So, I got a lab about a month ago now, and have been driving home to Winston-Salem to see the vet every times its been needed, so I need you guys to help recommend a vet in the NCSU area.

Anybody had any really good experiences with vets? Or on the other hand, any awful experiences to avoid?

Thanks

9/10/2008 11:38:02 AM

the one right on western is pretty good right next to ten ten...
ohh and then there is the vet school aparently you can take pets there or something... i heard (this could be false)

9/10/2008 11:40:18 AM

pets are only seen at the vet school as referrals

9/10/2008 11:40:42 AM

^ ahh ok... i just know someone who did which makes sense cause i think it was for major joint surgery or something.

The one on western is where lou dog used to go .

9/10/2008 11:43:17 AM

honestly, i use the banfield at the petsmart in cary...i know some people have had problems with them, but i, personally, haven't...i pay $16/month for total care (all regular shots, 1 annual thorough exam, 2 biannual full checkups, unlimited visits if i think something's wrong) in addition to discounts on medications (lower than i've been able to find anywhere)

i've been with them for about 16 months now, since i found my dog at 6 months old

*shrug*

9/10/2008 11:47:12 AM

i bet if you used the freaking search you could find about eleventy billion threads about local vets.

9/10/2008 11:47:59 AM

^ does that change for big dogs?? lou only goes about once per year but it always costs $250

9/10/2008 11:48:44 AM

^ nope, same rate no matter the size (my dog's about 45 pounds)

9/10/2008 11:49:34 AM

don't talk to mccain, he doesn't vet.

9/10/2008 11:51:46 AM

oberlin or glenwood vet hospital

9/10/2008 11:58:40 AM

Please don't use Banfield

I use Noah's Ark in Cary

[Edited on September 10, 2008 at 12:04 PM. Reason : ]

9/10/2008 12:03:10 PM

I adopted my kitty girl from the Hayes-Barton vet on Glenwood. They seemed like a really good group of folks; and vets are NCSU grads. Go figure.

9/10/2008 12:03:45 PM

I use the one on Oberlin near Wade. They have always been super nice to me, and they try not to charge you for unnecessary things. I recommend them.

9/10/2008 12:13:02 PM

Dr. Neuenschwander
Brentwood Animal Hospital
(919) 872-6060

It's not really that close to NCSU but he's the best vet in the area imo.

9/10/2008 12:26:49 PM

Quote :

"honestly, i use the banfield at the petsmart in cary...i know some people have had problems with them, but i, personally, haven't...i pay $16/month for total care (all regular shots, 1 annual thorough exam, 2 biannual full checkups, unlimited visits if i think something's wrong) in addition to discounts on medications (lower than i've been able to find anywhere) i've been with them for about 16 months now, since i found my dog at 6 months old *shrug*"

I'm glad to hear that. We just got a kitten and I was thinking strongly about banfield but after what I had heard, I had reservations. Nice to hear something positive.

9/10/2008 12:37:47 PM

Customer service or the pleasantness of your experience have nothing to do with why you shouldn't use Banfield, it has to do with the well being of your animals.

9/10/2008 12:46:29 PM

Dr. Farmer
Greystone Animal Hospital
7713 Lead Mine Rd Suite 39
Raleigh, NC 27615

919-676-1711

Referred to by PawPrints Animal Rescue, where I got my puppy. Dr. Farmer is a sweetheart, really small personal vet, it's almost just her. She used to work at Banfield, but left because they're more about the money and in one appointment you see like 3 different vets. So yeah. Love it!

edit: I will say though, Banfield is still good. My sister goes there and loves it and her dog rocks. (Cary Banfield)

[Edited on September 10, 2008 at 1:10 PM. Reason : ]

9/10/2008 12:57:59 PM

i just had my dogs surgery done at Oberlin and i was really pleased

http://carefirstanimalhospital.com/

does he need a specialist?

9/10/2008 3:42:09 PM

Quote :

"I'm glad to hear that. We just got a kitten and I was thinking strongly about banfield but after what I had heard, I had reservations. Nice to hear something positive."

yeah, i've been happy with them for basic veterinary care (i have no other experience with them)

Quote :

"Customer service or the pleasantness of your experience have nothing to do with why you shouldn't use Banfield, it has to do with the well being of your animals."

do you have any specific examples? or is it just a general hatred of banfield for undisclosed reasons? i'd have reservations about having major surgery done there, but for basic care, less than $200/year for things i could do myself had i the supplies (i worked as a vet tech for 6 years) isn't bad

9/10/2008 3:50:27 PM

Thanks for the responses guys!

As of right now the dogs in fine perfect health, and we're getting his last shot this friday, I just need a vet in Raleigh for all future visits, and his neutering here in a couple months. I must say though, we had a very bad experience with Banfield at a Petsmart back in Winston, so I'm hesitant to use them. I did ask about the vet school too, but as I understood it, they dont do general practice, only see weird cases and surgeries refered to them.

Anybody have a name/phone number/website for the one on Oberlin? The link up there doesnt work.

9/10/2008 4:14:01 PM

http://healthypet.aahanet.org/eweb/startpage.aspx?site=HealthyPet

You can use this to find the nearest AAHA accredited vets to you.
"The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) is the only organization that accredits animal hospitals throughout the U.S. and Canada. AAHA-accredited hospitals voluntarily choose to be evaluated on over 800 standards in the following areas: quality of care; diagnostic & pharmacy; management; medical records; and facility."

