In my opinion, avoid this place at all costs--a dangerous, negligent experience…read more
If I could give Adirondack Veterinary Clinic a -0 rating, I would. Everything I am stating in this review is based strictly on my personal experience, verifiable facts, and my recent traumatizing trip to an emergency vet hospital with my dog.
This was actually a second opinion for us. I had previously taken my dog to Banfield, where they immediately wanted to do surgery and essentially cut her open in the back. I brought her to Adirondack to look at her left back leg, but they wanted to focus on removing her masses first. During an earlier visit for a rabies vaccine, they had also found yeast in her ear. Yet, when I returned two weeks later to have it checked, the other doctor on duty had absolutely no idea about the ear issue, but blindly added even more medication to her ears anyway. They also completely ignored the fact that my dog could not swallow a pill, and a pill is exactly what they prescribed for her pain relief.
My Yorkie is 12 years old. We had a biopsy done on a couple of masses, and the results thankfully came back negative. However, this facility made a very strong impression on me that having these masses removed immediately was extremely important, along with having my senior dog spayed. We trusted them and scheduled the surgery for a Tuesday.
I dropped my dog off in the morning between 8:15 and 8:30 AM, and they had me pick her up at 4:30 PM that very same day. For a 12-year-old dog undergoing multiple major surgical procedures at once, they did not even keep her for overnight observation.
By Tuesday evening, my dog was not doing well and was slowly declining. I was told this was normal for a dog recovering from major surgery. Communication from this clinic was practically nonexistent. When I did finally speak to an employee named Christian, he completely failed to call me back the first time he said he would. The second time we spoke, he entirely dismissed my concerns about my dog shivering and shaking.
By Friday night, my family was not sleeping. My dog just laid there in her bed--not moving, not eating, not peeing, not doing anything. On Saturday, we had to rush her to the emergency room.
The emergency room vet team acted quickly on their feet, stabilized my Yorkie, and literally saved her life. They explained to me that my dog's insides, her internal organs--I believe they specifically said her intestines--were seeping out because she had not been sutured correctly during her initial surgery at Adirondack. She had to undergo a second, emergency surgery that Saturday just to correct their mistakes, and we were finally able to bring her home Sunday.
When my husband went into Adirondack to speak directly to the doctor to find out what happened, the doctor completely redirected the conversation and actively avoided answering every single question my husband asked.
To contrast Adirondack's excuses about "normal post-major-surgery behavior": today is Thursday, and my dog has had absolutely no pain reliever today whatsoever. She only had pain relievers on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. She shook a tiny bit the first day we brought her home and half of the following day, and that was it. She is healing beautifully now after a massive, life-saving corrective surgery, proving that her agonizing decline after her first surgery at Adirondack was not normal.
Based on my experiences, I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy. In my opinion, the only person at this entire facility who is competent in their position is a receptionist named Sarah.
I sent emails demanding that all of my dog's records be sent to her new veterinarian office, which we locked in the exact day we were standing in the emergency room. I should have gone with my gut from the beginning. In my opinion, every single time I walked into Adirondack Vet, there was an emergency, or someone was tragically saying goodbye to their pet. I watched pets walk in healthy with their owners, and those owners left the building alone without them.
In my opinion, this place should be shut down. This is my personal experience, reflection, and opinion, and I am sharing it so other pet parents can make an informed choice. I am just incredibly grateful the emergency team saved my baby.