Oakland Veterinary Referral Services — Local services in Bloomfield Township

If you’re reading this, your pet is likely unwell and I’m so sorry 🩷 Deciding who to trust in an emergency is stressful, but I can help. GO ELSEWHERE! You won’t forgive yourself if your pet is harmed, or worse at OVRS. Keep reading for details, or simply heed my advice & sleep well knowing you made a sound decision. The other reviews are quite suspicious after what we experienced.

I have 2 purebred Bernese Mountain Dogs (11mo & 2yr). Obstruction & bloat is high w/ the breed. Yesterday my eldest, Cajsa, was transferred to Wilson’s Vet from our home vet for emergent surgery & possible sepsis due to bowel obstruction (MSU is always my 1st choice but they were @ capacity)

Wilson’s was flooded w emergencies during the 2hr drive, so I called around hoping to find a clinic who 1) could see her quickly, and 2) had a surgeon on duty. Amy answered at OVRS, assuring us Cajsa would be seen STAT, that a bowel obstruction could mean imminent death, and a surgeon was available.

Drove 30min to OVRS. Parking lot empty. Inside was empty, too. A secretary said “Hi! Cat with the scratched eye?” Confused, BMD at my side, I said “no, dog with bowel obstruction”. Puzzled, she handed me intake papers.

Handed in the paperwork. Then, over a loudspeaker she called “emergency in waiting room”. 20min later, a vet tech strolled out & asked if we wanted CPR in the event of cardiac arrest. I’d never heard of a dog receiving CPR, so I asked if it was a routine technique for dogs (she’s the expert, right?) The unadulterated attitude that followed was jaw-dropping and frankly, embarrassing to watch… she said something snippy & irrrelevant, moving her head side-to-side as she spoke, wagging her finger dramatically, literally sweating. It appeared she was ready to brawl and I had NO idea why. Unsettling is an understatement.

She continued, “gonna be a few hours before you can see our vet, just so you know”. I began to say “I spoke with…” and she interjected, “Amy? Yeah, well you still have to wait”. Strange thing to say to an anxious person. Holding back tears, I said “no problem, can I just ask if a surgeon is on duty, to be sure we’re in the right place?” I was scrambling to figure out how I might’ve offended her, and whether I accidentally provoked her behavior. Still angry, she snapped “of course our vet can do surgery! But I’m not saying she’s gonna, she might decide not to”….(?!) I said “ok, just wanted to be sure” and she CONTINUED to ramble about it… honestly, it felt like the twilight zone.

She pulled Cajsa away in a not-so-gentle way and, after an exhausting day, I sat down & cried. My teen son was baffled, too, & begged to get Cajsa & leave (he was worried the tech wouldn’t be nice to her) but no other option.

90min later with no update (we were the ONLY people there) I asked secretary how Cajsa was. She was nice & said they were doing X-rays and bloodwork (she had X-rays at home AND at Wilson’s, who sent them to OVRS - no one sought permission to do more).

Hrs later (still without our pet) spoke w/ vet. Same repulsive demeanor as tech: no empathy, awful attitude, total disrespect. At this point I was entertaining the notion that we’d walked onto the set of a prank show - that’s how weird this was. Vet began talking about cost, to which I replied “it’s of no concern, whatever’s best for Cajsa”, yet she kept on about it. After 6 unauthorized X-rays, I guess the irony was lost on her.

Unconvinced of her safety, we took our scared, drowsy girl home, anxiously awaiting vet to open. There, I mentioned Cajsa was unresponsive over night. Our vet said “ahh yep, the anesthesia”. ANESTHESIA?! OVRS had NOT informed me. Apparently it was for the X-rays, but surprising since Cajsa is compliant & easy to X-ray (our vet did them in 10min w/ no sedation & remarked how easy she was to xray). OVRS charged $1500 for unnecessary anesthesia, 6 X-rays + sub-q fluid (saline, cheap stuff) + basic bloodwork.

I wouldn’t subject an enemy to OVRS, let alone a beloved pet. Please choose literally any...

If you are thinking about taking your pet to this “hospital”, please think twice. Oakland Veterinary Referral Services is all business, impersonal, unresponsive to owner concerns and charges a fortune. Although perhaps conveniently located, you will end up paying for the Bloomfield address in the end. Let me tell you about my experience…

After my vet detected a cancerous mast cell tumor on her left hind leg, I brought my terrier Ruby to OVRS for an oncology consultation, after waiting over 3 weeks for an appointment. My visit lasted about an hour, meeting with the oncologist Dr. Ottnod, approximately five minutes of that consultation time. The appointment ended up costing over $1000 including the pre-paid $200 consultation fee. OVRS recommended removal of the mast cell but they: 1) neglected to find a lump on Ruby’s left inner hind leg; and 2) missed a lump under her right forearm (not the left forearm that had already been examined by my veterinarian).

