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West Vet

West Vet review: Boise ID 5

J
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3:11 pm EDT
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I took my dog into them because she was shaking and I thought she was having a stroke. When we finally saw the intern he looked her over and then said they needed to do xrays, and if that didnt show anything then they would need to do blood tests, and the price kept going up and up, I said fine. Well 4 hours later he didnt find anything, he said she probably has gas. and that he needed to keep her overnight, um for gas? no thanks. so I took my dog home and 3 days later she was worse off. I called them to see if there was anything I could do, and they were so rude, would not talk to me or answer any questions, but mentioned numerous times that I could bring her in for a fee. So I decided to take her to my family vet 2.50 hours away and he took one look at her and knew she had hurt her neck, he did an exam( 20 min) and gave me some meds for her and it cost under 40 bucks and she was better within days. West Vet however had us there for 4.50 hours, didnt have anything else to come up with but gas and the bill was close to 300.00 bucks! If that intern would of done an exam with his hands he would of found the source of her shaking, instead of just wanting the xray machine to do the work for him. and then them not wanting to help me unless I brought her back in for an additional price. Worst service I have ever recieved. It was like the more money I was willing to fork out, then they might have helped me.

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Nampa Person
Nampa, US
Sep 12, 2011 9:01 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My best friend took her cat to West Vet when it had a urinary tract blockage and they wanted $1, 500.00 to treat my friends cat. They had only palpated the male cat and this was the starting fee for the treatment of clearing the blockage with a catheter and IV fluids. My friend had to have her cat put down because if the cost.
Two months later I had a mature male cat who had a urinary tract blockage from crystals that had to be removed and his bladder drained. My cat was in critical shape when I brought him in. They took an elective surgery off the table as soon as the dogs sutures were put in and put my cat on in swift movements of cleaning and prep. He was put on IV fluids over night and I got to take him home from my local Caldwell vet's office days later. I did walk out with an $885.00 bill, but I was happy.
Is the difference in West Vets prices because my friend took her cat in at 6:30pm?

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Cheercoach123
US
Jul 13, 2012 11:11 pm EDT

We took my cat into west vet because it was an emergency facility. We look up the symptoms and it seemed like we gave our kitten too much de worming medication. After the vet looked at him for less than 30 mins and told us she didn't know what was wrong they charged us the 70$ fee and sent us on our way. After our little kitten was getting worse thougout the day I took him to a different vet down the street and received the best service. They took great care of our little one and have him a few pumps of victimins and researched everything.
In conclusion we will never go to west vet and they shoul be ashamed of taking advantage of people. When a pet is sick the owners just want to make them better and west vet takes advantage of that and charges you an arm and a leg for providing a "service" that could possibly help your sick pet. I hope that profiting from people grief will one day teach them a lesson.

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Slayer Says
US
Nov 30, 2015 11:27 am EST

It's their con game. They are only good for being there when it's after hours and your pet needs to be euthanized. Not much integrity in this company.

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Cherry Woodbury
US
Jan 10, 2016 7:57 pm EST

IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET DO NOT USE WEST VET IN GARDEN CITY, IDAHO.
WEST VET IS ALL ABOUT MONEY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PET. THEY PROMOTE SURGERIES FOR PETS. THE DOCTOR YOU SEE ON THIS PAGE IS THE ONE THAT DAMAGED MY BEAUTIFUL BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG. SHE WAS AN ABLE BODY DOG AND WENT IN TO HAVE A TUMOR REMOVED FROM HER HIND LEG. THE SURGERY THIS DOCTOR DID CRIPPLED HER.

I know this from first hand experience. This year around April, My Bernese Mountain dog developed a small problem where she slightly swung her right hind leg around as she walked. So I took her to her regular vet but the vet also checked out her LEFT HIND leg which was quite a bit larger than the right. We thought it was muscle build up but it had gotten bigger over the past year. So her regular vet suggest I take her to West Vet. The doctor at West Vet (also the one shown in the photo on this site) recommended a CT scan be done to determine what the mass was - whether it was a fatty or cancerous tumor . That was about a $800 bill but it did show the mass to be a tumor. The West Vet doctor recommended having surgery to remove it. Surgery date was July 2, 2015. The mass was NOT cancer - it was a fatty tumor that was removed. This was a bill of over $1, 800.

