Veterinarian

North Carrollton Vet Hospital - Carrollton, TX.

I moved to Dallas in 2005, wanted to find a vet who would care for my animals as much as I do, found NCVH in 2006/2007, Dr. Calhoun. One of my beloved dogs was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, Mothers Day 2013. He was with my in-laws at the time, my mother-in-law rushed him to the vet where the horrible news came 4 days later after the tests came back. I decided to put him through Chemo, the vet in Tyler said if he starts vomiting, stop the meds, well he did 4 days later so I stopped, he was acting very strange the next day, so I called my PREVIOUS vet, NCVH to see if I could bring him the next day at 8am on Saturday with all the papers I had to see if I could give him any pain killers (which I had on hand from a previous visit to NCVH for Mr. Kitty), the vet tech said "SURE, NO PROBLEM". I took Mr. Kitty to NCVH where Dr. Calhoun was not available so I had to see Dr. Stokes (WHICH I NEVER SPOKE OR ABLE TO SEE HIM?).. HERE IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING... I overheard the vet tech ask Dr. Stokes if I could give him any pain meds, his statement was "I DON'T KNOW, TELL HIM TO CALL THE VET HE TOOK HIM TOO"?? I WAS DEVESTATED, IN TEARS AND THEY DID NOT CARE AT ALL. IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THEY ARE LICENSED/TRAINED PROFESSIONAL VET'S SO THEY SHOULD KNOW WHAT MEDS THAT DO AND DO NOT GO TOGETHER. I WAS DEVESTATED THAT THE VET I HAD GONE TO FOR ALMOST 8YRS DID NOT GIVE A SH?? ABOUT MY DYING DOG. I CALLED THE FOLLOWING MONDAY TO SPEAK TO DR. CALHOUN ABOUT HE INCIDENT, I WAS TOLD HE WAS NOT THERE BUT, I COULD LEAVE MY NAME AND NUMBER FOR HIM TO CALL ME ASAP, I DID, BUT NEVER RECEIVED A CALL?? IT HAS NOW BEEN OVER A MONTH, I STILL MISS MY "LITTLE MAN" DEARLY AND OF COURSE STILL HAVE NOT HEARD FROM DR. CALHOUN?? I DID GIVE A GOOD RATING NOT TO LONG AGO, BUT AS IT STANDS NOW, I WILL NEVER WALK BACK INTO NCVH... AND ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN WILL HEAR MY STORY, I WILL SPEAK ABOUT THIS UNTIL MY DYING DAYS...

Here is what is stated in their Policy... "Emergency cases shall always receive top priority, which is why occasional appointment delay is inevitable.".. AGAIN, MY DOG WAS DYING AND DR. STOKES COULD CARE LESS!!

Dr. John Spodick and the Swan Corner Animal Hospital

I wish I could be witty and amusing, but it's simply not possible. Our cat became very ill and our Vet tested him. She said it was his liver and she held out little hope. Unfortunately, she had to go out of town. Since he wasn't eating, she said we should call Dr. Spodic and either have a feeding tube put in to prolong his life or have him put down.

We took him to Dr. Spodic the next day. He was very rough with the cat and his assistant was constantly grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. The cat cried out in pain numerous times. Spodick told us he didn't believe in feeding tubes, but was optimistic that if we left him there, the cat would be okay. He said he would force feed him and could get him to eat. With hope in our hearts, we agreed.

The next day, he was very optimistic and told us our cat was doing much better! We were overjoyed! The following day, however, my wife got a call saying we had to come right away as the cat had to be put down immediately. We were shocked. When we got there, the cat was crying pathetically. They said he had been crying all night. They gave him nothing for the pain, but tried to force more food down his throat! Spodick examined him again very roughly, making the cat cry out even more. It was obvious that the cat had to be put to sleep.

My wife was, of course, distraught and wanted to hold the cat while it was put to sleep. Spodic refused saying his lawyers wouldn't permit it. We don't know if that's true, but his attitude was very nasty about the whole thing. Once the cat was gone, he started trying to sell us on all kinds of additional tests to find out why the cat died. It was clearly an attempt to jack up the bill even higher. And I think that was the goal from the start.

We were prepared during the first visit for the worst. I find it very cruel that he used hope to get us to spend quite a bit of money when there is no doubt that he knew the result would be the same. Never, NEVER take your pet to Swan Corner Animal Hospital! And do yourself a favor and google John Spodic dvm. Apparently he's as abusive to his staff as he is to the pets.

