BRIGHTON ANIMAL CLINIC

Dr. Montgomery and her staff are some of the finest people I know. I trust them with my animals completely. I have 6 pets. My dogs all love going to see their friends at Brighton. From annual check-ups to serious medical conditions to just a simple grooming, Brighton is the place I go!

We like them since they are close to where we live. It is a modern, efficient facility. The people are really friendly, and professional. We have been going here for about 10 years now.

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It went very well. They are very professional and competent.

I think the bill was excessive, and my dog was given no diagnosis and no relief.

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Our cat has been followed by Brighton Animal Clinic for 5 years. This summer we adopted 2 new kittens from the humane society. Both kittens were examined by the vet when we brought them home. The vet found that one kitten had ear mites and prescribed medication. The other kitten had diarrhea and was prescribed antibiotics, received an antibiotic injection (plus had lab work including fecal screen). We had a vacation scheduled for the next week, so we boarded the cat and two kittens at Brighton. They provided excellent care to the kittens and finished their medications. Our cat has been boarded before at Brighton, so they are very familiar with him. When we came home, we picked them up and the kittens were healthy and getting along great. Our cat was doing very well, too!



On this current visit, one of the kittens had a temperature. Just to make sure everything was OK, the vet recommended a repeat Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency virus screen. The original was completed at the humane society. She explained the rationale, cost, and let me make the decision. I agreed and thankfully the lab tests were negative. The vet personally called me to give me the results. So, we are currently doing a round of antibiotics.



I know the office building is new, but we have been with this group since they were at Brighton Place Shopping Center. They went from a very, very small office to a beautiful facility. We have always received very caring and excellent service. They always explain what is needed, the cost, and gave us time to decide. We have boarded our cat numerous times the past 5 years and never had a problem. When we dropped off the kittens/cat to board, the vet assistant spent a lot of time with us going over detailed information about each kitten/cat. She had a printout of each kitten/cat with their history, then asked us specific questions regarding their care (food, treats, mealtimes, play, etc.). This made us feel really good.



The office staff are extremely nice and helpful.



I would not take my kittens/cat to any other vet!

They are very friendly and seem to care about families as well as pets. They are knowledgeable and it is kind of a one stop shop because they have veterinarians, groomers and also offer obedience classes. They are a little slow when it comes to their punctuality.

They were awesome. Their place is one of the nicest doctor's office I have ever been to, it is slightly posh. The vet was really nice and the staff is great. They even played with the puppy. Their prices are reasonable.

Do get an exact estimate before leaving your animal. Don't leave any gray area on agreeing what service they are doing or they will do more and bill you. I have been there before and was expecting a large bill, so I guess I am not surprised. Just done

