Pet Central Animal Hospital — Local services in Minneapolis

Buckle up - this train wreck tale will be a long one. Two weeks back we brought our dog in for a neuter and shots - I will say that the doctor herself was GREAT. However, the rest of the staff is a dumpster fire. One that burns bright.

Upon checking in for surgery, we waited at the counter for greater than ten minutes. No one even looked up to say hello. The person checking us in was abrupt but I assumed it was just a busy day and let it go. The positive interaction with the vet outweighed the lack of common courtesy.

We made an appointment to come back for suture removal today 8/12 at 10 AM. Not sure if that was a misspoken statement or what but I was told 10 AM. (this is relevant later) I then walked over to the groomers annex and asked for a grooming appointment to follow. A girl with aqua blue hair assured me 10:15 would allow time to get the sutures out and I'm handed an appointment card.

Fast forward to today - 8/12/22. We arrive at 9:57 for our 10 AM suture removal. I stand and wait to check in. Six minutes pass before even ONE person looks up and says "be right with you"... seeing a pattern? I am growing frustrated, but I wait.

As I am waiting and my son is holding the dog, a female comes out of the groomers area, walks past me and starts talking to my son, telling him they may not be able to take his dog for grooming. WHY ARE WE TAKING THIS TO THE CHILD? So irritating. He was like a deer in headlights and I say "I'm right here." She turns and repeats they may not be able to take the dog. It was 10:03 AM - I have an appointment card for 10:15 grooming, I told the girl this. I am so unimpressed with this chaos. She looks confused and goes back in grooming area.

FINALLY we are checked in for suture removal at 10:04 and I'm told the appointment was for 9 AM. I told the desk girl - "No, it was for 10 with 10:15 grooming". She looks confused and I realize that she has a different time than I was told. She says its okay and to wait a few moments.

While waiting for them to take dog back for suture removal, I go into grooming to find out what is going on because I have the appointment card that says 10:15. They claim it was for an hour earlier. As I start to speak, I'm cut off by agua-haired girl each time. I would get 2/3 of a sentence out before she would cut me off. I get the card out that SHE handed me at scheduling and she claims it wasn't her. Zero ownership. It didn't have to be that way - ownership and an apology would have gone a long way. She tried to say someone else gave me the appointment card and just kept cutting me off. After giving me a dissertation on how she made the appointment for an earlier time, now a mystery ghost just handed me this card? Even if I had been wrong and not had the appointment card - WHO CUTS OFF A PERSON WITHOUT LETTING THEM SPEAK?

In the end when I have had it, I tell her she's being rude by not letting me speak or finish talking and that I am not happy and she hops out and runs out. Zero accountability. Zero apology for her lack of listening and talking over me and interrupting. Clearly she values not taking accountability over all else.

The office manager approaches me a few moments later. She's nice and says they will groom him, but by now it is not an issue of getting the dog groomed but of the chaos on their part and lack of courtesy and ownership. After how I was treated by the groomer, there is no way I would leave my dog there to be potentially treated with the same lack of regard or accountability displayed. I can't trust a person with our baby who doesn't listen. Goodness knows how she would have interacted with him. I fear there would have been retaliation against him and that his services would be impacted.

My total two weeks ago was 788$. Today's total would likely have been close to $80 with tip. I intended to make an appointment for our second animal's shots which would have brought us close to $1k invested in under 30 days. We will take that investment elsewhere. It's a shame my pet is losing a good doctor/vet because of a...

