Tri-County Veterinary Clinic

Our beloved dog was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer on a Saturday morning. We decided to take him home for the weekend, and the vet gave him medicine to keep him comfortable. Some of the meds were free because other pet owners who had dogs pass away had donated their leftover pills. On Monday morning we brought our dog back to the office to be led gently across the rainbow bridge. Both of the doctors we dealt with as well as the vet techs and office staff were extremely kind and compassionate as we coped with this extremely sad situation. We have been bringing our pets to this practice for many years and have never had a bad experience.

After having moved back home 2 years ago, my husband and I decided to try and stay local when getting re-established with a vet for our beloved cat Archie. From the beginning we warned the staff that Archie, while docile and so, so loving at home, was severely aggressive at any sort of vet visit and would need sedation. The first issue we encountered was almost feeling a sense of shame because of how the office reacted to this. They honestly made us feel like Archie was a "bad cat." We know it and admit it: Archie was a nightmare at the vet's office but that was just his way of reacting to a stressful environment, which I don't think is outside the realm of normal for a cat. Secondly, Archie reacted to the anesthesia differently than he had ever before (keeping in mind that he has had yearly exams, sometimes more, for almost 10 years). Before he would exhibit expected groggy behavior for a few hours; after having him sedated here, he was aggressive and unapproachable for, sometimes, almost 2 days afterward. All of this pertinent to the bigger issue at hand: when my husband and I returned home with our first baby in February, we noticed Archie's right eye was very swollen and weepy. Looked like a typical conjunctivitis. They prescribed drops. It got better but never returned to 100% and in addition, sometime in Mid-March we noticed that he actually had a lot of swelling underneath his right eye. They scheduled us an appointment, told us they thought it was an infected tooth and scheduled us to have it removed later the next week. When we picked him up, they said it wasn't the tooth but looked instead like a severe allergy. Gave us two more prescriptions and told us to remove anything that could be causing it. Right away we noticed that no imaging had been done, not even an x-ray; they just empirically determined it wasn't the tooth and gave him a steroid injection. We followed the other directions as told. Just like before, we saw improvement but not resolution. When I called back again, the technician on the phone said the doctor was going to prescribe more drops. When I questioned whether or not the doctor wanted to perform any other testing to try and determine the cause of the issue, the gal immediately copped an attitude and told me that if I wanted to spend thousands of dollars on testing I could but that the doctor was sure it was just allergies. I immediately scheduled Archie at a different clinic who was able to get him in the following week. The first thing the other doctor, very respectively said, was that they were curious why no other testing had been done AND they noted Tri-County used FOUR different sedation drugs on Archie - this practice only used 1 (2 if absolutely necessary). This was Monday 6/24. Archie was kept overnight for testing to be done: blood work, necessary imaging, etc. The vet called me the next day to tell me that the conjunctivitis/ "allergic reaction" was secondary to the mass causing the swelling underneath his right eye. They did a fine-needle aspiration and sent it to be biopsied. The doctor was up-front and told us there was a 50/50 chance it was cancerous; would have results the following week. By the following Monday, 7/1, Archie had crossed the Rainbow Bridge - his biopsy results weren't even back yet. While we realize that, even if this had been caught when symptoms began, that that wouldn't have made a difference in extending his life, the fact that no other testing was done and the way they made me feel when I questioned why is deplorable. I understand sometimes things get missed in the medical world but if you don't know the answer to something or what the diagnosis is, SAY IT and help your patients get the care they need. If you can't provide the answers yourself, encourage your patients to get to someone who can. FYI Tri-County: if you encounter another cat with an eye that looks like this for 4-months despite the parents doing everything as directed, it's not allergies. It's cancer.

Nice staff, hand delivered them some dog poo lmao and had results the next day. Out Puppy was all good but for worms. The worm medicine she did not like. We will Hide it in some food next time.

The vet seemed knowledgeable enough but wasn’t very helpful or kind. She rushed through the appointment (I thought that was only a pcp thing) and made sure to push preventative meds and shots that my cat didn’t even need (flea meds, though he doesn’t have fleas and is an indoor cat, and shots he’s already gotten and haven’t lapsed yet) since they were “in house” and available. She didn’t really offer any tips or guidance for a new pet owner and was more forceful than kind when handling my pretty docile kitten. The receptionist staff were very friendly. It wasn’t a terrible experience but I’d prefer to see a vet who at least seems to like animals.

They always do a great job and get us in so quickly! Great staff, very informative and patient with my dog, as he does not do well at the vet. Very appreciated