I urge everyone to read the reviews on this clinic before taking their pet to see Dr. Tucker. I…read morewish I had, and now it's too late.
We moved to the area in late 2025 and, on the recommendation of someone, took our much-loved elderly dog (12 years old) to sign up.
It's a quirky set-up, in an old purple Victorian 'Addams Family' style house, and you feel like you are in someone's living room. Weird but I didn't mind that. Dr Tucker seemed friendly and kind, and all seemed well.
I thought it was expensive, but we are new to the country (from Australia), and all healthcare is expensive in the US, right?
Before I go on the rest, I'd like to say that the reception staff here are lovely, polite and professional - I have no issue with them.
We noticed our dog was peeing a lot and there was blood in her pee. Dr. Tucker took urine tests twice over 3 weeks ($350). Results were: nothing sinister, and were sent home with Vitamin K tablets (and still no clue as to why?).
The issue continued - the blood cleared up, but the constant peeing got worse. In July she was showing some incontinence and the blood returned with a vengeance. More urine tests ($650 for those alone), an X-ray, and blood tests (or so we thought, but they didn't happen), and we were sent home with antibiotics. A week later, Dr Tucker called with the words "It's good news, it's not cancer, come back if she gets any worse". Well, she did, and we decided to take her to another vet, who, within 10 minutes, took an ultrasound that showed a 3cm x 2 cm tumour on her bladder. A further specialised test showed a definitive diagnosis of Transitional Cell Carcinoma, an aggressive and devastating cancer NOT uncommon in dogs and cats. 6 months after first symptoms, it is too late to help her; we can only give her pain relief and enjoy our last weeks, or even days, we have left with her.
We spent $2000 over 3 visits with Dr Tucker who repeated the same tests and did not even suggest there was such a thing as TCC - She did suggest an ultrasound in our last visit and we agreed to wait for the test results - but when we heard "good news, it's not cancer" she did not urge an ultrasound, and how were we to know that TCC existed? Less than a week later, we spent $550 on one consultation and a specific test needed for the diagnosis.
When I called Dr Tucker to tell her the news and to ask why she hadn't even considered this 'common cancer' (for which my dog had ALL the symptoms) that doesn't always show up in regular cytology urine tests, all she said was, "Well, I'm sorry you are sad, and I'm sorry your dog has cancer."
I get that the outcome of cancer was not Dr. Tucker's fault, but this slack and lazy approach, without looking at ALL the possibilities, has caused our dog pain and suffering for more than 6 months, which could have been avoided, and has denied us the option of giving her treatment when the tumour was small enough to be treated.
After 12 years of the best veterinary care from our previous vet, this has been devastating.
BUYER BEWARE. IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET, DO NOT GO TO THIS VET.
**Another thing: ** She charges 3.99% on all card payments (including debit cards). Charging debit cards is not allowed in New Jersey.