Port St John Veterinary Hospital

Great, very informative, complete assessment

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I first visited Dr. Stevens in July 2014 when I moved here. I was very impressed with his professionalism and people skills. I also thought the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Well I had been watching my Dog's problem with not being able to empty his bladder for as long as he wandered into my yard and my life. Finally one day he dribbled in my kitchen and it was almost all blood. I called that morning and they fit him right in. Had xrays that showed a total blockage of his urethra and a bladder full of stones. Surgery was needed to clear the blockage since it was so bad they estimated high for potentially having to cut into the urethra. Roughly $2000. Dr. Stevens deferred the surgery to Dr. Alvey since his experience level wasn't quite where he was comfortable with the urethra part (although there would be no problem with his ability for clearing the bladder). That was the first thing that made me happy that he didn't try to get practice on my animal. Well surgery showed a whole lot more stones and a SEVERELY damaged bladder. She told me that his bladder was in real bad shape but that it is the one organ that could heal itself so she was optimistic.
Well a couple days later, we could not get the dog to eat/drink/take medication. Unfortunately not knowing exactly what to
look for, we waited a few more days to take him into the vet for followup. By then he had toxemia and his kidneys were in failure. They took him right in and immediately started to run tests and put him on an IV to get rid of his dehydration. They also ran another set of Xrays and put a catheter in him and realized the stitches from the surgery were not holding due to how badly his bladder was from the stones (they had been in there for quite some time as he's had the peeing issue for over a year since he was like that when we found him). Prognoses was not good. She was pretty much giving me the worst-case scenario (which at the time had me devastated as I didn't think he was going to make it), but at least it prepared me for the worst.
But, long story shorter. The nurse took him home with her overnight and checked on him every couple of hours, refilled his IV and checked his urine production. 7 days critical care and IV and catheter to take the pressure of the bladder and his kidneys started to function again.
After all was said and done they saved his little life and the TOTAL bill was under what the initial estimate was and still came in well shy of $2000. This was much less than I was expecting after he was in the hospital for 10 days with over half of that in critical care.
They care so much for the animals they treat and have made my animals patients for life! It has been 4 months and not my dog is healthier than he ever was!

see above

I love all the vets there. The only complaint I have is sometimes the wait time but generally they are pretty good. They are knowledgeable and professional.