Arlington Pet Hospital — Local services in Arlington

I waited a year to do this review. I took my old, 13 year old dog in for VERY sudden loss of coordination in her hind legs. They did a $300 x ray, didn't see anything, but decided the best course of action was an (I'm sure) astronomically priced spinal surgery(!). On my 13 yr old dog, for no reason they could conclude, and they didn't even have the nuts to tell me EXACTLY how much they wanted to charge. I asked how much and he kinda shook his head like, you dont even wanna know. I went home and cried over my dog quickly becoming paralyzed from her back legs forwards until she couldn't even lift her head. This all happened SO fast. She went into her kennel walking fine one night then the next morning she stumbled out, then it progressed to her being fully paralyzed within the next 2 days. The vet was told alllll of this. I cried over her as she also cried in terror of having all her senses still intact yet her body failing her rapidly and completely -she couldn't even lift her head. I did NOT consider doing a spinal surgery, for no reason, for an unheard price, on a 13 yr old dog that did not sustain a spinal injury laying in a crate. Anyway, I called my 87 yr old granny for consolation, who happened to own and work at her four pet stores in Memphis back in the day, and she said, "Well did you check her for a tick, Honey? That's tick paralysis, and you have to pick it off as fast as you can or it'll kill her, ok? Ok. Anyway... Did you eat yet?" I looked everywhere told her it was not a tick. She insisted I, "look closer, then, because it IS a tick, and you need to hurry. You can do it, Sweetie." So there goes me frantically searching all that fur again and FINALLY found ONE large tick conveniently right on her spine/neck. Removed the beast and she was up and walking again later that very night, THE NEXT DAY was wobbly but doing MUCH BETTER and regained her full health the day after that. So I'm inclined to think this vet 1, is simply out for that dollar, and 2 doesn't care if your dog dies getting it. If my grandmother, who simply took care of dogs, and never went to school for MANY years to learn how to heal them, can so quickly, accurately and offhandedly diagnose tick paralysis, then this vet can too he just wanted more money than picking a tick off would reasonably cost. I mean my Granny did not even hesitate to tell me it was tick paralysis. She knew immediately. And Im pretty sure the vet did too if she did. They were gonna do a $$$ spinal surgery, not tell me exactly why, harm my elderly dog badly in the process - a 13 year old dog going through an unnecessary spinal surgery would be a nightmare - and MAYBE pick that tick off and pretend they fixed her by "operating on her spine" for no reason and no plan at all. I think they are shady. My sister is a radiologist/former rad tech, and she had something to say as well when she informed me you can see the folds of a t-shirt on an X Ray, you esp can on a $300 X Ray, and the HUGE tick was right on the area they SAID they X-Rayed and was having quite a time believing they did not see it, so much so she questioned if they even did one. I do not believe this vet dropped about $100k to go to school for over a decade just to still not know basic medical about dogs. I just honestly do NOT believe a vet, in the middle of tick country, didn't have the same level of medical knowledge about tick paralysis as a retired pet store owner with dementia! Take your business to the vet in Eads! This happened last yr like I said. My dog is still running around and living her best life at 14. Fully unparalyzed with full use of all her legs! Thank GOD I didn't listen to this vet because he definitely wasn't talking about 1st checking for tick paralysis before resorting to a SPINAL SURGERY! No telling how many "spinal surgeries" he's been able to charge heartbroken and desperate pet owners just to remove a tick! Thx for the fake or very badly read $300 xray! Wow you guys did so good helping my dog that I'm STILL mad a YEAR later. 😠🙄 I want...