I The office has moved from Brighton Place to Pleasant Ridge Dr. With the move there have been enorous changes. I will write about the old office and then the new.
The first office was smallish with happy yellow walls, the receptionist near the waiting clients, the counter open at the side so my dogs could go be petted and the receptionist could come out and pet them. There were flyers on the wall of lost pets and pets looking for homes. The staff and vets could be seen going in and out of the different rooms. The old office was cozy, inviting and friendly.
I first started taking my pets to Brighton Animal Clinic around 2002. There were two vets there, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Montgomery. I usually saw Dr. Montgomery because she was more the cat person and I had cats. Dr. Montgomery was wonderful and the staff was caring. She was always willing to talk to me, to answer my questions, to listen to me about stuff I found on the internet. She took my calls and she returned them personally, If she didn't have an answer for something I asked, she would call a specialst. She would do anything to help my pet family.
I rescued my dog Mimi. Dr. Montgomery became Mimi's doctor. Mimi loves her and she loved the office and the staff. When we would park to go in, Mimi would pull me inside the door and hurry to visit wth the receptionist behind the counter. Lisa, the receptionist, always made a fuss over her and gave her a treat. If any other staff came into the waiting room, Mimi would go up to them and get petted. When Mimi saw Dr. Mntomgery, she recognized her as a good and trusted friend, happy, wagging tail, to see her. Dr. Montermy was good with her and was good to her. Dr. Montgomery heped Mimi many times. When Mimi required special expensive surgery which I could not afford, they let me put up a jar for contributions and the staff made a good size contribution. I knew they all cared about my Mimi. When I resuced my terrier Becky, Becky felt the same way as Mimi about Brighton Animal Cliniic.
Then I rescued a cat that had been bitten in the face by a dog a week or so before. The clicic told me to bring the cat in immediately. Dr Montgomery wasn't there so Dr. Jenkins took care of the cat, Smokey, that day. Dr.Montomgery took care of him after that. He could barely stand up. His right eye was oozing puss and blood. His face and head were swwolen. He had a bad systemic infection, ear mites, fleas, respratoru infection, and fiv. He required 3 operations on his eye. They saved his life.
I am poor and there were times I didn't have all the money for the visit. The clinic did not bill clients but they did let me write post dated checks for a few days up to a couple of weeks in advance. My checks were always good. I started sending $20 each month to Brighton Animal Clinic so that when one of my family did need vet care, part of the payment would already be taken care of.
So I was recommending Brighton Anmal Clinic without reservation.
Then the office moved. The new office is like a warehouse. It is overwhelming huge--cavernous. The walls are a darker blue, the wood and the furniture are dark, the floor is made of dark tiles. The lights are dim. It is a cold, depressing place. Flyers about lost pets and pets looking for homes are in a back corner or a book somwhere. The receptionists --there are several now--are behind a counter a good distance from the waiting area. The counter has no openings for my dogs to say hello to a receptionist. The receptionists no longer welcome the dogs to be petted, no longer have treats for them. No longer do they or I feel that anyone is glad to see us or that we are appreciated.
Dr. Montgomery no longer returns calls personally. She has a tech do it. There are many techs and receptionists (and they seem to keep changing or be adding to) that the place has become faceless--just another anonymous person talking
I called one day because I was worried about Mimi. I asked for an appointment but I couldn't get one for several days. I asked if I could bring her in and wait for an opening. The receptionist told me that I could not. The policy has changed. I could drop her off and leave her but I could not bring her in and stay with her. They would put her in a crate in the back until she would be worked in. They would charge me an additional $20. I was shocked. i wasn't going to leave my Mimi, about whom I was worried, alone and stuck in a crate for hours. And being charged an extra $20 for them doing that was outrageous. Remember I had been a client for over 10 years and they had been Mimi's vet all her life. And all of a sudden, this is how we are treated.
I called Dr. Montgomery and told her what happened and she said she would talk to the receptionist but a few weeks later, I called to ask about another appointment and was given the same option for immediate care--leave the pet to be crated for hours and pay an extra $20. So apparently, the talk did no good.
I was not calling for immediate care--just an appointment. I took Mimi in at the appointment time. We waited in the dreary waiting room until a loopy tech game to take us to a room.
She was all fake happy, almost giggly. She said something about the new office. I said that the increased prices were hard. She thought that was funny, laughed and made some stupid comment. She had some nonsensical phrased she repeated each time I said anything-- maybe it was "absolutely" said like an exclamation--"ABSOLUTELY!!" I would say, "I don't know why she's limping." She would say, "ABSOLUTELY!" in a happy lilting voice. "I am upset about this" "ABSOLUTELY!" So fake and so stupid. It was maddenng.
When Dr. Montgomery came in, Mimi was glad to see her. Dr. Montgomery was her usual self. Told me Mimi may have arthritis, gave her Remadyl, told us to come back in 2 weeks. We went to the counter to pay. I already had enough money on the account (from mailing in $20 each month) to pay for the visit but I owed $18 for the medicine. I told this receptionist that i needed to give her a post-dated check and started to write it. She told me I had to pay it all right then. I told her she was mistaken -- that I had been doing this for years--for her to check and see. She came back and said the office manager said I could not give a post dated check. That I could not have Mimi's medicine unless I paid in full right then. She said the accountant had set the rule and the office manager was enforcing it.
So now an accountant is running the veterinary office. Now money is the most important thing--not the animals. Not clients who have been with the practice for over 10 years. Dr. Montgomery (who is the manager of the clinic according to documents filed with the KY secreatary of state) cares about money now. Not my Mimi or my Smokey.
I started crying because I had truly believed that Dr. Montgomery and the old staff had sincerely cared about my pets, especially Mimi. When I began crying another tech came and took me to a room. She stuck by what the receptionist had said. She said Dr. Montgomery would come talk to me and then she left. A few minutes later she came in and said Dr. Montgomery wasn't coming to talk to me. She said that this one time, I could write a post-dated check for $18. I explained that my only regular income is from Social Security and that sometimes I just don't have the money to pay them until i get my next check. That I had been doing this for years and I had always paid. That I needed to continue what I had been doing in order to take care of my pets. None of it mattered.
So the changes with the new office reflect the change in the attitude of the practice. It is big, unfriendly, like a factory. The bottom line is what matters now. If the pet needs to be seen immediately don't let his mom wait with him, instead put him in a crate and charge an extra $20. Clients who have always paid, who have even sent money to them when no money was owed, clents who have trusted and relied on them

