Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine — Local services in Blacksburg

I understand that with emergencies, you don't always have a choice. But if you CAN wait until your normal vet's operating hours, I would avoid this place at all costs.

VT's Cancer Center performed surgery on my dog and the wound dehisced (completely opened up). VT's Cancer Center wasn't open at the time, so I had no other option than to go to VT's Emergency Vet Hospital. They sedated my dog (who has a heart murmur) without my permission to basically rinse his wound with saline (which I had been doing at home). They told me they didn't want to close the wound. I understand that there is a risk for infection with closing opened wounds, but we were two weeks out from his surgery. No way was this going to close on its own at this point. When I asked why they didn't at least put a dressing on in, their response was "you said you hadn't had any luck with dressing it at home, so we didn't even try." A medical professional flat out saying they “didn’t even try” just blows my mind. When I asked if they would at least wrap or dress the wound for our one hour car ride home, their response was "well it probably wouldn't even make it to the car." Again, refused to even try. After arriving back home, my dog's actual VT Oncology Vet called us and asked us to come back to the emergency hospital the following day because the wound needed to be closed. Are you kidding me!? Oh, and they want to charge $430 for all of this. For comparison - our regular vet squeezed us in the following day, cleaned the wound, closed the wound, and bandaged the wound for $122. Maybe at one point the emergency hospital stood for the sole intention of helping animals, but at this point it seems to have become a cash grab operation.

I've gone back and forth with VT Emergency Hospital's chief of something or another - who basically said she sees where nothing was done wrong/incorrectly in this situation. So again, just avoid this place if at all possible.

Pictures of the wound that they wouldn't close or...

We brought our German Shepherd here after the advice of our local vet. We knew this would be the best option for getting the care our beloved pet was in need of. We did not expect after one night of her staying in the emergency department that our sweet pup was going to pass away. At worst, we thought she could possibly of had cancer and we would still have some time with her to say goodbye. We had no idea she wasn't going to make it. No tests had shown or indicated that was going to happen nor did the doctors or techs think her life was about to end, but we understand that some things aren't caught and that death ultimately happens. While trying to cope with the grief of losing our best friend, we held on to the hope of receiving her ashes and her paw print in her memory. We paid for a private cremation, which took place somewhere in NC. When we received the ashes back, her name was spelled wrong on the box. Heartbroken by her loss, and then getting her ashes back with a misspelled name plate was a true kick in the gut. We called to let Tech know about the mistake and to let them know we still hadn't received her paw print (it had been over a week since she had passed). They let us know they would contact the place who cremated her to get a corrected name plate and assured us that her paw print was coming via snail mail. We finally got the package today (over two weeks later), and low and behold her name is misspelled on the paw print. We are beyond upset by this. How could you not take the time to look at her medical records to ensure you spell her name right on something that means so much to us after her unexpected death??? And how can this even be fixed at this point? Very disappointed to say the least and thought getting my frustrations out could help somewhat. While all of the staff was extremely kind, we are blinded by the uncaring sentiment by misspelling her name on two things that mean the world to us; especially since our baby never got...

We typically try not to leave negative reviews, particularly ones tangential to services provided, but our experience here and some lack of clarity we believe merited it. We sought Techs laboratory help in regards to the culturing of an abscess in order to rule out the presence of a commonly known communicable disease within a herd. We contacted Tech and were directed to hand deliver sample to lab - upon which we were met with confusion from recipients who ultimately revealed that they do not accept samples from individuals or business that are not procured by veterinarians. Policy aside; there is nothing in any of their online material that suggests this nor did their physical accession form indicate a Vet requirement. More frustrating is that we were not advised in a call before driving 3 hours, and when questioned on the lack of clarity there seemed to merely be shoulder shrugging and hollow apologies. I have absolutely no doubts regarding the quality of services provided here, however this policy (which is unique in relations to the VA State Lab as well as other university laboratories) really should be explained clearly on their website, accession forms AND desk people should be cognizant as to whether a potential client is being referred by a Vet or is representing themselves...