain for almost the entire day. We decided to bring him to this so called hospital in the early evening due to severe lethargy, moaning and crying. At the time our dog was the only patient.



We expect to pay more since it is emergency care just as you would if you went to the ER at a human hospital. They took the dog in, said they needed x-rays which we agreed to for $600.00. Was 5 hours in waiting room before we had any additional information other than the occasional we are working to figure out what is wrong. We could hear the dog crying and we also heard the technicians telling a sick dog mind you, to "shut up."



We asked the tech if he was still vomiting and she said no. We then asked what they had done to help him and they said nothing (after 5 hours mind you) that we needed to tell them what we wanted them to do. To me common sense tells you to suggest an IV for fluids if you have been told the dog was vomiting all day. When we said that the reply back was, "well you didn't tell us that was what you wanted." Just who the hell is the patient here? Shouldn't the technician or vet be making the suggestions to us?



They came out late on and said he should stay the night. When we asked how much it was between $900.00 and $1,8000.00 to stay overnight. They also said he would need more x-rays in the morning for an additional $600.00 They then said they saw a blockage in his stomach and the surgery would be between $5,000.00 and $8,000.00 dollars.



We went into shock over the estimate and the tech we were working with said, and I quote, "we typically pad the estimate so let me see what i can do to lower it." Are you kidding me? They did lower it but only by a few hundred dolars. So the entire one night stay with surgery, two sets of x-rays, and meds would be over $10,000.00!



We decided to take the dog home and they immediately said we were risking the dogs life if we did that and did we know that he has also thrown up an additional 3 times since we brought him in. A half hour before the story was he hadn't thrown up at all!



When we mentioned who our primary vet was they then said that he sometimes is lax in checking his messages and is not in first thing in the morning and that delay could prove fatal. At this point we smelled a money grubbing rat with no care or consideration for the sick dog. We left the clinic with our dog and they were very abrupt with us.



Next day we bring in a severely dehydrated, sick and in shock dog to our vet. He took him first thing and immediately went to work on re-hydration, pain management, antibiotics and blood work. We left unsure that he would survive. Vet called us throughout the day to keep us n the loop and fortunately the dog survived, not 100% yet, but the love and caring of a vet who truly loves animals saved this dogs life.



The surgery was absolutely not necessary and our vet determined it was just a severe stomach virus. We are confident had we left our dog overnight at the Acton Emergency Care Center, they would have performed unnecessary surgery and charged us well over $10,000.00!



STAY AWAY FROM THIS UNCARING, HEARTLESS, MONEY GRUBBING, POOR EXCUSE FOR AN ANIMAL HOSPITAL THAT EMPLOYS SCARE TACTICS AND PREYS ON YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE FOR THEIR OWN GOOD AND PROFIT.



If you need emergency care for your pet call the Foster Hospital For Small Animals in No. Grafton, MA which is run by Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. 55 Willard Street No. Grafton, MA 01536 (508) 887-4623. Hope this helps.