ASSOCIATED VETERINARY SERVICES

I took my dog to the vet.

They are very friendly.

They're very good. You've got to make an appointment. You make an appointment,  you go in there they take care of it. They take you in pretty much right a way. They are very friendly.

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It went fine.  They did not have a wait at 9:30 a.m.!  The doctor got a more experience Veterinarian to read the xray and they both agreed they didn't see the bone cancer.  ;)

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We have been to several vets in the area trying to find one that we trusted and had reasonable prices. AVS is at least the ninth vet we've visited over the last few years. We were willing to give them a try based on price. We have five cats, so cost is a real factor in choosing a vet. We made appointments by phone a week or so ahead of time for four of the cats. The person on the phone was friendly and helpful. Three adult cats were due for annual shots. The kitten was recently adopted and we wondered if she had ear mites, so we took her too. There was some misunderstanding when we arrived about scheduling the kitten, but nothing worth noting. The office is an older brick building with a large parking lot and waiting room.  There were a few people with their pets waiting when we arrived, but plenty of seating left. By the time we left the room was full. AVS takes appointments as well as walk-ins. They told us appointments take precedence unless it is an emergency. They are open seven days a week, but Sundays are by appointment only. We registered, worked out the issue with scheduling the kitten, and then waited about 10 minutes to be called. The front desk staff were friendly and talkative. The overall feel of the place was ?clinical,? meaning I did not feel like I was in a cozy country vet's office. While that was not was we were used to, it is something we can easily live with. The cats don't care; they're stressed out no matter what vet we go to. I think having four cats at one time overwhelmed or at least confused the vet, because she kept getting the names wrong including on one of the prescriptions we ended up getting. Going by the vet list posted in the waiting room, there are at least eight vets working or associated with the practice. I had read other reviews from a couple of years ago that mentioned particular vets. I was somewhat relieved to recognize at least one name I saw in a review was still listed. I wondered if vet turn over was high at AVS, but at least that one name was still there. We did not ask for a particular vet. The one we got was young, new (we later learned) and fast talking. I had some doubts about her skills. We did not like her method of administering shots. We're used to vets folding the skin and injecting underneath the fold. We both thought one annual shot was given around or between the shoulder blades, but that's not how this vet did it. Shots were injected straight in, one on each hip. The cats hissed when given the shots with one getting upset.  We did not say anything. After all, she's the vet. But, we had never seen shots injected in that manner, nor had our cats ever reacted like they did with her. Keep in mind the adult cats are all over five years old and they have been to vets several times. The vet's exams were okay, but we had to redirect her attention to the kitten's ears to check again for mites. We know cats; we've had cats for well over twenty years. The kitten constantly scratched at her ears, she came from an adoption agency, and though her ears were not filled with black gunk like typical ear mite infections, we suspected she had them. The vet did not think the kitten had mites, but took a swab of her ears to examine under the microscope. She confirmed the kitten had ear mites. One of the adult cats has genetic problems with his hips and eyes. He had had surgery on his right hip a few years ago performed by another vet. That worked well, but now he is not pushing off with the left hip and we wanted to a vet to exam his
hip. We were interested to see if another vet would be able and willing to do surgery on the left hip. This vet had some different
ideas as to the cause of the problems and prescribed a pain med for him. We were hoping for an anti-inflammatory to reduce swelling in the hip, but the vet did not think that was best long term. I was not convinced pain meds were the right option, but I?m not the vet. However, we didn't understand how we were supposed to give him pain meds on ?his bad days.? He's a cat; he does not tell us when he's having a bad day. She prescribed some antibiotic eye drops for his almost constantly dilated pupils. We've been through those before with him and it did not help, but we're willing to give it another try. The other two adult cats did not need any special attention, just shots. These three adult cats are all neutered males who have had issues with spraying. Most likely due to stray cats hanging around the house, remodeling the house, and the new kitten.  They have been on medication prescribed by another vet to treat that for a while. We were able to get a new prescription from this vet when we asked for it. One practice I found bothersome was the tech weighing and getting temperatures on all the cats before the vet came in. I can understand wanting to get those things done ASAP so the vet will have that information when they come in, but it meant pulling four cats out of their carriers (one cat per carrier), putting them back in, and then pulling them back out for the vet to exam and do shots. If you know cats, you know they do not want to come out of the carrier at the vets office. Even though the place is busy, we did not feel hurried during our visit. We might ask for a different vet next time, but there will be a next time. While we didn't love the vet, we haven't found one we did among the eight others we've tried either. The price quoted included physical exams of four cats, annual shots for three adult cats, a blood test for one, and three prescriptions filled. The prescriptions included an oral antibiotic, an ophthalmic antibiotic, and one bottle of ear drops for mites. The prescriptions for the ?spray? medication and the pain med were filled at our regular pharmacy, because AVS did not have those in tablet form, which is easier for us to get our cats to swallow. Finally, we'll use AVS again, but we'll do three things differently next time. One is ask for another vet. Another is take no more than two cats at a time. And, lastly, make appointments for Sunday.