Re: Dr. Akm Huq, Bethany Pet Hospital, Allen, Texas. I would highly recommend Dr. Huq, his staff and Bethany Pet Clinic. Dr. Huq was very kind, polite, professional, reasonable,gentle, and was the best Veterinarian that I have ever seen, in my 60 years of having dogs. I was very impressed by his faultless technique, very reasonable prices, very modern office with all the latest equiptment and yet was very empathetic and gentle. As a long time RN, over 30 years, I am a very "hard sell". He had to re-suture my dog and had to wait 45 mins. for me to drive through torrential rain, and ran after hours; and he was still very considerate and patient. I recommend Dr. Huq to everyone that I know, and thats the highest complement that I can give him. Great Vet!!

I just wish vet hospital had the option of something like a 911 for animals but I take it animals aren't that important if something goes wrong like in a human.

Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital/Irvine California Regional Animal Emergency Hospital.

I took my pet to Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital/Irvine Regional Animal Emergency Hospital for an examination-I gave specific instructions to the doctor to please be very gentle with him as he was fragile. I took my pet home after the exams and later that evening he developed bloat. I had no idea what this was and No-one said this was a possibility. I rushed him back to the hospital where they "de-bloated" him (another traumatic procedure). The doctor released him to me and even still I was not told about the seriousness of this condition or that he could die if he was to re-bloat again and not be close to the facility for treatment. Well, he re-bloated the next morning and taken to the hospital where hours later my pet suffered several heart attacks and died a very traumatic death. I was very disappointed with the care given by this facilities staff and Dr.'s Christopher Eich, Courtney Zwahlen, and Lara Ashbran.

Dr Nugent, in Coburg Oregon was a last resort for putting my oldest cat to sleep as the two other Vets I have use were out of town.
It was an in home visit , and I had to sign an authorization before she would touch cat, also had to pay before hand. My
cat dearly loved people, but when this cold person jammed a needle in her belly, left it hanging while she attended to her scratched hand, cat was horrified as well as my two friends who came for support of the cat, and me.It was a very cold visit and I will not ever use her again if she were to be the last vet on the planet.

Dr. Debra Scheenstra....Best Try Elsewhere!

We used Debra as our family vet for alot of years until we had two episodes that required sensitivity to our pet and our family funds. We don't feel that she was sensitive enough to either of these situations and have moved on regretfully. Perhaps she'll mature into both of these things, but we couldn't afford it either with our pet's health or our pocketbook. Good luck.

I just took My cat to Negolas Ark Veterinary Hospital, and I am mortified. I thought my cat was going in to get spayed because we thought that she was a girl. I get a phone call during the surgery to find out that Dr. Negola could not find the tubes. He told me that it looked like my cat had a scar at the umbilicus. I told hime that there was no way because we got her from friends at 8wks. He ended up doing a larger cut to explore HIS abdomen. He calls me back, chuckles, and says, oh, I found the problem, it's a boy. My heart sank. I tried to ask him questions, and he blew me off, raising his voice as to not let me speak. I finally told him, fine, I am coming to get my cat. I get there, and another loud mouthed woman totally blew me off when I asked her how often this type of mistake happened, and proceeded to make a joke telling me that I now have an Eddie (my cats name was Eva) No one would talk to me. Shouldn't the vet check for right site, cat, and gender before starting surgery?? I wanted to break down, and cry. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy. Stay away

Please choose another vet clinic for the sake of your loved ones. Our senior dog has been seeing Dr. Rooney at Burr Ridge Vet for a few years . His "exams seem perfunctory - we were never given any directives about her health care and had to ask for senior wellness exams. Even then, he was brief and careless. Our dog became ill and within a week of her appointment here, we took her to another vet that found a medically obvious thyroid mass that this doctor had missed!!

Prescott Valley Pet Clinic. This vet clinic kept me coming back to their clinic and doing the same procedures over and over on my dog that was costing a lot of money and as I found out from other veterinarians that are not int he same competitive area, they were doing the wrong procedures to figure out what was so wrong with her. They should have doen an ultrasound first and foremost. Then they even suggested quote on quote from one of the vet's there "if we cut her open to see what is wrong, sometimes that lets the demons out". They were also pushing having this well-bred show dog spayed because they thought it could be a uterine problem. Not, she later went on to have a beautiful litter. Once I brought her to Phoenix to a pet hospital, they immediately performed an ultrasound and found the simple problem that required no cutting and no bloodwork or xrays like PV Pet Clinic kept pushing on me. Obviously, more money in their pockets. They did just build a new fancy, fancy facility they have to pay for.This was unscrupulous and dishonest and they strung me out for a lot of money and they know they can with customers because we love our pets and its easy.I disputed the last visit's bill to them because of no results with so many visits on the same problem and another vet solved it in one visit. They just went ahead and sent it to collections instead of trying some customer service skills to work with out with me. It then went to the credit agencies, where I have NEVER had a ding on my credit history. I have since tried to settle and to no avail. I also am a business owner in the same town and would never do this to any of my clients. People need to be informed about such unscrupulous business practices and that is my reason for writing this review.

