Roadrunner Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital — Attraction in Albuquerque

I wanted to like this place because the staff were all quite friendly (hence the 3 stars), which I've found is unusual for an emergency vet. I came in with my 11 year old german shepherd who had a large, rapidly worsening abscess in his right thigh. His heart rate was upper end of normal, his respirations were quite rapid, and he had a fever. Prior to bringing him to Roadrunner, his demeanor rapidly changed and in a matter of hours he went from being able to walk/hike to not being able to stand. I am an emergency physician (MD) and also know my dog very well, which is why I knew that he was indeed in a dire situation with a serious infection. After many hours in the waiting room, he had not been seen by a vet. I overheard the tech describing him to the vet as "just an abscess". Because he was triaged as "just an abscess", the vast majority of pets who came through the door were triaged above him and his critical condition went unnoticed. Emergency veterinary care is much like emergency human care in that the number 1 priority is rapidly identifying and treating life threatening conditions. Roadrunner unfortunately failed miserably in fulfilling this expectation. Long story short, we left after many hours without receiving care and sought help first thing in the morning (a few hours later) from his normal vet who immediately recognized the gravity of the situation, took him rapidly for surgery, and started him on heavy duty antibiotics.

Roadrunner staff- please change your triage system. My recommendations to your facility: 1. You CANNOT rely on the patient/owner telling you what is wrong. The chief complaint is one aspect of a good triage system but vital signs, mental status, and speed of progression are incredibly important. 2. Beware of falling into the trap of thinking something is "just x, y, z". When a dog has an abscess, you must suspect it is septic until proven otherwise. If a dog is vomiting, they have GDV until proven otherwise. Your job is to rapidly identify and treat life or limb threatening emergencies and you must have a very high degree of suspicion for any animal that comes through the door in order to do this effectively. Assuming something is "just x, y, or z" because the owner said their pet has "x, y, or z" will result in unnecessary loss of life.

Please note that because we waited many hours and never actually saw a vet, this review does not cover the actual veterinary care at Roadrunner. For all I know, they may be fantastic and compassionate vets once your pet is seen. I do understand that there are provider shortages contributing to this problem, so I empathize with the staff- it is extremely frustrating and difficult as a provider to provide top notch care in an overwhelmed system. Nonetheless, in this particular instance it's hard to argue that a critical condition wasn't missed by the flawed triage system. This 2 star review is for their flawed triage system and failure to rapidly identify and treat a life threatening infection, NOT for the veterinary docs themselves.

Update after owner response: I appreciate the personal touch and I completely agree that you are between a rock and a hard place given the extreme shortage of 24/7 emergency vet care. I sincerely hope this shortage improves in the near future. A revamped triage system may improve your ability to provide high level care under suboptimal conditions. At the very least, a little reminder to non provider staff on the importance of avoiding terms such as "only" and "just" may be in order to minimize the risk of...

‼️If your pet isn't on the verge of dying, they won't provide timely treatment.‼️

While traveling, my dog fell ill. A local vet found his stomach full of sand and referred us here. Due to the July 4th holiday weekend, no nearby hospitals were open, and the local vet couldn't handle my dog's condition. We drove 3.5 hours to reach this emergency hospital.

Upon arrival, we learned there were 8 patients ahead of us. After waiting 7.5 hours, there were still 5 patients ahead. Pets with critical conditions were prioritized. My dog was in pain and trembling, but his vitals were stable, so he had to wait. More urgent cases kept arriving, prolonging our wait. Many pet owners, including myself, were in tears over our pets' conditions.

Concerned about dehydration and hypoglycemia, especially since he was not eating or drinking, I told the technician. He checked my dog's vitals again, found nothing life-threatening, and questioned my assessment. Despite my dog's severe pain and pale gums, he said there were no signs of imminent death and left us to wait. This was the only feedback we received during our 7.5 hours there – two 30 seconds’ brief checks to ensure my dog wasn't about to die, and no further attention.

Ultimately, my dog received no treatment as the hospital handled a severe emergency requiring immediate surgery, which lasted hours. We still got 5 patients ahead of us the moment we decided to leave and the surgery is still on going. I see no signs of my dogs getting treatment in the next few hours and it’s getting very late. The waiting list didn’t move, and my dog became weaker, refusing to stand and trembling in pain.

