Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital Akron — Local services in Copley Township

Update: the response received contains lies. I was not allowed in to be with my cat prior to receiving anesthesia for a procedure that was likely to end in euthanasia. It would have been cruel to wake him up again just to euthanize him. That is what happened.

Next, it did not take 6 months to get into another busy specialty service, I just had to drive farther.

I was told by 2 different people when I called metro yesterday multiple times to try and make an appointment that only one person does the scheduling and was angrily told “she is doing her best”. When I call the number the “correct person” is a voicemail box. I was told I am not allowed to be on hold to wait for her or someone to be available. I had to call back 3+ times due to phone tag.

Your unapologetic and false response shows your business does not care about animals and only cares about money and saving face. Just like all the other reviews that have said this. Got nothing to say about getting scammed into an unnecessary surgery either I see.

We‘ve had multiple bad experiences with this place, and after our most recent I finally decided to write a review.

In 2011 we had a cat who suddenly could not keep any food down. We took him to the ER there and then was seen by internal medicine. They did not know the cause and X-Rays/scans did not show anything. So they said they had to do an EXPLORATORY LAPARATOMY. Which was basically cutting him open and looking around! They didn’t find anything, and THEN, AFTER we spent $1000s, they decided to do allergy tests, which turned out to be the cause. We never had a cat with allergies before, so we didn‘t know to ask to test for that first, and we didn‘t realize we had been scammed until it was over and done with.

Next we had a cat that developed a tumor in his sinuses. I didn‘t want to go there but at the time there was nothing else in driving distance for getting cancer treatment for a cat. X-rays showed that it was likely going to be bad and he would likely be put to sleep, but they said could do a procedure with anesthesia to look up in his nasal passage to be sure that it couldn’t be removed or treated. This was our last shred. This was in 2021, and they had crazy pandemic rules. They would not let us in. Someone came and took him away from us, it did turn out to be untreatable, and so we never saw him again. He spent his lasts moments alive scared and with strangers. I would have a worn a hazmat suit to be with him if it came down to it, but they wouldn‘t budge. The heartless cruelty we experienced there was astonishing.

At the time this atrocity occurred, we had to bring another cat there, the sister of our boy with nasal cancer. She needed kidney tests our regular vet couldn’t do. She is doing well, but we were told that we have to bring her back every 6-12 months for blood tests, and if we don’t they will refuse to see her if she has an emergency. Our vet does the same tests but more often, but metro won’t review these and insists we pay to do the tests again.

Another experience, about 2 years ago, was with a cat that had suspected heart issues. Once again they were unfortunately the only game in town so we very reluctantly tried to get him in. We were told they couldn‘t get him in for 6 months! Wouldn‘t give us any other options whatsoever. Has to be seen by cardiology specifically, internal medicine AND the ER refuse to do any tests to move things along. We even got the standard snotty statement that I’ve seen other reviewers talk about, that “bringing him to the ER won’t get him in any sooner”. We had to go to a different place that was a 2 hour drive, which thankfully turned out to be a wonderful place and our boy is doing well, so this turned out to be good (0% thanks to metro).

Lastly, they now have only one person who is the scheduler/secretary for what seems to be the entire office. So you can’t ever get through to ask a question, and you can expect to play endless phone tag because you have to leave a voicemail that doesn’t get returned for hours or...

Our dog was hit by a car, dislocated leg, arrived at 11pm, wasn’t seen until after 4am. Go somewhere else.

updated next day Yes, I do believe I should’ve provided more information.

Our dog was struck by a car around 7pm on 9/3. We found the nearest emergency animal hospital to be in Wooster on Cleveland Road (excellent, by the way), and took him there for triage. We were seen immediately; two nurses helped us get him onto a gurney, and into their hospital. They gave various meds, an IV, and evaluated him. They kept us updated roughly every 30 min. The care was excellent. Around 9:30pm the vet met with us and explained in lay terms they found a dislocated hip, swelling, and various cuts/scrapes. She was concerned about potential fluid in the abdomen. The vet explained she doesn’t recommend resetting the hip and using a sling to keep it in-place on larger dogs as the success rate is low. She suggested we go to Metro Akron as surgery would be necessary to fix our boy. They then prepped our boy for transport and sent info to Akron.

