Apache Trail Animal Hospital

I thought fine, but then...the doctor wanted to do sedation and X-rays. After 2 very expensive visits we did not know what was wrong with my dog. A CAT had been tentatively scheduled for a Friday a week out, and she wanted to do the sedation x-rays on the Monday. She had mentioned 2 things that I should mention. 1, her partner would be there and she thought that would be beneficial. Sidebar, that made me pause for a moment because I did not particularly care for her partner. 2, she briefly mentioned that her husband was sick, so she thought Monday. I did ask her, you will be there right? That is all I said. She said yes. My issues with her partner were as follows. I saw her for the first time when I made an appt. and did not even know she had a partner. I felt obligated to give her a little history of my dog. I would do the same if I saw a Dr. for myself that I had never seen. I said something that made her say maybe we should check her pancreas. I do not like when vets casually mention some test, and it turns out to be expensive. But ok. I guess I said something in the intro that made her think that would be beneficial. I also mentioned she gets a lot of ear infections, but she 'forgot' to check her ears and she did in fact have a bad infection that I went back two days later for. Frustrating, but ok. When I went back to get the medicine for her ears, they thought maybe switching her to a very expensive prescription food would help her ears. So I switched to this $80 food. 3 days later she was so constipated. I called and they mentioned adding pumpkin. Then I called back and this partner of hers thought we should X-ray her. Jeez. Since she is at my side all the time, and I know she didn't eat a rug or something, I switched her back to her old food and she was fine. I have met two kinds of vets in my life. Ones that are conservative, and conscientious of people having to pay out of pocket for vet services, and ones that think your money is no object. I prefer conservative. I decided I did not want to see this partner. It's my choice. Ok, back to the present, I drove the long distance early on the Monday morning to drop off my dog. The techs met me in the exam room. They said my vet, Dr. Fox, who was the only one who had seen her thus far for her present condition, was not going to be there, and only Dr. Lewis would be doing the sedation, X-rays, and maybe probing behind the eye. I asked if they were sure, and they said they would call her. They left and presumably called, and verified that she would not be there, and said she would be back Thursday. The CAT was scheduled for Friday. That put me in a position because the plan was to try to find out the issue and hopefully not have to do a $2000 CAT. I said I wanted Dr. Fox there, so could I come back Thursday? They said ok. I was very upset on the way home, calling my husband crying. This had been going on for 2 weeks! Look at the picture! I called a vet close to me that was recommended in my neighborhood, and she agreed to get the records and see her right away. I did that, then a couple of days later I sent an email to Dr. Fox, who I loved, past tense. I told her the above, and that she knew, and she did know because I had told her before, that I was not a fan of her partner, that I just wanted her seen right away. I did make the mistake, in hindsight, of saying that I did not want that Dr. seeing her because I didn't want any surprise padded bills. I maybe should not have said padded. But like I said, some vets are freer with peoples money. It's just a fact. I didn't hear back right away. In the meantime I did call Apache on Friday to see if previous needle aspirated biopsy results had come in. They said no, and said Dr. Fox was going to respond to my email. Mind you, these biopsy results were supposed to have been in that week, and they were very needed. So I did get a response that weekend. It was horrible. It said that I was pettily holding some crazy grudge against her partner for routine bloodwork, (????), and she was insulted by the bill padding comment, (ok I maybe should not have used that one word), and then she dictated a conversation that she was not there for. On that Monday she said I came in with attitude according to the techs, and she then said that she told them she WAS coming in, the techs had TOLD me that she was, that for some crazy reason I still said I would be back Thursday? That doesn't make sense. She said if I did not want to come in Monday I should have said so. Ok, yeah right. I got up at the crack of dawn and took my, I thought dying dog, to Antioch for a fun ride. She said her husband was sick and that was private. I don't know, it was an unbelievable response from a vet that I had really admired. I immediately emailed her back. I said I apologize for the word padded, and I reminded her of all of the previous events, that it was not a routine blood test, that I just didn't care for her as a vet for my dod for all of the things above, and I was sorry about her husband being ill. I didn't know what was going on. But then I got really upset. My dog was still so sick. I had spent hundreds there, had been a customer for almost 4 years. I did not have the biopsy results that I paid for, she had called me a liar, crazy, petty. I was angry. I told her so. I am still flabbergasted, very sad to have someone you trusted and admired treat you like a piece of trash. I would never go back and do not recommend.

Front desk, Tech, and Vet were great to work with. Follow up calls from the Apache Trail Team to ensure Roxanne's progress.

The staff at this animal hospital are very caring and compassionate at an especially difficult time when I had to have some of my older pets put to sleep.

It's less expensive. I especially like the woman vet, Dr. Fox. Before I'm even out of the examination room the receptionist has already gone on Craig's List and Petfinder to see if the pet's owners are looking for it. She is very proactive and is a very special receptionist in trying to see if the animal has a home.