Furever Family Animal Hospital — Local services in Maitland

My 4 year old dachshund has been a patient of Dr. Armstrong's for a little over the past year. My dachshund is incredibly sweet and friendly to people she knows and is comfortable around, but she can sometimes struggle around strangers. My dog's "stranger fear/aversion" can make it difficult to take her to the vet sometimes. However, Dr. Armstrong and her team are incredibly patient and kind with my dog, and they always say she did a great job after every appointment! During our last wellness appointment, we were even able to remove her muzzle and have her walking freely around the exam room to explore. This was a big deal for our little family! Dr. Armstrong is extremely intelligent, educated, and up to date on the current veterinary practices and science. She always takes the time to answer all of my questions and helps me weigh my options. A different vet practice we attended (before Furever Family) scared me away from getting the Lepto vaccine for my dog because of possible risks. Dr. Armstrong worked through those risks with me, addressed them honestly, and helped me understand how the newer Lepto vaccinations work. Because of the time she spent educating me about the Lepto vaccination and how it has advanced over time, we opted to vaccinate our dachshund for Lepto again. Dr. Armstrong helped me prepare a plan for what I should do in case my dog did still have a reaction, but luckily, my dog was completely safe and had no reaction whatsoever. Dr. Armstrong is very knowledgeable and so very patient with anxious pet parents, like myself. As for costs, I'll be up front - I would pay whatever it costs to make sure my dog gets quality medical care. That being said, I know that everyone has a different budget when it comes to care for their pets. I find Furever Family to be extremely cost effective and well-priced compared to other practices in the Maitland/Winter Park/Orlando area. They offer great pet plans that you should definitely consider looking into. We are now into our second year on a pet plan, and it has been a great experience! I've seen a few reviews on here that mention high prices or pushy tactics, and I just want to say that has NEVER been the case during any of our visits over the last year or more. All of the prices have been extremely reasonable given the market costs in the area, and I have NEVER felt pressured into purchasing any services, grooming, or food/treats. As someone who gets very anxious, I would definitely remember if I ever felt pressured or uncomfortable while at Furever Family, and I can assure you I have always felt like I was simply being given all of my options. I never felt like I was being forced to buy something. Dr. Armstrong has even told us previously when she didn't think a certain test or service (in our case, we asked about allergy testing) was worth the large price tag that was attached. Overall, our experience for the last year at Furever Family has been excellent. They are kind, gentle, and thorough with our dachshund, and Dr. Armstrong is a pleasure to work with. We love Furever Family, and I can't recommend this...

Another vet in the Maitland that seems to prioritize profit over pet care.

The first time we brought our dog in, she was sicker than she'd ever been, vomiting for multiple days in a row. FFAH takes a look at her and then sends a pro forma invoice for $7-800 for a litany of procedures and medicines, including probiotics and acupuncture among other things. There was no delineation of what is actually needed ,they apparently just employ the "kitchen sink" approach to pet care, so now I have to do my own research to determine what I think is actually necessary. This is akin to taking my child into the pediatrician and they give me a laundry list of potential items rather than actually diagnosing the problem and addressing it directly. I expect my healthcare/vet provider to be the one to make the decision on what is actually needed and not add onto the additional stress of having a sick family member. My dog thankfully got better as we decided to give her some of the antibiotics they offered; we ended up paying $132/$800 original bill.

I decided to move on from this incident as I hoped this was just a one time thing where they seemingly tried to take advantage of my family in a vulnerable position. The next time I take her in for a nail trimming. They then come out with a pro-forma invoice that's 3 times what I expected it to be because they had added-on optional procedures like ear cleaning and anal gland expression. I informed them I was just there for the nail cleaning, and also expressed later on that their pushy sales model isn't one that I like. After some back and forth, they expressed that it was their policy to push and peddle these extra procedures and even though I specifically requested they not do this to me, it was their strict policy. The reason given was that Dr. Armstrong is trying to 'protect her practice' by offering these extra items. I responded that Dr. Armstrong is trying to protect her pocketbook, not her practice as no one can get mad at a vet for not offering probiotics, acupuncture, or ear cleanings every visit. Rather than keeping a customer by listening to a simple request, they would rather continue this aggressive sales policy universally, even though they wouldn't have gotten any additional revenue from me on these procedures. Bizarre strategy to say the least.

Note I would be fine with them asking "hey do you want an ear cleaning or anything else", but to add it on to my bill is a clear guilt trip for ppl who don't want to do those procedures. It may be a good short term strategy as it puts customers under a lot of pressure to deny procedures that they aren't sure if their pet needs or not, but I don't imagine it will be a good long term strategy that engenders trust...

As loyal customers of Furever Family since 2020, we were shocked recently to hear that our dog’s Preventative Care Plan had not been renewed, without any advance notice. While the contract states that the owner must give written notice to cancel the policy, there is no mention in the contract about the procedures involved if Furever Family cancels the policy.

As a courtesy, we should have been informed by letter, email, or phone call. This is a common practice to inform clients when a policy cancellation is imminent. Unfortunately, we only found out when we initiated the phone call to make the dog’s regular exam appointments with the technician on duty. When inquiring about the reason for the cancellation, the technician offered the following explanation: the doctor/owner said that we had made too many complaints about our dog’s care. We asked for clarification as a good pet owner, inquiring about our dog’s examinations and bloodwork. To remain a client at Furever Family, it seems that the pet owner must never question Dr. Armstrong.

In order to understand Dr. Armstrong’s reasoning, I asked to speak with her directly. An appointment was made for an in-person visit and then a few minutes later I received a phone message from the doctor explaining that she would not meet with me, that our dogs were too old to remain with the plan, that we had complained too often about our dog’s care, and that the clinic was not a good fit for us. Dr. Armstrong then said that our contract was cancelled and we would have to pay out-of-pocket for our expenses.

Since the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets UR Dry dog food, was prescribed by the doctor, the ingredients have made our dogs vomit. Dr. Armstrong gave us no other options, except to give the dogs a Tagamet tablet. We can only surmise that one of the reasons for the doctor’s lack of flexibility on this issue was her alliance with the pet company. It was also difficult to understand Furever Family's prescription process. Dr. Armstrong was very hostile when we asked for clarification on her methods. We won’t go through the whole summary here. For a client’s similar experience with this process, see the review in Yelp by SK on 1/10/23.

Cancelling our insurance without any advanced notice was a vindictive way for Dr. Armstrong to get rid of us. As explained earlier, our questions to the doctor about our dog’s care were categorized as complaints. She would then become very defensive and say that we could always find another vet. And now we have found another veterinary clinic, a facility where all our inquiries are welcomed, without all the issues we encountered at...