Banfield in Massillon, OH is a terrible place to take your pet. They drag you in with an Optimum Wellness Plan and friendly receptionists, but the vet himself is a cold heartless jerk (Tanuzzo). He only cares about the money, not the animal. I do believe having a care plan set up so office calls are free is nice, however they are still very profitable because they charge a very high fee for everything that isn't included in the plans, and there's a lot that isn't included. The more saving-conscious you seem to be the less interest Dr. Tannuzo (SP) has in your pet. They also force you to watch videos in the room before the vet will come in, to try and sell you even more of their products. No matter what special plans this vet has to offer, if you don't have a caring vet, you have nothing at all.

Wrong diagnosis by the Animal Hospital of Roslyn (NY) ----- After running various tests on my sick cat totaling over $1000, I was told that several numbers from her blood work were off the charts and that I basically had two options which were put the animal to sleep or chemotherapy. I then asked the doctor whether or not a cat could contract H1N1 since my wife had it. She replied that she has never heard of such a thing and it wasn't likely. Five days later my cat was back to normal and after doing some research online I discovered that there are in fact documented cases of felines catching H1N1.

DO NOT GO TO THE VCA ANIMAL HOSPITAL... Misiner/Halley


We just got back from taking our pet to be put to sleep, and they were very rude, and wanted to
charge us 30. extra to be in the room when they put the pet down. This place does not even have have color monitors, or the internet. I was so offended by how rude they were... also, they advertise that the first visit is free, then try to charge you for it. When I asked about this, he was like, OH, you know about that?

Very sleazy operation.

My wife is a vet. She's known from the age of 8 she wanted to care for pets. I'm in finance. She had crazy school requirements. It's incredibly hard to even get into vet school... practically everyone is a straight-A student. Lots of type "A" personalities. My wife and family live eat and breath her pets' medical cases. My wife continually worries about what is best for pets. The person referring to pet food kickbacks obviously doesn't know any vets personally. Money is usually the last thing on vets' minds. She worries all the time about what is best for her patients, and then the perception of her clients, even when the medicine is second to none. This is a profession that is not well paid. The equivalent person in my industry would get paid twice that of a vet. There are thousands of schools handing out MBAs, but only 28 vet schools in the US. If you love pets, and are ready to subject your family to pets 24/7, it can be rewarding. Veterinary medicine is considered the "compassionate profession", and my wife embodies that several times over. We both work on the vet business until midnight most nights, and get up at 6:30am to start again. She works weekends, evenings, and forwards her work phones to her cell phone. Her hobby on her "off hours" is pet related... her reading material by her bed is pet medicine... she even asks me about her medical cases, because of my logical reasoning... but it's pets pets pets. Astronauts don't think about space as much as my wife thinks about pet health. If I were to be re-born, I'd be lucky to come back as a pet and have a vet for a doctor.

An honest profession.

I love all vets.

I LOVE animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After milking the pus from my dog's infected neck for two straight, veteranarian is not a job I can say I would want

i would luv that.

I only love one of my pets and sort of half like the other.

Gots to love the pets

Yes I would like this job. Probably the large animal Vet

What a cute puppy!!!

i love animals

i cant kill animals

because i love pets

but to much school

these people are saints

Love love love animals.

i love animals! it would be the best job ever i think.

Hate blood, guts, and all that stuff.

Love animals

Animals are so much better then people...pass no judgments love unconditionally...

I think I would like this field. I love animals!

I would have Loved to worked with animals also, but likewise, I do Not 

believe I would have the stomich for it or the heart.  I hate seeing something in pain.

God bless.    I also don't understand the whole dog food market thing.  If they are educated and know the things that are unhealthy for our pets, why do they continue doing it??????????    GREAT question.    HEY Companies, these are more than our Pets.  They are a part of our hearts and family, household.

I would have loved to have been able to work with animals, but I don't think I'm a strong enough person; I wouldn't have had the stomach for it.

