If you have an emergency when the regular vet is closed you will not have much of a choice of where to go for your beloved pet. Be prepared to be significantly over charged for your pets care at a time when you are most vulnerable.
–Warren B.
Although there is some ER facilities and they are staffed 24/7 this would be more accurately called a surgery center and ER snake bite assistance. We have two dogs in for surgery; one knee and one ear but done by Dr. Beatrix Nanai. As adaption fosters, we try hard to give the dogs the best chance we can; to which we are very happy with the surgery results and post op information. BUT a little tied of the “holier than thou” attitude with basic care.
Staff is congenial but will lie to you. Do some basic research about the procedure/Meds for you pet and don’t let them BS you. In our case it was Brittany telling me that Dr. Nanai was “uncomfortable” letting me given IM antibiotic shots. This translates to ‘you’re too stupid, we’re the only one able to give shot’. I guess diabetics and hormone user are “too stupid”. Then it was “If something happens, it’s on us.” Thirdly, it was “we don’t like to give out shots to anyone outside the industry”. Implies Stupid, again. Forth excuse, It’s against Clinic policy to give out shots. This was the best lie of them all because two weeks earlier, my wife was standing at their reception counter next to a lady picking up injectables for her dog from this clinic. Which is it guys!??
Additionally, this is an up-charge to the Max clinic; just like a human ER. For the second dogs surgery, I told them we had all the post op equipment from the first (e-collar, etc.) They still charged me for all the post op items for the second dog because they were “single use item.”
BEFORE they do anything, you will get an “estimate of care” that you MUST pay before being seen. Expect your final bill to be 10-20% higher, payment due immediately (I guess they will hold your pet hostage until paid).
Regardless, they provide some specialized services that you can’t get close to home. It’s a 2-hour drive to get to them and they still talk to me like “what do you mean you can’t just swing by 1-2 times a day for dog shots?” Because I have to work to pay your high fees…Duh?!
Again, generally happy with the surgery results but if I could get these surgery options elsewhere, I would NEVER use the VERC again. I’m willing to pay you for your surgery expertise, but drop the “Holier than thou” routine. Shots are just shots (IV, IM, IQ). If you want to ensure I know how to administer shot before you send them home with me…fine. Once I have, keep it in my file and stop up-charging for simple procedures.
Special Note to the VERC Drs. And staff:
WE ARE NOT STUPID AND YOU ARE NOT OMNIPOTENT!!!!!!
–T.D.
My daughter had to take her Golden there after she was struck by a car after hours. Wouldn’t do xrays until a $900 deposit was paid. Then told us she needed to be hospitalized for IV’s and care overnight. Total cost would be approximately $2500 plus if anything else was to be done. We could either pay before we left or could take our dog home. If we left her there without paying the remainder, they would call the police for abandonment. I was livid. Their primary concern is money first and then we will take care of your pet after you show me the money. Unbelievable that they have this racquet going on. –Sandra N
As a skilled, ER TRAUMA NURSE, I’ve never seen such a lack of care, empathy, and negligence!
Whether you’re a dog, cat, or human the same standards of care apply.
A,B,C’s. Airway, breathing, circulation. BASIC, BASIC ..skills ALL medical staff are trained from beginning, utill end.
You don’t need to be a vet, or a tech to be able to see your pet is distressed, or sick or youd not be there right!
My dog was CLEARLY struggling to breathe, he was tachy (fast breathing) why atm wasn’t clear but he needed OXYGEN & quickly. He was also extremely dehydrated as he had projectile diarhea, and vomiting.
With my background & researching, I gathered he’d swallowed ocean water and was showing symptoms of toxicity, and possible indigestion of water to his lungs (ocean).
-I WAS CORRECT (Upated).
The tech stated she was taking my dog in the back to do his vitals.
Over 45 minutes later, where is my dog? I went to the front desk asking? I also asked if they were busy, I know the waiting area was empty, but I did see one other person with their dog in a room.
