THE PET HOSPITAL

They were punctual. We were in and out and they had adequate staff.

Shots and check up. They also gave him a vitamin supplement.

unknown

It has been almost a year since I used this service, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details now, but I do remember well my overall impressions and will do my best on the rest.
We moved to NC from NE in the fall of 2012, but didn't get a permanent home until the end of May 2013. We have two large adult dogs, and they hadn't been to the vet since we'd left NE, so when we got to Bessemer City, we wanted to get them in somewhere right away. Both of our dogs are rescues, and one of them had clearly been abused. We have worked with them a great deal, but they can be a bit skittish, and the formerly-abused dog is still extremely fearful in new environments.
We chose this hospital because it seemed to be so convenient, and we only had 1 car at the time.
My husband and I went together after he came home from work, so we could each manage one dog. The parking lot was crowded, and it was difficult to find a place. Then when we went inside, we were absolutely stunned by the chaos. I don't know how many of the animals had appointments and how many had just come in for emergencies, but it was crazy in that room. Though I wouldn't go so far as to say it was dirty, I will say it wasn't the cleanest, and there were certainly some unpleasant smells.

The front desk operators were extremely rude and unpleasant. Even though I had called in advance multiple times to ensure they had my NE records, they still didn't have them. I confirmed with my NE provider that everything had been faxed the day before, so clearly, they had been lost. Then we were told to wait.
The waiting area is poorly designed. Random animals and owners are all crammed together in various states of physical and mental stress. The noise was terrible - almost like walking into a shelter. Our dogs were terrified - even the well-adjusted one. My husband was disgusted by the environment, so he took the dogs outside to wait where he could walk them around and not leave them sitting in that. After a time, he had to bring them back inside and we did our best to keep them calm.
After a wait of approximately an hour, someone came to get us and take us back to a room. The technician demanded to take them in the back area unaccompanied. Both my husband and I were uncomfortable with this, as our dogs were clearly under a great deal of stress already, but we allowed it to our regret. Our mostly well-adjusted dog was so traumatized by whatever went on back there, that he has never really recovered, and still struggles every time we go to the vet, even though we have found a very nice place. Our formerly abused-dog became so terrified that he wouldn't walk and tucked his tail up so far you almost couldn't even tell he had one. Our records still had not arrived, and the technician was very impatient with us about that - even though we explained that the records had been faxed. Clearly, there was poor to no communication between technicians and desk staff - at least on this occasion.
The vet finally joined us. This was the best part of the appointment. He was a fantastic guy. Very gentle with the dogs, extremely friendly and helpful, and at least appeared to be very competent. I was hugely relieved, as I had expected the worst by this point. It's a shame that such a great vet is compromised by such poor staff and such an unorganized and unwelcoming environment.
I don't remember the cost, but I do remember thinking that I felt it was reasonable and consistent with what I would expect and what I had been quoted by other area vets. Again, the desk staff was extremely rude and unpleasant as we checked out. One of them even made us wait 10 minutes while she took a personal phone call that was clearly a non-emergency.
We decided not to use this facility in the future unless it were a true emergency, and when I found a new vet, they found it nearly impossible to get the record of that one visit and what shots had been given to update the new record and make sure they had all the required shots. Frankly, I don't think the new vet ever received that information at all and eventually just gave up. I will add that I made several calls and follow-up calls trying to get them, and even offered to come back in and get a physical copy if they couldn't manage to send it.
My husband and I agreed that we would not return to this place. He was so angry he couldn't even speak the whole rest of the evening.
In the end, I will say that if my dogs were in a true emergency, I would not hesitate to take them here - especially since the vet really was great and clearly cared a great deal for the animals. But for general care and maintenance? I would not recommend.

unknown

Very friendly and professional. Give you confidence they care about your pet and you.

Their pricing was very reasonable, and the care they gave this dog was great! They were very thorough, and they followed up after every time that I took the dog into the vet. I thought they were wonderful! I felt that they really cared about the dog. They were also good with the pricing.

I feed a number of feral cat colonies in Charlotte. One of the kitties was ill, losing weight, drooling and unable to groom himself. Clearly there were mouth problems. I took him to Dr. Neunzig's office and dropped him off while I waited for him to check "Moe" out as he was in the middle of surgery. When I returned he came out to my car and told me I should put the cat down. I had some issues with this and he told me to come inside to see the sedated cat. Moe's mouth was all bloody inside and Dr. Neunzig said I was being cruel to let him live. I had donations from people to get this cat healed, but Dr. Neunzig said if I didn't euthanize the cat NOW I needed to leave his clinic or he would call the police. I ended up going to another vet immediately, who extracted rotten teeth, gave him some antibiotics and the boy is doing great - he has regained the weight he lost, the drooling is gone and he is living as a normal kitty. I'm so glad I didn't follow Dr. Neunzig's "advice."