Overall the experience was OK. We saw Dr. Mattingly whom I believe is new, so she might have just been still trying to get used to the new office. However, we were not very pleased with the service. She seemed extremely intelligent; her bedside manner however, left something to be desired. She was not very good at explaining why she wanted to prescribe certain medications or what they were for. It was not until we asked what they were for that she explained them. She also seemed a bit pushy about certain medications and toothpaste types she wanted us to get. I understand the need for them, however, she did not do a good job explaining that it was necessary to have them or why my dog needed to have the special toothpaste. It wasn't until the vet tech came in with the bag of medications that we realized we were not going to have much of a discussion on the reasons why she felt it necessary to prescribe the medications. I do think that she is intellegient and knows what she is talking about. However, I am the type of owner who wanted to understand why my animal is being prescribed a medication and what she has found when examining my dog. When you are in the middle of an appointment it is hard sometimes to remember all the questions you want to ask and not feel like you are pestering the doctor.
The staff at the front of the office was very friendly and inviting. They were professional and the check in process was very simple, which is desired when you have a dog on a lease. My only complaint with the staff was the vet tech whom we spoke to prior to seeing Dr. Mattingly. Our previous vet did a dysteria parvo vaccination that also included leptospirosis. From what our previous vet said this was beneficial for our dogs do to their activity in lakes and creeks. I requested to have this vaccine repeated since my dog's was about to expire. The staff did not say this was going to be a problem or if they were not able to do this. It was not until I got home and was going over my statement that I realized they had given my dog a DA2PP vaccination instead. I had to call my previous vet to figure out what this vaccine was and what the benefits or cons were opposed to the previous vaccination that my dog received. I would have appreciated the staff discussing with me that they would be giving my dog a different vaccine that I requested prior to administering the vaccination. Furthermore, the prices seem for the most part comparable to the greater lexington area, however they are much higher than we were previously paying. Overall this office does not seem like a bad office, however it is not a good office for us.

I thought they were good. The people were friendly and punctual. I would use them again in the future.

I will use them again in the future.

The staff at Brighton are very nice, as well as professional. The waiting time to see a veterinarian was not long, and she gave my cat a thorough exam and her vaccinations. One thing that was a bit surprising was that they didn't do a fecal sample, as has been my experience at other vet's offices. Instead, they gave me a vial to collect a sample at home, and asked me to bring it in later that week. But otherwise, it was a good experience.

We have two small dogs, and we have been to Brighton Animal Clinic twice. Once for a routine check-up and once following a minor accident. Both times the vets were very attentive to our dogs. In fact, for the accident, the clinic stayed open until we got there. We will continue to use this vet.