I normally don’t take the time to review things because I’m a busy mom, but hopefully this review helps someone when looking for a new vet. I was excited when I moved to Northeast Minneapolis and found a vet so close to home. My relationship with Pet Central seemed ok at first. The vet I worked with was pleasant and offered some ideas for training my dog with separation anxiety. They also let me sneak in the back door because my dog doesn’t do well with other dogs. Unfortunately my biggest complaint is with the front desk staff. They are rude and way too busy, which makes them highly unorganized. Every time I go in there, there’s a very long wait. One time I waited at the front desk for 30 minutes to pick up a thyroid medication that needs to be filled frequently. They were busy small talking with other people while my baby was crying. Then when they finally didn’t have anyone in front of them they buried their face in the computer and I couldn’t get their attention letting them know I just need to pick something up quick. They could’ve at least said, “I’ll be with you shortly,” but I got no response. Rude! I couldn’t stand the wait times anymore so I decided to get the prescriptions filled at Costco. It was a little less convenient but WAY cheaper to go that route. When I called they told me to have Costco fax in a fill request to them because they weren’t willing to call the prescription in to Costco (my old vet did this no problem!). I did just that, but then when Pet Central didn’t get the prescription to Costco I ended up calling to find out what happened. The receptionist told me that I had to come pick up a physical copy of the prescription because they don’t except faxed requests! What?! Then another time I had taken my dog to get her nails trimmed at Petco when they informed me that her rabies vaccine was expired and weren’t willing to trim the nails without a vaccine. A few months before that I brought my dog in to Pet Central while I was 9 months pregnant and asked them to take care of all my dog’s needs so I wouldn’t have to bring her in for a while with a new baby. At that visit they found out my dog has Lymes disease, did additional blood work, and started treating her right away. They must have gotten distracted with the Lymes diagnosis and forgot to give her a rabies vaccine. I just assumed they did it since I asked them too. I left with a giant bill but was at least happy to get my dog treated for the Lymes. When I called a few months later to inquire about the rabies vaccine the receptionist told me they had to charge an office visit along with the price of the vaccine. I asked if they could waive the fee since they were supposed to do it at the last visit and I just had my dog in there. They told me they would need to talk to the vet and get back to me. Well they never got back to me so I called a few days later. The same thing happened...no call back, and on top of that the receptionist was rude and said, “the office visit is only $15, it’s not that big of a deal.” Well it’s a big deal to me! Especially when I already paid the office fee and everything else. I can’t believe I gave them that many chances, but that pushed me over the edge. I’m getting a new vet. I don’t care if I have to drive a little farther. If you’re a busy clinic and charge higher prices the way Pet Central does, good customer service goes a long ways in my opinion. Instead their prices are way too high, have long wait times, rude staff, and don’t call back when they say they will. Those are only a couple of my bad experiences with their front desk staff. I have plenty more. I’m done wasting my time...

Edit: I’ve spoken with Pet Central and want to amend my review per that conversation. I’m going to move the rating to a 3 because of the professionalism in the phone call. Blood work was done, but not communicated to me and the invoice didn’t clearly call it out for a layman. All other concerns were advised with more detail and I felt they took it seriously.

We’ve decided to find a new vet for both our dogs. After roughly 15 years and 4 dogs, the quality of care has rapidly deteriorated.

Today, my eldest dog needed her annual checkup. Vet tech comes and takes my dog to the back. Didn’t explain why, but later were giving her shots, cool. They bring her back drenched in alcohol. She was shaking it off all over the room. The vet comes in, checks her teeth and listens to her heart. Then pops some more shots. It didn’t dawn on me until after I left that blood work was never drawn. She’s an 11 year old dog, with IVDD. Secondly, the vet mentions tartar on the left side of her mouth and explains the concern as to why, which makes sense. The problem is this is the first time I’ve heard about this is the 8 years I’ve had my dog.

In the middle of 2024, I brought the same dog in for a leg injury. Spoke with the doctor and was advised it’s the Achilles and she needs surgery and was advised on when I can set it up. I got a second opinion, which did not agree that she needed immediate surgery, that it could get worse though without lifestyle changes.

Our other male dog has terrible allergies. We’ve had him on apoquel for several years, but 2024 was a terrible year for his allergies and the medication was simply not working. Concerned about infection on his paws, we brought him in. Everything is fine, no infection. We asked about 2 pills of apoquel a day and the vet was adamant that this was dangers for the dog and absolutely not to do it. The bs meter again went off in our heads so we headed over to a dermatologist.

The dermatologist was well worth the money and our dog is now on a new medication that is cheaper. BUT they were quite clear that they put dogs on 2 pills of apoquel all the time and outlined what steps need to be taken for risks that can arise.

Pet Central also never advised us that there is a rebate on apoquel, we had to find this out from the dermatologist.

Long story short, we simply can’t trust Pet Central anymore. It really just feels like a money grab where they can compared to...