However, when I realized their oversight upon returning home that Tuesday, I called to see if I could bring Ruby back in for a re-evaluation; the consultation with the doctor herself had been so brief that I felt uncomfortable with simply bringing Ruby in for surgery the following week. I received a phone call two days later. But not from the doctor (who I had asked to call me), but from her assistant who casually proceeded to tell me that the missed lump would simply be checked out by someone on the morning of the surgery. Although I reluctantly agreed, my husband was later uncomfortable with their response so I left another message that Saturday morning for the doctor, as we did not want to simply wait until the day of to find out the scope of the surgery. After all, this is supposed to be a 24-hour "hospital" and even my veterinarian works on Saturdays. Again, no response.

Six days after the initial consultation, I called again Monday morning and spoke to the receptionist and let her know that if I did not hear back from the doctor by mid-afternoon, I would just bring Ruby in for a walk-in re-evaluation. That is when the office manager, Jim Thompson, returned my call. I told him that I had been trying to speak to the doctor for nearly a week, and added that the receptionist had been dismissive and unprofessional. He disregarded what I had to say and instead told me that I had been rude to his receptionist "Tanya". He then proceeded to take Ruby off the surgery schedule and sent me a form letter telling me that my dog "Duke" was no longer welcome in their facility. My husband even called to try to explain our situation but Thompson told him that the decision was set in stone. If anything, when we received the form letter with the incorrect pet name it demonstrated that OVRS must be frequently called out by pet owners for the dispassionate way they run their operation. At least they weren't able to collect $8000+ for her surgery!

Opting for quality over the convenient location, I contacted the veterinary teaching hospital at Michigan State University, which is ranked #3 in the country for veterinary medicine. They were immediately empathetic and caring, and given the situation, even worked me in for a next-day appointment even though they had a waiting list. They have a wonderful staff and return calls promptly. The doctor sat down with us for 45 minutes, explaining all of our options after thoroughly analyzing and measuring each of the cancerous lumps. They will be removing two lumps, including the one that OVRS missed. The MSU hospital has been a top notch experience and much more reasonable in cost. I would highly advise that anyone considering a veterinary hospital give MSU a try. They have a fantastic, state-of-the-art facility and will truly care about your pet. it was well worth the drive to...

After taking our dog to her regular vet two days in a row, our vet couldn’t pinpoint the issue; her bloodwork, urine & other tests came back normal, so his best guess was a neurological issue, so on the 3rd day, we took her to Oakland Animal Hospital. My husband & I are grateful & feel blessed that Dr. Greene was our emergency vet that day for our dog. Dr. Greene is, without a doubt the best vet we have ever taken our dog to. She didn’t redo the bloodwork, etc., because she just had the bloodwork the evening before, so that saved us a lot of money - however, we would’ve done whatever test we were told to do but thankful that we got to save money . After examining our dog for a few moments, Dr. Greene knew by her symptoms that she more than likely had an inner ear infection, which was causing the imbalance, falling over, etc., which our regular vet must not have noticed, as he said nothing about that. Dr. Greene even had another doctor look in our dogs ear at her eardrum & he agreed with her. We were given 3 weeks of antibiotics to give her & I know it can take a long time to heal from an inner ear infection & it literally broke my heart to see my once very lively, bouncing off the walls, happy go lucky dog literally just lay there & not have the strength or will to do anything. We hand fed her every meal, added broth & water to wet food to make sure she stayed hydrated & she was eatiing, but had up & down days & before she got sick, she liked to do everything herself, jump on the bed, etc., she let us do everything for her, because she knew we were helping her & I’m so happy to say that she is now back to stealing treats & toys from her brother, head butting him to play, doing her usual 3 or 4 day zoomie run through the house & yard playing, etc., just being the usual mischievous little rascal that she is; we love our dogs so much; we could never have our own children, so our dogs are literally our children; they sleep in bed with us & I was in tears when my dog was sick, so thank you so much Dr. Greene for making our dog better & getting her back to her old self - she is 85% there & I’m so relieved and thankful. The only wish I have is I wish Dr. Greene could see patients for regular issues, but I understand she is emergency only & anyone who goes there will be in good hands if Dr. Greene is the emergency vet they see. I’m sure all the doctors are great - I’m just speaking on our personal experience. On a side note, it is so sad if someone can’t afford to pay an emergency vet bill; I recommend pet insurance for your animals - we didn’t have it at that time & it wouldn’t cover anything with her ear now because the insurance considers it a pre existing condition, but if she Has nothing wrong with her ears for six months, but then happened to get another ear infection in six months then it would be covered, but the pet insurance is not that expensive and we went ahead and got the pet insurance because you never know what can happen and it is devastating when people have to put their dog down because they can’t afford the treatment for emergency care so that would be my biggest suggestion and I think one of the best things pet owners can do for their animals is get the pet insurance. There are so many different companies and plans for every budget And some of them will even pay the vet directly right then and there so you don’t have to pay anything out-of-pocket, although I didn’t see a bunch of vet/pet insurance that do that, but more are starting to & the vets seem to like it. Pet insurance will give you peace of mind. Sorry for the long review, but I also wanted to mention how nice Dr. Greene is, as well; with some people you can just tell that they’re good people & that is Dr. Greene. Anyway, again, thank you Dr. Greene, my husband and I are so grateful...