East Valley Veterinary Clinic — Local services in Salt Lake City

Friendly, Negligent, and Unaccountable.

Those are the three words I'd use to describe this place. It's taken me months to write this review, I'm still deeply upset about what happened to my dog when we took him in for what should have been a routine dental in January.

We came home from work to discover our 10 year old Pug had a swollen cheek, we immediately took him to an emergency vet who assumed it was an abscess tooth and to get him to a dental vet ASAP and sent us home with antibiotics and some pain meds.

Since we couldn't get an quick appointment with our normal vet and after reading reviews and calling around we setup an ASAP dental with East Valley since they could get us in as soon as possible.

When we dropped him off they explained they would be doing x-rays and blood work before the procedure - fair enough - I requested with the vet tech they call me if there any issues or complication, at this point we still have not spoken with the actual vet.

I receive a call around 1 pm, the vet excitedly tells me he doesn't have an abscess tooth, just a cut in his mouth - great news I thought - but she gave him a cleaning went ahead and removed two other teeth anyway...

We pick him up and he's out of it, he's now on 2 25mg doses of Rimadyl (AKA dog poison) along with more antibiotics. Over the next 4 days he can barely walk/jump on the couch and his back legs are shaking.

We schedule a checkup/follow up there and finally meet the vet (Dr. Lynette) who was friendly but seemed more interested in selling us more medication than figuring out what was going on (We end up getting double charged on this visit for the initial surgery) she checked his reflexes and waved some treats in front of his face to see if he could see or had difficulty seeing - seemed strange but I didn't want to question her exam - she said he might have a back issue and we should get him in for another X-ray soon and to keep giving him his Rimadyl, Antibiotics and now his insanely over-priced steroid eye drops.

Fast forward a couple days and our dog is blind - totally blind. And his back legs are still wobbly - I do some research online and immediately cease giving him the Rimadyl which solves the wobbly legs/arched back issue immediately - but his eyes are completely done when they were fine before.

My gal immediately takes him back there and the vet has no clue what happened and from what I gathered was trying to pass this off as a fluke accident. She pawned us off on her buddy at the EyeCareCenter on 3300 south who charged us $160 to tell us they wanted to run some tests on him for $300 more...on a damage control call made to me after this shitshow Dr. Lynette (in a very friendly manner) still refused to take any accountability for the issue(s) that were clearly a result of this UNNECESSARY surgery and the medication overkill afterwards.

To sum it up - I've spoken extensively with his primary vet and a couple others after the fact and they all agreed that: 1. we should have been contacted with at least a courtesy call BEFORE to let us know they wanted to remove more teeth and charge us $400 more for doing so and 2. that he was on way too much rimadyl for his size and/or the prednisone he was taking for his collapsed trachea may have reacted to the meds he was prescribed and could have caused the blindness if the tooth extractions didn't.

Our Pug refused to go on walks or exercise after he lost his sight, he was too afraid to go on walks. His health rapidly deteriorated due to his lack of activity and the increased weight accelerated his trachea collapsing, we spent a small fortune keeping him going for the next 6 months but his trachea finally gave out and he was put to sleep in July.

I fully believe this could have all been avoided if we would have taken him to a vet who actually cared as much about their patients and they do about cheerily...

I want to start by saying, that other than one thing I will get into later in my review, this place is 5 stars hands down. They got me in same week for just a general wellness checkup. Super clean, the staff are so nice and knowledgeable. It all went very quick but thorough and attentive. They were simply efficient. My sweetheart kitty can be feisty if handled and moved by strangers, especially when stressed, but Dr Kelly handled her so well, where kitty didn’t even flinch! Dr Kelly was also very knowledgeable, explained things well, and understood that its not necessary to jump to expensive testing and specialist visits and medications right off the bat for something that could have a simple solution. I felt totally comfortable in her care. I have only owned one other cat, and the few times we took him to the vet my ex handled all that, and usually my fosters just go to the vet at the shelter, so this world of private vet care is new to me, but everyone was awesome.

Now. The reason I deduct stars... I chose these guys over another vet just as close and just as well rated because of a promo they had on their website, of new patients having their first exam free. Being a new professional with student loans, I’ll save what I can. I mentioned the ad when I made my appointment on the phone and when checking in. When checking out, I was charged $27. I asked the staff checking me out, who was the same person I checked in with and reminded of the coupon I wanted to use, if that was including the free exam coupon, and she said yes. I wasn’t going to argue because $27 is still a great deal, but it makes me nervous for this reason: If something as simple as an exam, their definition of “free” is a $27 charge, if/when there’s a case where I need more extensive care or testing for fur baby, is there going to be jerking me around with the price, or a higher price than other care providers? I did have a question of my kitty’s snotty nose, but that didn’t require Dr Kelly to do any sort of examination outside of what she already did. There was no fine print on their ad of “does not include x-y-z”... its just the lack of transparency or straight forwardness that worries me in the future. If it had been a different week, I may not have had that money, because I didn’t budget $27 for a free vet exam! Its possible there was a misunderstanding about which coupon I meant, even though theres only one in their website and I emphasized FREE exam while booking and checking in, or that if I argued I could have “won” and not been charged, but thats not who I am, I just expect a “free exam” to be, well, free. This combined with the two staff members trying to figure out some financial thing about another patient and if/what they paid while I was at the counter waiting to check out, makes me nervous of their organization and marketing and financial methods.

I may try another vet out or drive a little further to the vet my foster coordinator suggested, just to shop around, but I did...

This was the best Vet experience I have ever had. The medical and office staff were amazing and I will never go to another vet. I can't say enough about how they truly touched my heart today. After calling multiple vets, they were the only ones that made sure my dog was able to be seen. They actually cared about what was going on with my life and went above and beyond to be helpful and kind. They were even able to give me a price estimate (which no other vet was willing to do) and came in way below. In fact I have never had a vet bill be so low with the services that were done today. I will be forever grateful for the assistance they provided. I've never had a vet that checked in and made you fully aware of what was going on procedure wise. We received two phone calls to make sure we knew what needed to happen and get our approval. I receive 3 very warm and friendly status update texts, with a point of contact and encouraging me to reach out if I had any questions. They even called and texted me to see when my dog was able to come in since there was delay in us getting there. That just never happens in the medical community and it just shows how much they care. My dog is not the best patient. Everywhere I have taken him (vets/grooming) say what a handful he is. Everyone on staff knew his name, said how great he was and they were loving on him all day, that honestly made me cry. This included staff that were not working on his case, but just wanted to show him love. Because of how his behavior has been communicated to me in the past I have always had a hard time taking him anywhere, and I've been ashamed of this. To know that this staff loves dogs no matter what and does not shame the dog or the owner, and makes the dog as comfortable and feeling safe in a stressful time is just outstanding. Again, thank you so much to the staff and please if you haven't tried this facility you will be so...