Here is a question to think about, why is it that your doctor will tell you to go to a nutritionist for diet information yet a vet hands out his "knowledge" to anyone who walks through the door. What makes a veterinarian think they know anything about what we should feed our pets. The answer...they don't. They get free food and benefits from Hill's, Eukanuba, or Royal Canine so they reccommmend their food. After all, what damage could reccommending the food that pays them off do, right? Well for starter, diabetes, overweight, allergies, ear problems, eye problems, intestinal issues and even cancer. And guess who is going to fix all those problems for you? Why your vet of course!

***Update 5/16/07 Ok, so everyone has heard about this recall. Want to know some interesting info? Here are the top 5reccommended veterinary brands of dog/cat food. Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, Royal Canine, Nutro. Guess what, all of these foods and one or more of their lines recalled! All of these lines were recalled because they contained Wheat Gluten and in Royal Canine's case rice protien mostly in cat food. Now ask yourself this, Cats are obligate carnivorse, that means they need meat to survive. What the hell are vets doing reccommending foods that contain wheat gluten, rice and corn as protien sources if cats are carnivorse? Their bodies are not meant to digest grains and yet vets have no problem reccommending that crap to unsuspecting owners. If you are currently still feeding one of the foods that had products recalled, I urge you to look inro other alternatives. For dogs and cats, Nature's Variety Instinct is a great formula, as well as Orijen, Innova, Canidae and Honest Kitchen. These foods actually contain meat as protien sources. But hey, you don't have to believe me. Ask your vet these questions and see if he can come up with a legitimate answer other than "thats B.S." or "theirs no proof"

1. Why does Hill's Prescription diet preserve their food with chemicals that are being tested because they may cause cancer (BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, Propyl Gallate)?

2. Why are they using corn, rice, and wheat gluten as protien sources when cats are obligate carnivorse?

3.What is a by-product and why is it in the food they are reccommending for my pet? (FYI, it is not organ meat. If it was, they would be allowed to list each organ on the bag...read a raw food label)

4. What makes them able to reccommend nutrition information for my pets, when they are not nutritionists?

5.What do they think of foods like Honest Kitchen and other Raw Diets, and why do they not reccommend them? (Most will tell you that pets can get salmonilla from raw meat..that is actually not the case. Dogs and cats bodies are desined to eat raw meat. Why do you think wolves never get salmonilla in the wild. They can't, the way our pets process food makes them incapable of getting any disease from raw meat)

6. What makes them think that eating kibble will keep your pets teeth healthy? (Think of it this way, kibble is binded together by a grain. These grain particles are all over the kibble. When your dog eats the kibble, the particles get stuck in between your dogs teeth. This is much like your dentist telling you to brush your teeth with an oreo cookie. The grains get stuck and do much more harm than good. Dogs did not eat kibble in the wild, they ate soft meat and raw bones. Raw bones actually do help with the teath. When a dog eats a raw bone, the meat stripps go in and out between your dogs teeth. The meat litterally flosses your dogs teeth! Make sure you get raw bones made for dogs and not for people. The dog bones are hormone free where as peoples aren't and they could make your dog really sick)

7.Why can they not answer any of these questions? (You don't have to ask that one...but you may want to after they give you their "answers")

Good Luck!

4 out of 5 vets recommend Hills science diet dog food. These 80% get a one star rating.
The 1 out of 5 who recommend a quality food receive 5 stars.
After all, there isn't a doctor out there who does not preach healthy eating for humans.
So why is it that vets will recommend Hills science diet?
Maybe..selfish job security reasons?
Pets get allergies, vets get customers.
Vets recommend Hills science and get benefits and perks from the distributors.
A 40# bag of Hills science can not cost more than $6-7 to produce,
(corn and unnamed animal by-products)
yet you are charged $40 plus for the bag.
Vets get a part of this profit in kickbacks.
If your vet sells this, find a new vet.
Shame on you vets who push this food.
Sincere thanks to you vets out there who recommend the numerous available good quality foods.

Having cats and a rabbit now, I respect people who treat animals with the care they require. My poor rabbit had ear mites a few weeks ago, and our vet gave her the medicine she needed to get better. Now, her ears are perky, she's much more active, and I am grateful that the vet has helped our rabbit become her old self again.  

