Animal Emergency Critical Care And Referral Ctr

They killed my cat and then insisted I pay a huge bill for approximately the 5 minutes it took them to kill him. He was my baby.....I am so sad to lose him.

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He was very professional, and very knowledgeable. We were very pleased with the service provided, and the knowledge of the doctors.

The surgery went very well. Dr. Mitch personally called to tell us how the surgery went and how she was doing. When we picked her up they went over the discharge instructions making sure we understood completely.
She is now 9 weeks post-op and walking like nothing ever happened.
We would gladly use Dr. Mitch in the future.

We found out our 12 year old dog had cancer. The staff was wonderful. Dr. Phillips was great. We did try chemo, but unfortunately the cancer won.

We were referred here when our 4yr old Frenchie Bruce was declining rapidly with blood filling his abdomen. The vet was very concerned because there was no known trauma and with his condition declining she recommended that he have overnight care. The vets and vet techs were very thorough and called us before performing any additional services and also gave us the numbers before proceeding. They do require a deposit up front but they are a business and we can't fault them for wanting to ensure payment especially when it is probably going to be expensive. Our boy ended up staying overnight there 3 days. They did offer us the option to transfer him to our regular vet during the day on Saturday but he would have to go back that night most likely. They ended up doing a transfusion to save his life and we are so grateful! It was awful to see him go through this but they had so much compassion and care for not only us but for our puppy too.

Dodger was 16 years old. He was having issues breathing one night, and I did not think he would make it until morning. So I got him to the ER. Dr. Waller examined him, and did bloodwork and X-rays. His chest was full of fluid, so she tapped that out. I believe it was about 100 cc's. She got him stablized so I could get him to our regular vet in the morning.
Really like Dr. Waller. She was very attentive to both me and Dodger. She explained things very well, and was very honest about the severity of his condition.

.Bear and I arrived and completed the paperwork. We did not have to wait very long. At first , we saw Dr. Waller, and she thought
Bear needed ear surgery. She was kind and was familiar with the TN Valley Goldren Retriever Rescue league. I liked that since that is where Bear was from. She answered my questions and I left Bear.
Later that day, Dr Brent called me and said the ear surgery was not needed. I was really happy. I felt the vets were honest in not doing surgery that was not needed. I picked up Bear up that evening. I was given very detailed discharge instructions on his meds and ear wash and on the Genotic Gel. This was all given in writing which I really like. I never saw Dr. Brent, however, he was personable on the phone and answered my questions. He remarked in the discharge instructions that Bear did great and is a wonderful dog. That shows that my dog was just not a number to him. I felt Bear was treated well. This is my first time to ever use a 24 hr animal er. I am glad this one exists here in Knoxville

My Lab/Boarder collie mix had a seizure and we took him in. The staff
was very good to us and did all they could do to determine the cause.
They took very good care of him and of us. When we took him home, we
felt confident that they were doing all they could do. In the end, we
could not control the seizures, and following a second visit, we made
the decision to put him out of his misery.

I contacted the Animal Emergency Critical Care and Referral Center as directed by my Vet. My Lab/Shepard mix had been limping for weeks and my vet clinic didn't usually do this surgery on large dogs. I not only received a call by one of the staff members who answered a lot of my questions but she also said that she would have Dr. Mitch give me a call. It wasn't long until I received a call from Dr. Mitch and he went over everything with me and again answered all my questions. They set up an appointment for June 18, 2012, and said that after looking at the xrays and examining the dog they would do the surgery (repair of the ACL) the next day and keep Rascal overnight so I would not have to drive him to Knoxville (a hour away). Dr. Mitch reviewed the xrays with me and showed me on the xray exactly what they would be doing. I was also given a tour of the facility and shown the operating room and the recovery areas. I asked if I would be allowed to watch the surgery and I was told sure, no problem. I drove back the next day and was given a chair right outside the glass enclosed operating room where I was able to see everything. Their operating room has a state of the art air filtration system that reduces the chance of air contamination. You will not find this type of system in most vet clinics or critical care facilities. I felt such relief after watching the surgery and seeing the care that was taken. Dr. Mitch and all the staff were great. He did wonderful during the recovery. We followed all the rules for 8 weeks and the outcome was fantastic. Some people may complain about the cost, but the saying, "You get what you pay for", certainly applied. Watching him walk without pain, run and jump means everything to me. I would wholeheartedly recommend them for anyone who wants the best care for their pet. I had another dog that had to have this same surgery in Ohio but I can tell you that I also observed the surgery and this level of care was not given and the dog ended up with an infection and we had all kinds of problems stemming from the infection.

Our dog was not standing or acting normal. It was 6am. We took her to this place which is 30 minutes away from our house. We arrived at around 6:30. The vet tech/receptionist took information. It was another 30 minutes before the "vet" saw her. His car was not in the parking lot when we arrived, so I am assuming this is an on call basis. In other words, it is not truly emergency facility. He did not introduce himself as Dr. so and so, but mumbled when he came in. Perhaps he was a vet in training? Anyway, it was 7:20 before he saw her. There is a $95 fee if it is before 7am and $75 if after 7am. He proposed some tests or to see our own vet (which was open by this time). He said he would write up the report which would take 5 minutes. It ended up being another 15-20 minutes. They charged us the $95 even though the person did not see us until after 7am, but I wasn't in the mood to argue...I had a sick pup! The place is palatial, as some others have mentioned, which makes you wonder. The person who checked us out didn't even look up when she asked for the money. They could use some customer service skills. I probably would not go back here and am going to ask my vet which emergency place he would recommend. I would have gone berzerk if my dog was in life or death situation.

See above.

Following initial diagnosis from our regular vet, we were sent here because this facility provides 24-hour treatment and monitoring. We arrived, and noted a well-kept but rather lavish facility (e.g. the HDTV in the waiting room adds cost, but does not enhance patient care). I believe we were the only ones there when we arrived (my wife commented on the empty parking lot). The desk person was much more concerned about payment than in quickly seeing that our cat received medical attention. Only after we signed off on an estimate (minimum $890) based on the test results we brought with us, was a veterinarian there available to examine Goblin, after another brief wait.
The veterinarian herself was nice, polite, and thorough in her description of Goblin's possible needs, and she offered no false optimism as to his prognosis.
We received a call from them updating us on Goblin's condition later that night.
The estimate we had been provided was supposedly for Goblin's time there until Monday, 06/27, however when they called the morning of 06/26, the first thing they let us know is that the $890 we had already paid them had run out, and we either needed to pay more, or come get him.
We have Goblin at home now. We were provided a reasonable quantity of medications for him, but will take him to our regular vet tomorrow for another blood test and possibly an additional amount of one of them.
We spent a lot of money, and quite frankly don't see the value (though we did notice the expense of the building and the waiting area). I really hope there is another, more reasonable 24-hour animal care facility nearby, because I do not wish to be a captive client of this place again.