NC State Veterinary Hospital

I had a very very bad experience here. I don't think they give animals the best care possible. I don't mind the money, (they are expensive) but they are very cold & slow & spend no time explaining things & always seemed rushed. They are very slow, even with a dying animal. They tell you not to call & check on your very sick animal even though they are hours late with updates & you know your animal might not make it through the night. There were a few people who were nice, patient and seemed to genuinely care but most here were just rude & ugly. In the end we lost our dog and there horrible attitude made things worse. I think they have excellent equipment to test and help animals but they don't have good people, they have rude people with bad attitudes. Most of the people here act like they hate their jobs. They are very disorganized and have no communication. I wish I could say this place is great, it's just not. I will try to go elsewhere in the future if at all possible. This place will be my absolute last resort.
1 7 years ago (27-04-2018)

I brought my ten year old Alaskan Malamute with cancer to them. He was sick and laid down on the floor. They were afraid of him (for no apparent reason other than his size) and refused to treat him. I went to Vet Specialty Hospital (Dr. Russlander). They were not afraid, did a good job. If you have a small, meek dog that isn't very sick, the vet school MIGHT be able to handle it. Large sick dog, they are too afraid. I wonder how their students are supposed to get experience with difficult animals?
1 7 years ago (02-05-2018)

We are so grateful for all of the wonderful people at the NC State Vet Hospital. They are truly the most compassionate people. Dr. Hedgespeth and the nurses went above and beyond to care for our yellow lab, despite the challenging circumstances. Despite our loss, it was very clear that they did everything possible and more. We are so appreciative of them.
5 7 years ago (10-01-2018)

Our recent experience with the NC State Veterinary Hospital was horrible and resulted in the death of our dog. Our dog was being treated there from October 2017-February 2018 for cancer. She had a tumor removed and then had radiation treatment. The cancer treatments were successful and she was expected to make a full recovery. However, a couple weeks after radiation ended she started limping and had horrible pain in her back legs. We admitted her to the hospital at the end of Feb. 2018. She was there for 5 days and looked at by several departments. They told us she had sciatic nerve pain and sent us home with pain medications. A week later when she hadn’t improved and could not even stand up, we took her back to the hospital. They had misdiagnosed her. She did not have sciatic nerve pain but instead had contracted a MRSA Superbug. The infection was lodged in her spine. Our personal vet (who has 30+ years experience) told us that she almost certainly contracted the infection at the hospital during her cancer treatment. In light of this, we asked the hospital to please help us cover a small portion of the bills. At this point we had already spent about $20,000 on the cancer treatment and were only asking for them to comp some of the exam fees (about $2,000). We requested multiple times to speak to either the Hospital Administrator (Jim Brawley) or the Associate Dean (Dr. Steven Marks) regarding this matter. Neither of them contacted us. Instead, they sent one of their subordinates to call us. She told us to put our complaint in writing, so we sent them a certified letter asking for this small financial help. We asked her 2 times on the phone to please have one of them contact us. They never did. The infection was ultimately untreatable and we had to euthanize our dog. The hospital administrator did not call us back until 1 week after we had to put our dog to sleep. This was 1 week after he received the certified letter – probably the only reason he called. He was cold and curt on the phone and did not even offer condolences for the loss of our dog. He simply stated the hospital was conducting an investigation and we would hear back in 1-2 weeks. He also said he’d place a hold on our account and we would not receive any more bills until the investigation was complete. Two weeks later we had heard nothing back, but we did get a bill in the mail for $3400. A week after that, we got a letter in the mail from the hospital administrator stating they were not reimbursing us anything and that we needed to pay the final $3400 bill in full. In their letter, they kept denying our dog contracted the Superbug at their hospital. Our dog had only been to NCSU vet hospital during her treatments and not been to a dog park, boarded, or on any off-leash walks in the months leading up to her death. These facts strongly suggest the infection was hospital-borne. The hospital administration is cold, callous, and unwilling to work with clients and only care about the bottom dollar. To this day, the Associate Dean, who we specifically asked to speak to, still has not contacted us. The only contact with the Hospital Administrator was a cold, 2 minute phone call. They went 3 weeks without taking so much as 5 minutes to give us an update on the investigation, but they did somehow find the time to send us a bill, even though they told us we would not receive a bill during this period. Please keep this in mind when deciding where to take your beloved pet for medical care. There are better and cheaper alternatives in the area.
1 7 years ago (14-04-2018)

I wish I could say that I had a fantastic experience, especially considering this is NCSU. I did not. I brought in my senior male cat presenting with left front paw pain & him cupping it under. After 1 hour, the veterinarian came out & said all she had done was exam his leg & beyond that they needed to sedate him for rads & a better exam. Mind you, I had warned them when I called ahead he is fractious at the vet & even warned them again when I handed him over. I was told this would take about an hour. At 10pm, the receptionist informed me they wanted me to know "they haven't forgotten you." *chuckle chuckle* & said they were short staffed. I asked if she could find out if they'd even started & was told they hadn't. I asked for my cat back. I was told there was a blocked cat that came in. I understand the urgency of that, but my cat didn't even have a full exam, which was admitted by the veterinarian, & was left to just sit. Had this been a blood clot or a neurological issue, it would be too late. "He is able to bear weight, so I don't think it's neurological. I think it is orthopedic." But had no way to truly determine this. It took 15 minutes to get my cat back. I paid the exam fee, which I shouldn't even be responsible for, because I'm an honorable person. There are also charges on my bill for 3 hours of hospitalization & sedatives my cat never even received! I refused to pay those. I will be contacting Wilma Daley, AR Manager, to request a refund. Next time, don't let pets sit for 2.5 hours from arrival with no real diagnosis & a bunch of "I thinks" & don't let their owners sit in the lobby for hours with zero communication. Especially when I was the only person in the room, so it's not like I could get lost in a crowd of owners. Next time I'll go to VSH in Cary.
1 7 years ago (13-12-2017)