Maitland Animal Hospital — Local services in Maitland

Poor communication. Brought my dog in as a new patient (still searching for a good vet office!) on Friday 4/9 for neuro/ortho issues - severe issues with walking that had rapidly progressed. She had full work up of xrays with radiologist review and blood work and I was told they’d probably have results the next day. Well, they had them late that day based on the date on the diagnostic reports. I expected she’d need to see a neuro specialist and timing is important! I didn’t hear anything - called on Monday 4pm and was told I’d be called back the next day (really- your vet can’t call at the end of day with important results that I should’ve had Saturday?!!). Still didn’t hear back - called back Tues at 11a and finally got a call back from a different vet later that day. When I spoke with the vets they were at least knowledgeable and communicative and I incorporated that in the # of stars. However, the bloodwork also showed pancreatitis. Luckily she had no clinical symptoms but my god If she had and I didn’t get a call back about that bloodwork for 4 days, delaying the dogs treatment that would’ve been terrible! I understand that the vet I saw Friday wasn’t there, but typically when that happens especially with an important case like this one, the vets remain in communication with each other with anticipated diagnostics. This delay in my receipt of information and in referral to the specialist did delay her treatment as by the time they called the only appointment left that week was one we could not do in our otherwise open schedule, so the dog had to wait another 4 days. Once at AVS she received emergency spinal surgery. On top of that, Maitland AH never sent the dog’s chart to AVS! Luckily Maitland AH had at least sent it To me so I was able To provide it (which is how I know they received diagnostic reports on 4/9) to AVS. I emailed Maitland AH to inform them of these delays in hope that it doesn’t happen to a future patient - never heard back. The final straw for me is I called a week ago to refill her anxiety meds and never heard back from them. I worked at an animal hospital for many years so perhaps my expectations are too high, and I know veterinary staff aren’t typically “people persons” but poor time sensitive communication is inexcusable in my opinion. In addition, from my experience and knowledge of costs, I felt theirs were too high. Good thing I didn’t sign up for the membership or whatever they called it haha! Knowing that now, I know where to go next time with similar prices and an excellent reputation. Lengthy post, but bottom line, I hope established clients are treated better at Maitland AH, but it was clear that my dog with an emergent case was...

☆☆☆ATTENTION PEOPLE READ BEFORE YOU GO HERE AND REGRET GOING.☆☆☆ My problem with this place you should be able to take responsibility and we as customer who bring our fur babies here to this place should be able to trust the Veterinarian and tech. I took my cat here September 2, 2017 at 10am. Two months before this visit Dr Nix and Josh(HE WAS KIND AND GREAT WITH MY BABY) took good care of my cat, Dr Nix diagnosed my cat with asthma/allergies. Dr gave her a shot and a few day later she was back as her regular self. This day in particular I brought her to see Dr Lissette R. Esteban because my cat's breathing issue had returned. So the technician Jessica Bedard just had a bad attitude from the start and the other tech Kaylie (I think that's her name) looked scared and look like she didn't want to spend her Saturday working. Dr Esteban right of the bat started by "I don't like what I see" she also gave me 3 diagnosis which it could be cancer, heart murmur or just asthma. She decide that the best thing to do was to give her a shot of depo and some antibiotics just incase if she had an infection going on and she also wrote me a prescription. She also constantly repeated to me "now I have to warned you and prepare you for the worst" meaning she might not make it? She repeated the same thing about 4-6 times just in different ways to the point that she made me tear up. Dr also gave me a card of an emergency clinic just incase if things got worst during labor day weekend she said to take her there. Her breathing was bad before she was given her shots, after leaving this place she was breathing out of her mouth none stop and fast.(I also have 2 videos as proof on my phone which are time stamped before shots and after.)The tech's who gave my cat the shot Jessica she kept on injecting her because the other tech couldn't hold my cat down properly. I took my cat home and she continued to breath out her mouth fast, 3 hours after her appointment she passed away. If Dr Esteban knew that she wasn't going to make it she should of at least let us spend the last few hours with her in peace. She should of just said hey don't waste your money on giving her shorts spend it on getting her cremated if it was to happen, they end up charging me. That same day I had to spend to get her cremated. I could tell that my cat was in pain after giving her those injections. This place is not...

I cannot begin to even express my gratitude to this place. It's so different than any other veterinary clinic or hospital I've ever been to. Not only were every single member of the staff there kind and genuine. Every one of them had a sense of compassion that isn't seen much anymore. You can tell every single person that works there enjoys what they do and the whole place has a family dynamic feel. To the receptionist Britt thank you for your kind words and listen to me ramble while I stressed about how anyone was going to be able to treat my mean kitty, and then you and Kara dog sitting Pascal while Peper got her shots. Being able to trust my dog was in safe hands took off a huge amount of stress from the visit. To the vet tech Daimyan, thank you for making me not feel insane and sharing stories of your cats and that's it's not uncommon for them to be stressed at the vet. Hearing my cat isn't the only one causing a riot helped a lot. Your compassion within your practice showed and it's no wonder you do what you do. Your way with animals and calm demeanor really helped the visit go smoothly.

My most important Thanks goes to Dr. Basso. I physically cannot describe how grateful I am towards you. I was probably acting more insane than my cat, and honestly the fact that you most likely took more time to calm me down and really talk me through everything and make me feel like my fur baby was in a safe space, and you understood and explained to me why she was acting that way. It really just blew my mind. I feel like a lot of times people just want to go,go,go. The patience and understanding you had is not seen often. You truly have a gift the fact you were even able to give her shots blew my mind. You were gentle, calm, and so in tune with not only Peper's feeling but my anxiety too. You gave options about plan of care and had a great sense of kindness. Only veterinarian that is allowed to take care of my babies from now on.😂 But in all seriousness you were such a big help in more ways than one, thank you so much.

I had such an amazing experience with every single person I interacted with here. Thank you guys so much for taking care of my furbabies❤️

& don't worry Pepper is doing fine she walked right out of her carrier when we got home and flopped right down to her favorite...