We arrived to Akron around 11pm, registered at the desk, shared we were referred from Wooster, and explained our understanding of his condition. The gal collected our information and said someone would be outside to help us move our boy shortly. As I walked away I heard the attendant state that she needed help moving a “hit-by-car stat”. This validates the level of care that was determined for our dog and is consistent with the posters that explain level of concern on the wall. On the most elevated level (red/stat) hit-by-car, is one of several examples of a situation that would warrant a red/stat level of concern. I would like to pause to say each individual I met at the hospital was kind. I have no issue with the individuals; they showed compassion and empathy to us and other patients. After check in around 11p, approximately 11:40p a gal came outside to get our dog. She the called for help over the radio and a gentleman brought a gurney. The gal explained they would take him to the back to check vitals. Roughly 30 minutes later she came back to explain they had reused his IV ports and made him comfortable in a cage. As we sat and waited we watched several other families enter. Unfortunately, some left in tears and without words we knew they didn’t get to take their babies home. This was heart breaking. We were fortunate to have an idea ours did not have serious internal injuries but knew he lay in the back with a dislocated leg, an unknown concern regarding fluid in the abdomen, and road rash. As we waited we began seeing some families leave with their pets. Between midnight and 3AM we saw at least four families who arrived after us leave with their pets while ours still lay in the back without an update. Around 3AM (4hrs of waiting) I worked up enough courage to ask if there was a plan to evaluate our boy or if he was being held and monitored in preparation for surgery in the morning. The desk attendant spoke on the radio, the phone rang, and she said they would get to him as soon as possible. Around 4am, my wife went back up and spoke with a different attendant, the gal who first checked us in. We were then seen around 4:15AM. At no time were we rude, aggressive or unkind. During the conversation with the vet, she explained their policy was to start with resetting the hip before surgery, which was unsuccessful. We now have to have surgery, which was explained to us by the Wooster vet. This cost us an additional $1700 because of their “policy”. We waited 5 hrs without update to be sent home while his hip was unsuccessfully reset for which we paid $1700 to be told we now have to pay $8k-$12k to fix it properly, which should’ve been done in the...

We came to this emergency vet clinic last night and we are very taken back by our experience. Our dog was injured at our family’s cabin and required 2-3 stitches paired with sedation, a pain killer, and an antibiotic. The office provided us two quotes as requested; one that detailed the necessary treatment (sedation, stitches, antibiotics, and pain medicine) and a second that would detail all of this, in addition to blood work and a chest X-ray (as strongly recommended because it is the safest thing to do when a patient requires sedation). The doctor caring for our dog was Dr. Symmantha “Symme” Page. She initially came into our room pretty nice and explained the two treatment options to us. A vet tech explained the quote breakdowns to us and we decided to decline further service at this office, as Dr. Page verbally provided a cost estimate of $800 and an additional $500ish if we added the X-ray and bloodwork. The quotes in writing were $1000 and $1800. We could not make sense of the discrepancy and they could not either. We expressed our decision to take our dog to the emergency vet closer to our home, as we had a much better experience here in the past and we did not believe the cost would be near what we received here. His treatment also was not as invasive as we initially anticipated and knew the vet near our home could treat him. Dr. Page then came into the room and her entire demeanor and tone changed, she first seemed like she was coming from a place of concern, only wanting what was best for our dog, and wanted to make sure he received the necessary care tonight. About 10 minutes prior, she basically told us it was not very urgent and that treatment would not be done until approximately 12/12:30 am (we arrived at 7:30). Her story changed and she insisted treatment now needed to be done in the next hour (if we left) and she was “very worried” this would not happen. She also mentioned her pricing was the lowest in the area and that she has a friend who works at the office we planned on taking our dog to, as she worked there in the past. We proceeded to leave and went to the other office. Upon arrival, you must call and let them know you’re here and your reason for the visit. The woman said she “remembered our dog, that his name was very uncommon and stuck with her.” We were here for something very minor approximately a year and eight months ago (and our dog’s name is not that uncommon). We didn’t think too much of it and went in. We were seen by the doctor a few minutes later. She came in and told us the cost and said “he’ll need stitches with sedation. I didn’t take the bandage off yet because I was nervous he’d be bleeding out and it’d make a big mess.” We did also specify that it was barely bleeding anymore when checking him in. We’re not exactly sure how a doctor can confirm the necessary care our dog will need without examining his wound but I’m sure this would make sense in the case she received details about our dog’s injury prior to our arrival. It’s come full circle now, considering that the woman answering the phone “remembered” our dog’s name from so long ago. Dr. Page’s level of professionalism lacks significantly and her petty behavior is something that’ll stay with us. I am floored that she would go to this extent simply because she didn’t receive the outcome she had hoped for. Her behavior confirmed that she was seeking money and not the best interest of our pet. I don’t wish this upon anyone but if you’re searching for an emergency vet, I’d highly recommend passing this one and looking into other options. Outside of Dr. Page, the rest of the staff was sarcastic and not kind, which is truly the last thing you want to deal with when your...