Animal Emergency & Critical Care of Lynchburg — Local services in Lynchburg

On December 6-7 of this year(2024), we took our Golden Retriever here after she had been hit by a car. I regret this and if there is any way on God's earth to take a future pet SOMEWHERE ELSE to be cared for and ultimately put to sleep.....I'll do so. Even if I have to drive to Roanoke. The female Veterinarian on duty this night was the very definition of "fake concerned ". She also was as cold and as calculated as one would expect from a robot, not a human. I feel, and my family feels, that if this is what happens during "burnout", then changes should be made mandatory when it comes to Veterinarian rotation. This review doesn't concern the other staff on duty that night. They were exemplary and very kind. Sincerely, P. Sutphin

In response to this Animal Hospital's answer to my review.

Yes, I've been to this Hospital several times before, and dealt with this doctor before. She has changed. She's become insincere with her answers, robotic, non empathic, and does indeed seem to be running from a script in her head. Shoulder shrugging, talking down to, the staring at you numbly basically telling you (without saying the words) that your only option...is to kill your dog....because they don't give out free x-rays here. I think she has both good and bad nights personally. I did not have the option to use the Care Credit or Scratch Pay, but I did have friends working together through the night to put together money. This doctor let my animal suffer for 4 to 5 hours without making a move except to give her some dirt cheap pain medicine. She grew irritated, impatient, and annoyed when I told her that I didn't have enough information to make her suggested decision to euthanize Bella. This vet called her supervisor because she didn't know what to do with me and Bella. She told me that I HAD to do something because I was taking up a room and had been there so long. She came back with the "apparently" courtesy x-rays offer, to determine Bella's injury. However MAKE NO MISTAKE, my friends called over early the next morning and HAD TO PAY nearly $400 for those x-rays and that syringe full of pentobarbitol to put Bella to sleep. I can understand that tests cost money, but I'm in the animal care industry. AND I think the general public should know that animal lovers leave tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to these emergency animal hospitals. This one in particular has been quite gifted. How do you think these nice expensive brick buildings get built? I know exactly what a pelvic x-ray costs. It is low enough that in EXTREME cases you should simply provide it, or lower its cost and if you have to, write off the expense. You write off everything else. EXTREME being .....do you euthanize a pet, or not. Especially to repeat customers with whom you are going to see thousands of dollars from in the future. It took you all of what..1 minute to look in your computer and see how much of a repeat customer I was? And didn't you guys get your money each time? Without effort or fail? Whether to put a beloved animal to sleep or not seems quite extreme enough for me. I'm sorry about the situation with Veterinarians, but medical doctors have to see things they don't want too as well. Soldiers as well. Actual people suffering and dying. Sometimes it can get to be overwhelming. Easily so. Maybe find some way to give this vet a needed...

I would say my overall experience was good. They saved my dog and I am very grateful for that. However the bedside manner towards owners is awful. My 14yr old dog was having a bad bout of pancreatitis. She was throwing up and refusing to eat and therefore was very weak and lethargic. I had taken her to a regular vet the day before and the next morning she was still throwing up so I called the vet and they referred me here because it was a Friday evening and they did not have the facilities to give her the treatment she needed, which is very understandable. So we headed out there Friday night with the medication and all the paperwork I had from the vet. I knew it was going to be expensive I had begged borrowed and pawned everything I could before going so I would have enough but I still had a budget. After the initial exam (which seemed very short but I understand they are very busy) they wanted to take blood work which was going to be expensive so I offered the results of the blood work I had done the day before at my other vet. I knew they would still have to do it but I was just trying help with what I already had. When I offered it they gave a very condescending look and seemed annoyed. They then asked for any other paperwork I had from the vet which I gladly provided. When the vet came back in with that paperwork in hand she condescendingly read the regular vets notes and then looks at me and said "I don't know what that means" and stared at me blankly. Then picked out a spelling error in the paperwork. I'm sitting here emotionally rattled and stressed and I didn't know what to say. I mean seriously that's how you talk to people. I don't know if she took me offering the other vets results as disrespectful or something but if that's the case you read me wrong lady I was just trying to help get my dog what she needed fast and efficiently and not trying to waste their time. Now I understand they probably deal with jerks all the time and are a Lil hardened but come on now you can't just judge people you don't know. I was there and making the effort so cut me some slack. The next sideways comment came when I was trying to explain that my regular vet had only done one xray because she was trying to give me a discount and stay with in my budget. She then made the comment "yeah you've got to decide how to spend your money" in a very condescending tone. OK I'm sure you guys have heard every sob story in the book about finances but not everyone has a grand to drop out of nowhere. That doesn't mean I don't care about my dog. And again I know I they deal with a lot and I'm very grateful to them for what they did for my dog but I think the way they talk to people could use some work. I know they deal stressful situations constantly but it's not an excuse to treat pet owners so coldly. I hope I never have to take her...

Wife & I took our cat here to be seen on a weekend as they were the only ones open. Seemed nice enough on the phone and we love our cat - so of course we were willing to pay the price for emergency assistance.

We arrived and patiently waited for about an hour, were then placed in a room and told “someone will be with you shortly” (mind you, they already had our cat and took her vitals).

We were in the room alone without our cat and had no updates for over an hour, a nice tech eventually came in and went over pricing in detail. We agreed to the care (of course, who wouldn’t if they had the money?) and in walks Dr. Serocki to update us. She was very loud and bold in both her demeanor and tone of voice, she asked us about any potential stress our cat may have experienced (she was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, potentially caused by a virus that can flare up with stress)… We gave a few possible answers, and Dr. Serocki bellows out a condescending “There it is!!” and swiftly left the room after a passive aggressive “Any questions?”

We asked the next tech that came in if our cat would be okay (hoping she would be more friendly than the clearly stressed veterinarian), and she said something along the lines of “Um, I don’t really know”.

Fast forward to when we went to the front counter, the same tech or volunteer lady came out saying “HE’S not really happy with us right now” (our cat is a female) - holding her carrier lopsided, then my wife and I went over medication with the other woman working at the counter.

I would hope this location works on their compassion for animals and communication with paying customers. It would be prudent to go to any other emergency animal hospital for care unless you need immediate surgery.

Unfortunately - our cat is doing worse now and we called as we were encouraged to (in order to ask questions about a potential reaction to medication). All we heard was that we should bring her back in to be seen again if she’s displaying new symptoms. We certainly won’t be doing that by the way…

Judging off of past reviews, I’m anticipating a defensive and cantankerous reply from these guys.

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