I live in the Burlingame area. I drive about an hour each way in order to see Dr. Manchester & her wonderful staff. She was initially recommended to me by my dog loving friends who live in Mill Valley & I had recently moved to San Mateo from L.A., where I had gone to the same vet for 15+ years. Trying someone new was not an exciting idea & I did a lot of research before I 1st came in.
My dogs are really amazing & mean the world to me. People stop me & ask me about them all the time as you can see how bonded & happy they are, yet they are obviously not related. They were rescued a year apart from each other & are now about 11 & 12. I adopted each at about 7 months old.
I could go into a lot of detail, but this would be too long of a post - so here are the 2 highlights (for me).
Took my Ridgeback mix in to have a lump & a bump checked out. Turns out the lump was nothing & the little bump was melanoma. It was just a small dot but she thought it was suspicious enough to biopsy, I am pretty sure most other vets would have just let it go. Unless they were like my old VCA office in L.A. where they will do everything remotely po$$ible... (I did like my particular vet at VCA, though, which is why I continued going to him.) She performed a successful removal of the mass & the borders were all clear.
Took the same dog in yesterday and Dr. M aspirated 3 lumps, viewed the slides right there in the office & I was told that they were just fatty cysts. I was so relieved! Not to have to wait for a week or so for test results - and you can tell that Dr. Manchester is excited to figure it out right NOW & help. She's very enthusiastic & sweet to the animals, you can easily tell that Veterinary work is her passion.
She is active in ongoing education & eastern/western medicine theory, which I think is invaluable. She was able to explain to me why certain combinations of drugs work better than others, which my "specialist" vets that I now also visit would maybe take the time to do, but not as enthusiastically.
She also assessed that my dog indeed has arthritis in her front paw after another vet missed it.
BUT THE BEST STORY IS THIS:
About a year ago, I took my Aussie Shep/Rottie mix in for a checkup. By the time I got home an hour later & fed her, she developed a horrifying nosebleed. She had never had one before & I had never seen a dog have one before. Just awful.
I called Dr. Manchester who called me right back, I'm sure it was after 6. I was freaked. While on the phone w/ me, she got online & found an emergency clinic in my area, gave me the address, phone # & directions. I rushed over & got into the room w/ the Dr. & it was like a crime scene - just blood everywhere. They kept her for 3 nights.
Dr. Manchester CALLED ME the next day to check on Lily & I described to her what all had happened. She said "Hmmmmm... hmmm... let me think on that." We talked a little longer & she suggested that she thought it sounded like Cushings disease.
I called the emergency vet & suggested this. "No, no, can't be..."
It was.
She had successful adrenal surgery (at an emergency clinic) & while has since developed a host of other problems, is here & happy as can be.
I was home alone when Lily started bleeding & had no idea where to go. Trying not to freak out while holding a towel to your dog's sneezing, bleeding face is not an easy moment during which to find an open emergency center. Her blood pressure was sky high & I almost lost her, it turns out.
So, this is longer than I meant it to be, but I am VERY picky about doctors, both for myself & my dogs, and I continue to drive an hour each way to see her. Her nurse (?) Natalie is also amazing and so kind to my girls. Both dogs really respond to affection, Natalie & Dr. Manchester can tell & they take the time to talk silly to them & give them "kisses", you know what I mean. They both get down on the floor with us and get into whatever contortions needed to to examine my older girls - one of whom is a ball of nerves & wants to hide & the other one just wants to have her tummy rubbed so is usually upside down.
Now if I could just clone them all & move them to the Peninsula...
I read a negative review about the modest building & concrete floor. What would you have in your waiting room? Can you imagine what that floor sees? I'd rather have this simple set-up than my old VCA, which being in L.A., had valet parking.
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