The vet doctor had a lot of information from the CT scan and DID NOT relate that information to me so I could make an informed decision. The CT scan showed it was a homogeneous fat mass and that it displaced the biceps femoris lateral and other major tendons, ligaments, and muscles in the hamstring. The CT report also stated that the sciatic nerve courses over the mass. I WAS NOT INFORMED OF THIS INFORMATION. Had I been, I would have asked numerous questions as to what effect the surgery would have on these tendons, ligaments, and muscles - would they be damaged, would they have to be cut to get the mass out, if they were damaged what effect that would have on my Bernese, etc. Now knowing what the CT scan did show, I would have elected to wait on the surgery since the mass was not cancer, removing it may cause her to be cripple, and that my Bernese was still an able body dog. I would have waited until there were more indications that the mass was causing problems for her discs or that it was effecting her mobility. I believe this is unethical and it is my opinion that all the CT information was not disclosed to me because then there would possibly be no surgery and Murphy (West Vet) would not get the money.

On July 1st, my Bernese who was 9 years old, could do 28 different tricks which included backing up down a hall, spinning to the right and left, etc. We would walk about a mile each day to the park. She could run and play.

On July 3rd when I picked her up from surgery, her LEFT HIND LEG was uncontrollable - it would cross her other hind leg underneath her, it would cause her to trip, and she could not place it correctly when she walked. It was a labor for her walk and there was no way she could back up down the hall, do her tricks, etc.

So when she went for surgery she was an able body dog and when she came out she was a cripple.

She has been trying to manage from 4 months now. She suffers because of the surgery Murphy did to her leg...it now has caused further problems with her one good hind leg, her back, and she has to pull herself up with only her front legs. She can not even walk very far. Not only that but I have to lift (she weights 85#)and carry her hind end out and around. I am 74 and this has caused a lot of back strain on me. It has been physically and emotionally exhausting.

HERE IS THE MAJOR POINT...ON JULY 1ST MY BERNESE WAS ABLE TO RUN, PLAY, DO TRICKS, TAKE LONG WALKS, AND WAS AN ABLE BODY DOG
ON JULY 3RD WHEN WE PICKED HER UP SHE WAS A CRIPPLE AND HAS ONLY DETERIORATED FROM THAT POINT ON.

ON JULY 1ST - WHATEVER ELSE SHE HAD (THE LUNG MASS, THE DM RISK, THE COMPRESSED DISCS) WAS EXACTLY THE SAME STATUS AS AFTER THE OPERATION SO THESE DID NOT...DID NOT CAUSE HER HIND LEG TO BE CRIPPLED.

ALL THIS SUFFERING AND DAMAGE WAS CAUSED BY THE SURGERY DONE ON MY BERNESE...

DO NOT USE WEST VET ...KEEP YOUR PET SAFE ...DO NOT USE WEST VET Read less

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MaryCCC
US
Jan 31, 2017 4:37 pm EST

What a bunch of profit-driven, disgusting people! They could care less about your pet. They care about status and income. The owners are terrible people who think they have some monopoly over Boise. If you have a severe emergency, you may have no choice. If you have ANY choice do not take your pets here. To them it is how many bogus, snake oil, non-evidence-based, treatments they can torture your pet with. Staff are lethargically slow in all that they do and frankly not very bright! I picture the money-grubbing owners just laughing at all of us for falling for the add-on, add-on bogus services they will try to talk you into. If the whole place burned to the ground tomorrow, no needed services would be lost. Glad they got their new big building for their pet-abusing overlords to look down on all of the suckers like us and laugh their way to the bank. RUN, don't walk away from West Vet!