Jan. 6, 2014.
My name is Karen Deragon & I live in Poland, NY. My family's vet clinic of choice for the last 6+ years has been Beaver Meadow. I started taking our beloved dog, Wookie, there when Judith & Steven Burton owned and operated the clinic. Loved them- so friendly & personable, you could tell they cared about your pet. Since Dr. Burton retired two years ago and the clinic's been operating under the supervision of Dr. Diana Ostrander the place has turned from caring for your pet to just a chart with a number and bilking you for every nickel they can possibly get out of you.
Our new dog, Nanook, was only 2 years old and needed ACL surgery for a torn knee ligament in Oct. 2013. After being told by Dr. Diana that "knock on wood" she's done the procedure 5-6 times with good luck, she stated she could do it. (Since the referring Dr. Bookbinder that does all the ACL repairs was out on medical leave for 8 weeks. It was either make my dog wait 2 months to have her leg repaired or have Dr. Diana do it). We decided to have her do the surgery. After 7 weeks and $1600.00 plus, our dog was still not using her leg and after calling the clinic for additional information I was told to just put her back on her anti-inflammatory pills for 2 weeks. They did not tell me to bring her back in for a re-check of the leg. During that time, early Dec. our dog developed an open sore on the incision site from the surgery. After I called and asked to bring her in to be seen for this I was told that it was: a) caused by her licking the incision site or b) she was rejecting the material used during the surgery to repair her leg. I left the clinic with a 2 week supply of antibiotics and no follow up app't for my dog. This whole time I was extremely anxious and nervous about the newly repaired leg and her prognosis. Feeling like nothing was getting better I called the Veterinary Medical Center located in Syracuse and made an app't to see Dr. Robinson, head of the ortho surgery dep't. I took Nanook out there for a consultation and was told by Dr. Robinson himself that after he review her medical chart from Beaver Meadow that the material that Dr. Diana used to repair her leg is "not being used any more and vets are getting away from using it because it's shown to have a HIGH rate of infection" Why Dr. Diana is unaware of this and continues to use this material on our pets is beyond me. Less than two weeks later, I had to take her back to the clinic to have her put to sleep due to complications arising from the resulting infection. This is the kicker though, after having to say goodbye to my puppy of only 2 years and all the money I have spent at Beaver Meadow over the last 6+ years between 2 different dogs that 1) they ended up charging my family $150.00 for an after hours/emergency fee to put our dog to sleep. (It happened on a Tues. afternoon and the clinic closed at noon to start their New Years Eve Holiday. After letting my 2 kids and family say goodbye to Nanook and drive her over to the facility (which by the way the vet and staff were still there- we got there at 12:15. 15 minutes past noon and they feel justified in charging me this ridiculous fee. After calling the staff and explaining my disapproval over this charge, I was told by Dr. Diana's front counter staff that the charge was in "error and should never have been charged to me since I was such a long standing customer and Nanook just had a failed surgery in Oct. I was appreciative that they understood the situation. But just this afternoon, I was contacted by Kim from Beaver Meadow and was told that no, "Dr. Diana will charge my account for this $150.00 and that bec. my pet was not in organ failure that it was a valid fee. I made the decision to put her down when I did so she didn't suffer for 2 more days until the clinic opened back up again on Thursday. Kim stated to me that "the dog was not critical and was only just uncomfortable. My jaw hit the floor, how dare she- she was my dog and I saw firsthand for weeks how much pain she was in. The prescribed pain medication from Syracuse wasn't even helping. But I guess I should of just ignored her and let her lay on my living room floor unable to get up because her leg wasn't working. Dr. Diana couldn't even call me herself to tell me this and that they were reversing their original decision to refund my money. The money is nothing to me, it's just the fact that they treat you with no sympathy- you're an inconvenience; just money to them. I didn't even get an "I'm sorry for your loss from Kim or the Dr." Just a business/cold feeling....thought they were there to help care for your loved ones? Very disappointed with the new vets at Beaver Meadow....I will never trust them to care for any future pet of mine and will never do business there again. I was told by Kim that "that's your decision and that was fine". Wrong decision on their part to treat a long standing customer this way. read more