Russell Ridge Animal Hospital — Local services in Lawrenceville

After over 10 years in the care at Russell Ridge Animal Hospital, our sweet Pepper has crossed the rainbow bridge, and it's time that I reviewed the vet that took such care of her in that time. Russell Ridge was our vet back when Pepper was young and healthy, and also when she was elderly with a lot of medical problems. Through 10 years, Pepper had 3 tumor removals here, her spay, and a hospital stay for pancreatitis. At the end of her life, she also had a collapsed trachea, a heart murmur, hearing and vision loss, and arthritis. So you can say we've seen every side of Russell Ridge together.

If I were to briefly sum up all of my experience here, it would be this: "genuinely caring; pricey, but quality care, most of the time." As far as the vets here, I've liked them all, but they all have their own "styles" of practicing, and I did have my preferences.

Dr. Hines has excellent bedside manner, and explains things really well. You can tell she genuinely cares about the pets she sees and she's so likable. She was Pepper's main vet for about 6 years here. However, her treatment plans weren't always how I'd personally prefer. Sometimes it felt like she examined symptoms on physical exam and prescribed a treatment without doing any kind of further diagnostics. This worked out well most of the time, and 90% of the time, did fix the issue, but unfortunately the one time that it didn't, it caused Pepper to permanently lose about 70% of her hearing because the treatment did not help her ear infection. Dr. Hines genuinely is a wonderful vet, and I won't go into further detail on that incident, because she is genuinely great, however, after this we did switch to Dr. Yee in this practice.

There's literally nothing I can say that describes how wonderful Dr. Yee is!! He is so thorough and explains things VERY thoroughly! Does not dumb down anything and will go full medical terminology with you, which I love. Absolutely will want to do every diagnostic test before prescribing, which I also love, but it's expensive for sure. (I definitely doubled my per-visit expenditure when switching from Hines to Yee) However, something that made me appreciate him all the more... when Pepper was nearing the end of her life, he recommended an additional test for her before prescribing Lasix (she had previously had injections which helped), and I told him to please just give her Lasix to make her more comfortable, and we were not interested in more testing, as we knew we didn't have much time left with her. He respected that decision and didn't fight me on it. That meant the world to me and I can't really even describe why. I guess it was the sense that he trusted what I was telling him. It meant so much. We will continue to see Dr. Yee with our other dog, Bodie.

While Dr. Hines and Dr. Yee were are two main vets, we have also seen Dr. Evans, Dr. Williams, and Dr. Connor. Dr. Williams and Dr. Connor are both equally sweet, and Dr. Connor is very thorough. Dr. Evans is an excellent surgeon too.

Also their vet techs and customer service reps are just simply wonderful people. Out of probably hundreds of interactions I've had with them, I can remember one single bad experience with them, and it's not even worth getting into here because it was one single time. In particular, Olivia, Jennifer C, Janelle, and Kristin have helped us so much and taken such good care of us and Pepper throughout the years and truly make us feel welcome at Russell Ridge.

My only regret is that Pepper couldn't have crossed the rainbow bridge here. She began having trouble breathing one evening literally minutes after Russell Ridge closed. We did everything we could to help her make it through to the morning, but ultimately decided around 2am that it was her time, and took her to the emergency vet to say our goodbyes. I wish it could have been here. But that's how things are sometime.

Our other dog Bodie will continue to see Dr. Yee here at Russell Ridge. Expensive, sure, but Russell Ridge is why I got pet insurance for my other dog when he...

We have a new pup and we wanted to become established patients with this clinic. The first time we came, the doctor was nice - she treated our pup for worms and all was fine. The second time was a different story, however. Our pup was scheduled for vaccines (we wanted to give him a third dose of distemper+parvo and they agreed on the phone to administer the rabies vaccine as well). The doctor (a male vet this time) was at first reluctant about administering the rabies vaccine (even though the pup is a large breed and he is 12 weeks old), then he agreed to do it, but then he started arguing with me about the Bordetella vaccine. I am still unsure what his problem was - I explained to him that I want my pup to be ready for training and for meeting friends at the dog park, and I agreed with the administration of the the Bordetella vaccine, yet the doctor kept saying that I do not want it. I had to tell him over and over again that I agree with the vaccination, but he kept contradicting me. Eventually, he left the examination room angrily and did not provide any explanation about anything else.

The entire conversation gave me the feeling that he was just trying to force as many things as possible on me to ramp up the bill. I did not say anything because I want the best for my pup, and I still thought this was a serious practice.

After that, the technician took the pup in the back room supposedly administering him the vaccine, and then she brought him back asking me to pay. I paid the full amount on the spot as I was not given an itemized receipt in the clinic. When I got home, I checked the itemized receipt I received by email, and to my surprise, it said that I "declined" several vaccines and that they gave my pup preventive medicine. I do not recall specifically declining anything except the flu vaccine, which I find unnecessary. I was just trying to give my puppy the needed core vaccines.

However, I did not understand what type of "preventive medicine," I was charged for, so I called back to inquire about it. It turned out that my pup received nothing. They charged me for flea, tick, and heartworm medication (and now they are urging me to go back to get the heartworm meds), but they did not give him anything at all. And as if this was normal, I did not even receive an apology for the mistake. They say they will reimburse me, but it is obvious that they would have kept the money if I did not call back. I am now left wondering what else on that list they "forgot" to give my pup. Is he even vaccinated?

Also, they became very argumentative when I mentioned that I want to buy the pup's preventive medication from chewy. They said that they would not send in the prescription to chewy, and that I would have to come pick it up in person, mail it to chewy, etc. Basically, they just want to make it so hard for me to order cheaper medication elsewhere, so I would buy only from them.

I never expected this kind of treatment - to be overcharged and dismissed as a customer. When I mentioned my intention to buy from chewy, they told me to search for other animal hospitals. I think I might just do that.

I do not...

Dr. Miller and the staff of Russell Ridge Animal Hospital were a God send in the treatment of my pup Lady.

I brought her to them after an abnormality was detected in her colon as I didn't want to use Blue Perl- RR came highly recommended. Lady turned out to have the beginning stages of Colorectal cancer. Dr. Miller quickly got her into surgery to remove the mass & sacrificed much of his own time and energy in researching treatments and chemotherapy for my beloved pet.

With their help, she was able to live 12 months from her original diagnosis, until eventually succumbing to complications from a second tumor that appeared in her bladder that was inoperable.

Myself and Lady were always treated with the utmost respect, kindness, and highest level of care & the staff was always a call away for any questions or issues that came about. Treating a disease like this is by no means affordable at any Vet, but for the quality of treatment received I truly believe RR provided the best value available in Georgia for what my dog needed- and did their best to give breaks where they could with treatment.

It is never easy dealing with terminal illness of a family member, which ultimately dogs are- but Russell Ridge, Dr. Miller, and Dr. Stevens along with their technicians and staff allowed me to find peace in knowing that we tried everything possible and maintained quality of life until her final days.

Complete with a fully stocked surgical suite, laser therapy apparatus, state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, and being open during weekends- Russell Ridge is the best possible vet for your pet and they truly care about your animals. They will take the time to counsel you on what your options are & share in your wins and losses.

I cannot recommend them enough for anybody in Atlanta/Lawrenceville area or drivable distance for regular veterinary services, or the treatment of terminal illness or advanced disease. They will do absolutely everything within their power to ensure that your loved animal is comfortable and healthy- and while sometimes an animal can only fight so much- they will be right there fighting with them.

They are now, and will continue to be my vet of choice and I am beyond grateful for everything they've done to help in a difficult time for my little...