I was told, their not busy.
At this point after 30 more minutes I asked again where my dog was, the same original tech came back in my room without my dog, I said where is he, I assumed the vet and techs were working on him-that would be the NORMAL thing to do here, ISN’T THAT WHAT AN ER’S JOB IS, TO SAVE LIVES???]
She goes to tell me in a cage, no vet nobody has seen him yet, and tells me my dogs vitals are NORMAL!
Is this tech blind, hard of hearing, or just lazy and never took his vitals, because when I took his respirations they were well up into the 150 breathes per min!
I demanded the VET & NOW! And my dog back in my room! I told her to tell the vet my dog had obvious signs of respiratory distress and needed to be put on oxygen & IV therapy STAT!
The way it works is like this..if the tech isnt competent about the vitals (brutally importort) the patient can DIE. The Dr checks the patients chart & trusts the tech is qualified enough to take simplex vitals, if the vet sees there NORMAL the pet is triage to a lower level of care now because this lazy tech LIED on this pets chart- NEGLIGENCE
The vet walks in over and hour and thirty min later, ADMITS THE DOG.. I’m biting my tongue because it’s the ONLY PET ER in Pensacola!!!
So they WILL NOT TOUCH THE PET for treatment until thousands of dollars are paid UPFRONT!
IDK ANY ER anywhere that does this, meanwhile your dog is dying & they dont care- ZERO RESPECT, ZERO EMPATHY, ZERO STARS IF I COULD GIVE THEM!
You are also NOT ALLOWED TO SEE YOUR DOG, CALL TO FiND OUT HOW your dog is until 5 a.m! I’ve never seen such of a heartless place in my life of 35 years of working in the ER.
I later found out the person who vishiously attacked me on the phone claiming she is a nurse, for just asking questions, is NOT A NURSE AT ALL, she’s just another disqualified tech.
I will be contacting the STATE to file several complaints agaisnt this facility!
I should get back, not only the $200 for POOR CARE -BUT the $99.00 walk in fee! what vitals were taken? ZERO.
If you can avoid this place like the plaque, GO ELSEWHERE because your waiting time as you can see from dozens & dozens of other negative reviews show an estimated time wait if 1-3 hours! –Jacqueline D
the fees are outrageous and the bedside manner isn’t much better. If he wasn’t massively suffering I’d awaited to till regular business hours –Jeff C
If I had come here and read the reviews first. My rough collie got shot by someone in m neighborhood. Keep in mine he is a very sweet dog and not agressive. So I call this clinic desesperantes. We got there almost at 9pm. Before I went and called them and explain my financial situation. They told me just come bring him. When we got there I thought they were going to help my dog. To make it short they kept us for around 3 hours(I guess that’s their magic number for what I read in here in the reviews) they told me I had 2 options 1. Pay $2,000 for the night stay for cleaning the wounds and X-rays was $200 additional. Or pay $300 and something for them to clean his wounds and some meds to take home. I apply to care credit and I got denied…. which I knew it was going to happen but they kept pushing me to apply. Then they kept coming in and out giving me different prices. Even a shot for him not to throw up and they kept making excuses. Then they asked me well how much money you have? Like really? To make it short I paid $95 just for a consult and they didn’t do anything to my poor dog . Spent 3 hours there and $95 just to hear something I already knew. They didn’t even cleaned his wounds. They are there just for the money and to take advantage of people who are suffering and desespérate for their fur babies. –Catherine V
Horrible place and staff !! You are better risking and taking your dog to vet next business hours ! –Sarah E
I just called about how to figure out what to do about a naked mole rat. I asked how we could get it back into the wild. And this “compassionate” person tells me to let nature take its course. She said she didn’t mean to sound harsh but nature will take its course. 😡 I will never bring my animals to people who are “compassionate” like this 🙄 –Amber D
You mean “uncompassinate” not compassionate..the place is going to be reported Trust me on that. –Jacqueline D