My growing distrust led me to take emergency measures: I tried my best to feed my dog water to prevent dehydration and hypoglycemia. I canceled my travel plans, rescheduled flights. Right after leaving this hospital, I took the earliest flight to Houston, Texas with better veterinary care. Within 1 hour of arriving at VEG, my dog received a new X-ray, an anti-nausea injection, medication to help pass the sand, and IV fluids. His condition visibly improved, and he passed the sand and was discharged healthy within 24 hours. This made me even more frustrated about the wasted time at this hospital. He shouldn’t have to suffer a whole day and not getting treated.

The staff here undoubtedly work hard, and there were many tragic cases that day. That’s why I’m giving 2 stars. The hospital should receive 0 star. The patient-to-doctor ratio seemed about 24:1, which is unmanageable.

The operation model is flawed. Pets with discomfort should receive emergency measures to alleviate symptoms while waiting, rather than enduring pain until near death. Online registration and consultation services could manage patient flow, avoiding over 7-hour waits.

There are many ways to improve their procedures, but this vet is still using primitive methods in 2024, which is deeply disappointing.

I read through all the bad reviews reflect endless waiting. Pets not in life-threatening conditions but in pain suffer greatly. Reviews saying, "Unless your pet is near death, there's no need to come to this emergency" are 100000% accurate. This emergency’s handling and system are severely outdated. As the only emergency vet for miles, they shouldn’t operate this way.

I hope you improve because you are the only hope for many pets...

What an unfortunate experience, do not recommend going here. Last Thursday I noticed an abscess on my cats tail. She was yowling and clearly in a lot of pain.

We live in northern NM and loaded her in the car first thing Friday morning. I called our vet and was told they had a 1:30pm appointment but decided to give Road Runner a try instead. She was in pain and I wanted her to be seen sooner. I called ahead and was told the waiting room was mostly empty but there could be a wait. Any reasonable person here would think 2-5 hours.

We showed up at 9am, they took my cat back and we sat in the waiting room for 5 hours as every other patient came and went. Finally we were called into the exam room to see the doctor and waited another hour before I asked for answers.

At no point were we informed that our cat would be triaged below other animals and would take longer to be seen, at no point were we updated about treatment, at no point we’re we updated on the length of stay. When I asked for updates I was met with snarkiness. As if I was such an inconvenience and how dare I want clear communication. This place is FULL of excuses and defensiveness as seen by the owners responses to bad reviews. “I’m sorry you’re unhappy with your experience” isn’t a genuine apology or an appropriate response to someone having a poor experience at your business. Threatening to sue people who leave a negative review is just…unfathomably unprofessional.

It doesn’t matter if you are the only open ER, understaffed, overwhelmed, running 12 hours behind, etc. When my work runs the risk of leaving people without adequate care we staff up, communicate long hold times, find solutions rather than blaming the clients. As well, they created more of a burden for themselves as I could have seen my own vet had I been dealt with honestly. Part of triage is being honest about who you can/can’t help.

People’s time is valuable and their animal’s care is valuable.

Even after waiting 6 hours my cat wasn’t even seen. She had to wait back there, in pain, dogs barking, for 6 hours for a simple treatment to a really bad infection. We left without any treatment for her and will be going to Abq for emergency services in the future.

In response to the owners response: I watched the waiting room for 6 hours there was one animal hit by a car. I agree in triaging animals but we watched as dogs who were only lethargic were put in front of us. Regardless, I didn’t ask for an apology for my cat being triaged below other animals. The issue is that wasn’t even communicated. Absolutely no communication after they took my cat to the back. That’s not normal treatment by a vet and yes, I’ve heard many excuses.

Your business isn’t UNMH and the comparison isn’t accurate. Someone can go to an urgent care for an abscess. Considering you are the only walk-in clinic around Santa Fe you ARE both an ER and an urgent care. If you’re not capable of providing urgent care services, communicate that. I don’t tolerate poor treatment, which was the cause...