The puppies were treated very well. As we were walk-ins we had to wait about 30 minutes. We saw a Dr. we hadn't seen on previous visits and she seemed knowledgeable and caring, which is the most important to me. We have 5 dogs and 4 cats so price is important but quality of care ultimately governs our selection of AVS. We drive 11 miles to get here even though there are multiple vets within 3 miles of home, so I would say we are very happy with Associated Veterinary Services.

The front desk folks were very nice as were most of the assistants. However, the veterinarian (Jennifer Bruno) was very unprofessional as was the main assistant. I think as soon as she saw me she assumed me to be poor and ill equipped to take care of my animals. I was there for their annual exam and decided to use Associated Vets because of their price. I am fairly certain that the vet thought I was lying when I told her the dogs had been on heart worm preventative. Before the test results came back, she felt the need to explain how dogs become infected with heartworms and also told me the medicine I had been using (HeartGuard Plus) was ineffective in preventing heartworms. My dogs did have fleas. I have been fighting a fleas in my home and yard all summer so I was thankful for the capstar and I did not know that one of the dogs was allergic to fleas. So I was thankful for the treatment for the dog and the medicine prescribed. However, I was treated as if I was stupid and told that I needed to budget my money in order to properly take care of the dogs!! She has no idea what my budget is. I think because I was not well dressed and I am overweight that assumptions were made as to my character. She also fussed at me because one of the dogs is, by her estimation, overweight. One dog weighed 66 pounds (not overweight) and the other 72 pounds (overweight). She said and quot;I bet you have no idea how much you feed the dogand quot; and told me that next time she saw them and quot;she expected to see a waist on the dog.and quot; Guess what! She will never see the dog again. I think she was disappointed when the dogs were negative for both heartworms and intestinal parasites. She wanted something else to be wrong. My old vet and the one I will return to would never treat anyone like I was treated. He may have said, the dog was alittle overweight and I should consider feeding her less or something to that affect. He would never tell me what his expectations were the next time he saw her.
I don't know if Dr. Buno realizes that people bring their pets to the vet voluntarily. I am a responsible pet owner and was treated as if I were a criminal. If she were the only vet available, my animals would not receive any additional vet care. I have options and will return to by previous vet for professional care. If others are treated as poorly as I was, then animals will go without vet care because no one wants to be patronized and treated that way, even if there are problems with the animal.

Their prices are phenomenally cheap.

When my cat could not pee I called for an appt. Could not schedule me for two days but they also offer walk-ins, so I brought him in at 8am. Two people waiting already but I was seen in about 10 minutes. Very busy clinic with somewhat overworked appearing staff, some not very friendly, but they seem to know what they're doing and the price is right.

I've been taking my animals to AVS for years now. I have always found them to be responsive, competent and compassionate. The prices are extremely reasonable, which is important if you have multiple pets as I do. They operate on a walk in basis, but you can also make an appointment with the vet of your choice. In my experience if there is a problem that they cannot handle, they are very helpful in getting you a referral to a specialist. I would definitely recommend giving them a try.