These people are crooks look at the review they have a standard fee of $1500.00 they collect before anything is done.. 800 for exrays and then they have to be reviewed!!! The vet didn’t say anything was wrong with my dog and then the vet tech came in and practiced medicine by telling me everything that was wrong with her when they hadn’t even done not one test.. I demaded my dog back and just to make her not be in pain 280.00.. The manager Cathy is a joke and because I warned her I am coming after her vet’s license for malpractice and the vet tech for out side of scope practice I was threatened with calling the police and telling me never to set foot back on their property. Well my dog is still dying and you people can sit back without a conscience or a care that you did the best service and even did you oath of first do no harm. If you have 1500.00 to waste then go to this clinic.. I am going to the medical review board and getting this vets license believe me!!! Cathy should be fired and an investigation opened to point the finger that maybe these people can help animals after hours but they are stealing from them in their time of need!@!@! We don’t need that in any community horrible horrible people!! BTW update my dog was saved by my regular vet and guess what total bill was 150.00. She had a fatal infection and time was of the essence.. SAD DAY –Gregg O
Awful outrageous prices rude employees all they want is a crazy amount of money of to euthanize your fur baby. Do not take your pet to these people –Kristal P
Before giving this review, I attempted to reach out to the practice manager to discuss my concern in a private way to professionally express my concern/ My call was never returned, so I am sharing my experience so others may be aware of their options for seeking emergency care for their pets. My cat got in to a toxin at about 5:30am. I made the decision to drive him 40 minutes away to VERC instead of waiting for my primary veterinary office to open at 7:00am. I wanted my cat to be treated ASAP to prevent any permanent damage to his organs or death. I arrived and the staff immediately took him to the back to triage while I completed paperwork and created a case ID with the ASPCA poison for consulting purposes. Around 6:30am the veterinarian on staff came in to the exam room and discussed his need for continuous hospitalization for 48 hours. I asked that he be started on treatment ASAP and I would transfer later so he could go ahead and have treatment started- instead of delaying any treatment due to commute and triage times that would have further delayed it if I were to transfer. At this time the treatments completed were the triage exam and medications administered to induce vomiting- I was informed he did NOT vomit. I called at 8:00am to get an update and ask that they go ahead and send records to my primary vet as I was going to transfer him before noon. I was informed that they did NOT have anything to send as NOTHING HAD BEEN STARTED. They did not get baseline bloodwork OR start on IV fluids- these treatments were stressed to me by the veterinarian on staff and ASPCA poison control veterinarian as critical to start his treatment. The toxin he got in to was guaranteed to cause death or permanent organ damage if not treated in a timely manner. At this time I made the decision to go pick him up to transfer him to him his primary vet in Navarre so that treatment would be administered accordingly to save his life. At about 10:00am (check out time, commute time, and triage at primary vet) is when these life saving treatments were finally started on my cat in Navarre. His baseline bloodwork was already showing signs of acute organ injury from the toxin. It is sad to reflect and realize my cat would have been treated in a quicker fashion if I had waited for my primary to vet open at 7:00am (as compared to me acting as I should have and seek medical treatment ASAP). I am out $200.00 for an emergency exam and medications that 1. was not really an emergency as the staff did not act in an “emergency” manner and 2. medications given did not induce vomiting (only altered his behavior which made it difficult for my primary vet to access his mentation- important for evaluating if the toxins were already affecting him). When asked why treatment had not been started I was informed that another emergency had come in and they decided to treat that patient first. I understand my cat was stable at that time- however in about 2 more hours he was not going to be stable anymore if treatment continued to be delayed. You cannot have a veterinary clinic open for 24 hours and call it an emergency animal hospital if you are not going to staff it accordingly to your intake needs or treat animals in emergency situations. I did a give 2 star review (as compared to 1) because the staff were friendly, knowledgeable, and the facility was clean. –Nikki B