9/10/2008 4:18:37 PM

^ it doesn't look like any of the aforementioned hospitals are AHAA accredited

9/10/2008 4:20:28 PM

Quote :

"oberlin or glenwood vet hospital"

fuck no, do not use either. I worked at Glenwood when I was a Sophomore. I took my dog there for a limp (keep in mind, I was an employee) and they said he needed a $700 knee surgery. Took him to my vet in greensboro and they said it was a minor sprain and it would heal on it's own, which it did.

[Edited on September 10, 2008 at 4:21 PM. Reason : a]

9/10/2008 4:21:37 PM

I took my cats to Brentwood Animal Hospital back when I lived in Raleigh and always liked their service. I'm not sure if they were AAHA accredited or not, but they seemed alright. I just kept going there since that's where they had been taken as kittens.

Now that I've worked at a vet clinic for a few years I'm pretty keen on the AAHA thing just because I know more about it. Another litmus test I use is not going to a vet that recommends 3 years rabies vaccines for cats. Yeah those are fine if your cat tries to kill you and everyone else if you take it to the vet, but the 1 year vaccines been recommended is a newer and safe thing. Actually even at Carrboro Plaza Veterinary Clinic we have clients coming from Raleigh and even more from Cary & a client from Greensboro, but I usually recommend to friends and family that any AAHA vet close to home is fine. Another test is showing up and asking for a tour. If a clinic isn't always clean enough for an impromptu tour then that can be another sign.

This is where I work so you can see my frame of reference:
http://www.carrboroplazavet.com/

9/10/2008 5:51:27 PM

9/10/2008 6:01:52 PM

Quote :

" Bayleaf Veterinary Hospital PA 10009 Six Forks Road Raleigh , NC 27615 Phone: (919)848-1926"

from the AAHA website. started by Craig Wilson. it is way out six forks road but my parents were one of his first clients. we took our dog there for 15 years and i used to work there. the staff is excellent and dr. wilson is awesome. if you don't mind the drive, go there. they are honestly really great.

9/10/2008 6:11:13 PM

Cary Veterinary Hospital on Maynard.

9/10/2008 6:23:02 PM

Quote :

"but the 1 year vaccines been recommended is a newer and safe thing."

hmm. i always heard quite the opposite.

9/10/2008 6:29:00 PM

^^ Mayfair Animal Hospital?

9/10/2008 7:50:20 PM

ahha
yeah i used to work at that banfield in cary
it's fine for routine vaccinations, deworming, and heartworm/flea/tick preventative but if anything goes wrong or you need some sort of surgery, plz to go elsewhere.

9/10/2008 7:55:31 PM

^^^my understanding that the adjuvant used in feline 3 year rabies vaccines increase their chances of causing growth, cancer, or other negative reactions.

9/10/2008 8:44:36 PM

Banfield has been known to push every vaccine imaginable, in some cases vaccines that are totally useless, such as Giardia and Coronavirus

vaccines every year is not new, its the old way of thinking. like someone mentioned, some vaccines have been implicated in injection site sarcomas. there's also a concern of overstimulating the immune system with annual vaccines. Thus the push recently to move some adult vaccines to every 3 years, such as K9 DHPP, w/ lepto being repeated every year, for at risk dogs. along the same lines, there has been a movement to vaccinate only those animals at risk. for example, cats that never go outdoors dont need a feleuk vaccine and dogs that arent exposed to pond/river/swamp water dont necessarily need a lepto vaccine. Animals that are higher risk may elect to remain on annual booster.

my problem with banfield is that i've known them to shoot everything they've got into any dog that walks in, and they do a lot of it to the folks on their wellness plans.
this may have changed recently as some of my information is a few years old

9/10/2008 10:11:34 PM

i'm telling you. bayleaf on six forks. aaha list.

9/10/2008 10:18:23 PM

^^i thought that the only vaccine that was found to cause sarcomas was the FeLV vaccine, which is why they changed it to transdermal.

9/10/2008 10:20:00 PM

i believe it is the most commonly implicated one, only because there wasnt a history of vaccine location standardization. meaning that different vaccines were given in different locations, so some cases no single vaccine could be implicated

transdermal is new to me. then again I dont work on cats, and really havent had much to do with them for several years. That's why I included the caveat that some of this info may be old.

9/10/2008 11:14:30 PM

I'll vouch for Glenwood. I've taken my dog there for two years now, and I've never had any complaints. They've always taken good care of her, and I haven't had any problems with them.

^^^^ Giardia is a BITCH though. I'm not saying it's a necessary vaccine, but my dog got it when she was a couple of months old, and geez. That was horrible. She threw up three times a day for a solid month. I'm amazed I did not have to pay to replace the carpet in that apartment.

[Edited on September 10, 2008 at 11:22 PM. Reason : ]

9/10/2008 11:20:37 PM

I'm a fan of quail corners myself

9/10/2008 11:25:59 PM

^^its not that its necessary or unnecessary, its that it just doesnt work

[Edited on September 10, 2008 at 11:37 PM. Reason : carat]

9/10/2008 11:37:32 PM

my clinic rarely does lepto vac's, and there are a few others that we don't do unless a client requests it, or they are moving to an area with a problem.

i once considered getting my cats a feline leukemia vaccine since i have a pretty decent discount working at a vet clinic & i was advised against it (since they are indoor only) because they are against unnecessary vaccinations.

9/11/2008 6:43:09 AM

I use Ansede Animal Hospital, right at tryon and 401.

Referred there by a chick who worked at Mayfair until she left raleigh, FWIW

9/11/2008 7:10:11 AM