Lakeside Veterinary Medicine

They may be compassionate when people lose their beloved pets however, they also lack experience with more rare or obscure conditions, modern treatments, and advance diagnosis. They aren’t very knowledgeable, competent or thorough enough with large breed dogs like GSD’s. They don’t value the opinions, concerns and observations of pet owners while operating under the assumption that regular people lack the intuition, education and intelligence to formulate rational opinions, raise relevant concerns or make proper decisions concerning their pets treatment needs. They operate under misconceptions rather than hard fact’s established via scientific evidence and testing. They discount observations made by those in 24 hour contact with the patient. They deemed my GSD as a lost cause simply because of his breed and its association with a genetic mutation that regularly causes similar symptoms. After staring at the animal for a few minutes decided nothing could likely be done. (*The sudden and acute onset of the illness didn’t align with this diagnosis) We luckily talked the Dr into trying a common “go to” immunological treatment. Our dog responded immediately regaining full mobility, further demonstrating that this original and incorrect assumption wasn’t the issue. During this time, they refused to offer any further assistance in testing and diagnosis or entertain any other possible treatments. They continuously attempted to reduce medication without any alternative therapies or treatment options with predictable results. They refused to listen to the drastic impacts resulting from such reductions in medication. After finally referring us to a specialist (more so out of frustration with dealing with us then admitting this case had breached the limits of their professional and intellectual capacity), we were left waiting for genetic testing before the assigned specialist could (would) see us. While waiting for the test results and our corresponding specialist appointment they decide it best to reduce the medication (a crutch anyway) with catastrophic results. Within 24 hours of the reduction our dog wasn’t able to even stand. He walked around the block multiple times just the day prior and he easily wondered the house happily on his own. By the next day however, he couldn’t stand up (which we knew from past attempts) by the end of the weekend it became clear it was time to make the tough decision. We made the date after being told the pickup date for cremation was Wednesdays and I even double checked with the woman at the front desk that our pet would make the pickup then, we found that the pickups where earlier in the morning and that our pet was left in the facility alone (which is exactly what we didn’t want to happen). A month later we received the DNA results and our GSD was negative for genes associated with the diagnosis they claimed he had. There are several different illnesses that emulate this disease and most of them are treatable. This staff refused to entertain any of them. Failing to even execute simple blood work to evaluate for common infections. They failed our dog. A otherwise healthy, cognitively sound dog whom walked miles a day and was extremely strong. He passed away early due to total incompetence and in our opinion negligence. There’s one truth, my dog would be here today if they simply listens to our concerns and put forth an effort to identify the illness. I can probably identify more illnesses that emulate the one they originally thought it to be then the entire staff in this facility. I’m probably more educated now on these illnesses, the causes, methods of testing, standards of diagnosis, treatments, medications, chemical composition of those medications, and alternative treatments then this staff. Theres a great deal of them, Most treatable. I failed my dog by not only understanding these diseases but entrusting in this facility. If I could write prescriptions and order testing my dog would be standing here next to me today as I write this review. No doubt.

Everyone there was very caring and through putting our sweet boy Buddy to sleep it greatly helped during this difficult time...

I have had good and bad experiences at this vet clinic. Number one downside is they are extremely expensive. But when i had to put my cat down they were amazing and i thought it was definitely worth the price. Megan was the vet who did that and she explained everything that was going on with my cat to me and made us feel so much better about the whole thing in general even when we were grieving. Recently though, i took another one of my cats there for a routine dental surgery and she was fine and healthy before hand but she ended up passing away the night after surgery. She was only about 7 years old. We brought her back the next day dead in a box and they just offered me cremation packages. They said that they’d never had a cat die from dental surgery, well thanks for saying that, but mine did, thats not helpful. After already spending $1000+ for her surgery thats what we got, cremation packages. The least they could’ve done is waived the cremation fee since my cat would not have passed if she didnt have surgery. They also didnt use antibiotics on her even though she had abscesses in her mouth. I got no call from the vet either explaining why my perfectly health cat died from a routine surgery. They just said it could be a blood clot. This cat was my baby and my pets are like my family and ill never get over it. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth when something like that happens. I will say most of the receptionists and the vets, megan and jaime are very nice and helpful from my experiences first hand with them. I dont know who did my cats surgery though. I just wish she was still here. EDIT: I changed my review from two stars to one. I would give them zero stars if I could. Don't even bother trying to take your pets here. All they care about is money. They were unwilling to see a cat who clearly needed help who wasn't eating, drinking or going to the bathroom because she hadn't been seen before even though I am well established there. I have spent thousands of dollars at this vet and I have taken multiple other cats there as emergencies without them being seen before. They would rather let an animal suffer than help in any way. As I've stated in my original review they are EXTREMELY expensive and uncaring of my pet dying from the surgery she had in their care.

The staff is very kind and attentive, and we have confidence that both our cats are in good hands when being seen here. Additionally, since my initial review, we had one of our cats fail and subsequently pass, and Lakeside was so helpful and compassionate when we brought her in her last hours. It's never easy to lose a pet, but having kind and thoughtful care during that process makes it a little easier. We will continue to use Lakeside for all our future veterinary needs.

Staff was super kind and professional. Visit was through with little to no wait/lag time. Decent prices and sometimes able to work w ya. Keep up great work!