UPDATE:  Having worked in veterinary hospitals for about two years now, I am absolutely appalled at the misinformation that people have, and worse, they spread it to others.  People complain about veterinary bills, because "it only costs me ten dollars to go to MY doctor's office!"  That's because most people have HEALTH INSURANCE, but most people don't know/don't care about pet health insurance options for their pets.  Instead, it's easier to blame the vet.  "How would vets make a living if our pets were healthy"?  The vets that I know are more than happy to do regular annual/biannual visits, and are more than happy to help clients find cost effective means of helping their pets.  If vets were really out to get your money, wouldn't they rather keep the preventatives under wraps and wait until your dog gets the heartworm so that you'd have to pay $600-$6000 for treatment?  

As far as allergies go, one of the vets that work at my clinic is a veterinary dermatologist; if it's a food allergy, most of the foods that she recommends aren't even available at our office.  Actually, she recommends a lot of homemade diets.  I've witnessed the IDST (intradermal skin testing) done, I've seen the reactions, it's not just something you can make up.  The allergy vaccines that are recommended are mixed on site from ingredients; I can guarantee you that they are NOT "placebos". And while the Southeast and the Mississipi River area are the worst areas for heartworms, incidence of heartworms are found all over the US.  Anywhere where there are mosquitoes, heartworms can occur (in Alaska, though, it is noted that the prevalence is a great deal lower, as is the midwest).  As far as Southern California,  The Los Angeles County West Vector & Vector-Borne Disease Control District website  describes the situation:  

"The primary vector of dog heartworm in Southern California, Aedes sierrensis, is found locally throughout Los Angeles County.  Dogs travelling with their owners to these endemic areas may acquire heartworm and bring it back to Los Angeles County where the vector mosquito occurs.  Under ideal conditions, small outbreaks of dog heartworm could be observed."

Even more, adult heartworm treatment begins at your veterinarian office, typically with injections of immiticide, which are most certainly not available at a pet store.  Ivermectin is often used to treat microfilariae after the treatment of the adult heartworms, and some vets apparently use solely ivermectin to treat heartworm infection (I personally have not heard of this "slow treatment" actually being used by any vets I know), but according to some sources it takes 1-2 years for the treatment to get rid of the problem (http://www.dogaware.com/heartwormtreatment.html).  

I encourage all pet owners to do their research on pet care wisely.  Your pets depend on you to make the best health care choices for them.  

In response to the post right below me...maybe you should get some facts straight. I work at a Veterinary Hospital and have seen SEVERAL cases of heartworm. With so many military families moving to southern California, they bring pets from areas like Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, etc. When these dogs are heartworm positive and they get bit by a mosquito, that mosquito is infected and can carry it to any of our dogs. It's absolutely rediculous to say that heartworm doesn't exist in southern California. But then again you work at a pet store and I work at a vet...

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest.

After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, "I'm so sorry, your Duck Cuddles has passed away."

The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure?

"Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead," he replied.

"How can you be so sure," she protested. "I mean, you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room, and returned a few moments later with a black Labrador Retriever.

As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck !
from top to bottom.

He then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.

The vet patted the dog and took it out, and returned a few moments later with a cat.
The cat jumped up on the table and also sniffed delicately at the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on it's haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

Then the vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman.

The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!," she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!!

"The vet shrugged. "I'm sorry. If you'd taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150.00

I love animals! I love my dog Charlie - feed him, walk him, pet him, really anything, but stick him with a needle or operate on him - I simply couldn't. If you read my review on DOCTOR - you'll understand.

A satisfying job for animal lovers, but not a profitable career. Vets make much less than doctors (GPs and specialists, even some nurses), spend years of time and tons of money for schooling, and still have a hard time finding good positions post-graduation. Not a bad job though, if you like animals and don't care much about money. Maybe this is the reason Vets are so much nicer, and modest, than most doctors.

Even though I have no desire to be a Vet, I have worked for many of them. Their patients can't tell them what is wrong so they have to be very knowedgable in a lot of areas. It is harder to get into Vet school than Med school mainly because there are fewer of them. Some vets are real jerks but there are really good ones out there. I work now for one of the good ones. He's not all about the money and really likes what he does.

Although this is a lucrative career,it is even harder to get a Doctoral degree in the Vetrenary Field than it is to get an MD...Why? Well,for one thing,you have to study a variety of species- not just humans!

more important than people MD's. they help keep harmless animals safe, while stupid MDs keep idiots alive.

I couldn't do it, bu I hear that guys who are vets get a lot of trim.

thank God these people exist.

I have a lot of respect for veterinarians, the doctors to our animals. It's not necessarily a noble career, but nonetheless, for all of us animal lovers, these people truly make a difference.

I deal with sick people all day in school... wild animals woudlnt be much better.