We had previously been treated very rudely by the front desk staff and did not intend to ever go back to Arlington Pet Hospital. However, our poodle was attacked by a neighbors dog and was bleeding and could not put any weight on his rt front leg. Against my better judgement I decided no matter how rude they were before, I would put our dog's needs first and go to the closest place open for help on Sunday afternoon. I immediately regretted my decision! Once again, the front desk person (a different young lady than before) was extremely rude. It was very obvious my daughter and I were in a panic, my hand was bleeding as I had been bitten pulling our dog away from the attacking dog, we had both been crying. Still, the receptionist never showed one ounce of compassion or concern. She advised us not to even bring him in from the car until she checked with the Dr. to see if he could be seen. She came back and advised it would be $245.00 for a new patient visit, I said no problem and asked my daughter to hurry and bring him from the car. Immediately the receptionist then said " The Dr. only has 26 minutes to see you and there will be paperwork, the Dr. doesn't know if anything can be done to help because (she repeated again!) we are closing in 26 minutes and there will be paperwork!. I was floored, I assumed a vet would have enough commitment and concern to at least to lay eyes on him and recommend the closest EMERGENCY clinic. They were willing to take $245.00 and then say " oops...closing time...you have to go!" Clearly the vet on duty would not even consider possibly being delayed even a few minutes once it was CLOSING TIME. When I told the receptionist we would go and find a vet who truly cares when a pet is experiencing an emergency; she grinned from ear to ear and looked as if she were about to burst into laughter! She then called out as we were going out the door in a very "sing-song SILLY "voice WE ARE AN URGENT CARE CLINIC ". It was literally like she was giggling. The time before it was a different "young" lady and she also made it very obvious she was THOUROUGHLY ENJOYING enjoying being so rude. Making faces, rolling eyes, using a 'fake voice' and repeating IT'S OKAY" as if she were speaking to a child, knowing full well she was being purposely disrespectful. When I asked for the practice manager he came out and was equally unimpressive. He also behaved very immaturely. He hardly looked me in the eyes because he was so busy looking over my shoulder, smiling and appearing "TOO FLIRTY" in a professional setting with the receptionist in question. He was so "giddy" it was downright weird. When I explained how rude she had been to me, he kept saying " Really?, she is so sweet, she is NEVER like that!'. They were continually just smiling at one another while I was talking as is if it was so funny to them. Never mind I had started the conversation telling him I could have really used some kindness that day as I had just brought my husband home from open heart surgery and was extremely overwhelmed. The manager replied (with zero sincerity) " Awww....I am so sorry" and yet continually SMILING as if he had won the lottery and again all the while looking at the receptionist behind me. I would suggest someone other than the "giddy" male manager hire the female clerks who interact with pet owners. The 19-20 something young ladies he hired in these two instances were not appropriate choices for a "medical" environment. They both appeared "hardened and hostile". I suggest taking your pets to The Arlington Animal Hospital on Airline road. Everyone who works there is kind, patient and you can tell they love your pets. Dr. Monica is THE BEST!! For emergencies go to Pet Med Emergency Clinic at Trinity and Germantown Rd. I would not advise anyone to take their animal to Arlington Animal HOSPITAL/ Resort for any reason. This site will not allow ZERO star ratings, the one star is...

Update: Changing from 3 to 5 stars. Management understands good customer service and always makes it right. Monday morning came and Alex, the manager, gave me a call to notify me that he had seen the review and wanted to address it. The employee was mistaken as the vials can be sold as singles and he offered a refund for the second vial I was charged for. More importantly, he addressed the poor customer service issue. I also appreciated the fact that he called instead of just responding on google. This tells you they value customer feedback and customer retention. I left the original post up for transparency but if you ever encounter an issue, just speak to the managers before taking business elsewhere.

Original Post: Similar to William Craig’s review, my ONLY complaint of this place has been their occasional lack of transparency. We have taken our dogs there for years and used the resort, with mostly no issues. But multiple times we have reviewed the bill and received a shot we were not asked about. The most recent time, I discussed it with Alex afterwards and he confirmed it was given in order for them to stay the day, and they will make sure to discuss that before we make the all day appointment next time.

Today, they called during the visit, since I waited in my car with my son, and asked if we wanted a new vial (not 2) of my dog’s medicine and I confirmed. At checkout, I was told you have to buy the box (2 vials), doubling the expected cost. Not a word was said about that when we called yesterday and asked when we could come in, when I walked in to drop her off or even when they called and asked if we wanted a new vial while she was there getting the shot! I was only told when I asked why the bill was double what I was expecting.

When voicing my displeasure with having to buy two vials, stating they should probably provide that info on the front end, the receptionist was short and completely not understanding of how doubling the expected cost of a customer without notice may be frustrating. She actually took time to express how it is unreasonable for them to provide explanations “on every change since your last visit”, though it has only been 3-4 months since I had been there.

Also, when asking to speak with the individuals in the back who actually called and asked if I wanted a new vial (WHO actually was at fault here since they put the charges in), the receptionist tone was rude, denied the request (which is fine if busy as she stated), but then did not provide an alternate solution and all around unhelpful. They could use some training in handling unhappy customers, especially when a business changes policy or prices. I requested to speak with the manager about the issue and that too was denied without helpful solution such as, “I can leave a note for him/her to call you when he/she returns.”...