Good vets

[PennyQuilts]

They offer social club ("doggy day care") every day, both for drop offs and boarders. I dont remember exactly what the charge is, but it is probably on their website. Basically, they take all the dogs out and they all play together in the play yard. My dogs play so hard they pretty much pass out at the end of the day. Our big girl used to go every day back when she was an only dog and the vet was on the way to work. Now they all go whenever they are there for boarding.

Thanks!

It was lazy of me to not look that up, myself. I think my girls would rather have the doggy daycare than just be boarded. I'll look into it. I'm just hoping I won't have to board them, at all.

[Jim Kyle]

I have heard good things about Dr. Gary Nida at Portland Veterinary. He's been practicing at the same location for many years.

I'll second that recommendation, having used Dr. Nida ever since he came to the practice as junior partner to Dr. Wade Lyons. Lyons, now long since retired, won my trust when he left a batch of concrete hardening in his mixer to come to the clinic after hours, and treat a kitten with a broken tail (caught in a slamming door; he had to amputate at the point of the break, so Ivanovich had only half a tail for the rest of his life). When Lyons retired, Nida took over the practice. He's treated all of my cats for many years now and goes out of his way for them, as Lyons did.

[bandnerd]

Nida is very good. I used to work with his wife before she retired! They are both lovely people and several of our teachers used him for vet needs and were very happy with him.

[Wolf]

Dr. Brian Jones at Woodlake Animal Hospital is great. He just bought the practice from Dr. Rene, who I loved, and I was afraid I'd have to look elsewhere, but that wasn't the case. Usually with younger vets they have no sense of instinct and want to take radiographs and x-rays or other expensive tests for every little thing because they're all about going "by the book". Jones worked at Neel Emergency Vet for years, though, so he's seen it all, and he'll give you a diagnosis based on experience. Prices are very reasonable, too.

[betts]

That's good to know. I used Neel Vets a few times and Brian Jones was the best thing about that clinic, to me.

[tnajk]

We took our dog to Neel recently in the middle of the night as our regular vet doesn't offer emergency care. She had given birth to 5 puppies and we were expecting 6. We feared the 6th was stuck and she may need a c-section. Turns out there were only 5 afterall, but while we were there they declared she had a uterine infection and must take antibiotics, therefore she should *not* nurse her babies. They pulled one of our hour old puppies out of the box and taught us how to tube feed them. Against our better judgment, we followed their instructions. At least for the next 24 hrs. It was heart wrenching to keep them from their mom and so we sought out a 2nd and then a 3rd opinion. The mom was going out of her mind not being able to be with them and care for them! Both our 2nd and 3rd opinions said, give those babies back to their mom!! They both said that the pros of allowing them to nurse and get the colostrum and antibodies from their mom far outweigh the cons of the antibiotics.

Bad call on Neels part? Yes, but that was only strike one.

Strike two came 2 days later when mom still wasn't feeling well and we were considering taking her back to Neel for our free followup visit. After discussing her symptoms with them over the phone, they determined she needed her UTERUS TAKEN OUT. Yes, they determined this over the phone. It would be $1200+ and 2 day stay in the hospital. Knowing better, we did NOT take her back to Neel for that free visit and instead took her to our regular vet who agreed that was a very drastic move and one that was NOT called for at this time. That operation could have killed her, especially with our breed. There is a much larger volume of blood and vessels are swollen after dogs are pregnant.

Strike three- The tiny pup they used to teach us how to tube feed was now sick. It is obvious to us that she picked up this bug at Neel because none of the pups have not been around any people or animals. Not even close friends and relatives have been allowed to come and see our new babies! They've had complete isolation. It's become very bad and we've nearly lost her twice now and are hundreds of dollars in the hole in medications and vet visits to get her well.

We will never be going to Neel again!

[Thunder]

We took our dog to Neel recently in the middle of the night as our regular vet doesn't offer emergency care. She had given birth to 5 puppies and we were expecting 6. We feared the 6th was stuck and she may need a c-section. Turns out there were only 5 afterall, but while we were there they declared she had a uterine infection and must take antibiotics, therefore she should *not* nurse her babies. They pulled one of our hour old puppies out of the box and taught us how to tube feed them. Against our better judgment, we followed their instructions. At least for the next 24 hrs. It was heart wrenching to keep them from their mom and so we sought out a 2nd and then a 3rd opinion. The mom was going out of her mind not being able to be with them and care for them! Both our 2nd and 3rd opinions said, give those babies back to their mom!! They both said that the pros of allowing them to nurse and get the colostrum and antibodies from their mom far outweigh the cons of the antibiotics.

Bad call on Neels part? Yes, but that was only strike one.

Strike two came 2 days later when mom still wasn't feeling well and we were considering taking her back to Neel for our free followup visit. After discussing her symptoms with them over the phone, they determined she needed her UTERUS TAKEN OUT. Yes, they determined this over the phone. It would be $1200+ and 2 day stay in the hospital. Knowing better, we did NOT take her back to Neel for that free visit and instead took her to our regular vet who agreed that was a very drastic move and one that was NOT called for at this time. That operation could have killed her, especially with our breed. There is a much larger volume of blood and vessels are swollen after dogs are pregnant.

Strike three- The tiny pup they used to teach us how to tube feed was now sick. It is obvious to us that she picked up this bug at Neel because none of the pups have not been around any people or animals. Not even close friends and relatives have been allowed to come and see our new babies! They've had complete isolation. It's become very bad and we've nearly lost her twice now and are hundreds of dollars in the hole in medications and vet visits to get her well.

We will never be going to Neel again!

Horrible reviews. I can not bring myself to believe this. Are you telling the truth?

1. Bad call? No. Each vet has their own opinion. Additionally, there is nothing wrong to hand feed babies for a short while. Strike removed.

2. Did you know who you talked to on the phone? Conversations on the phone are generally given the cost estimates and possible solutions. It is not final, because you did not bring the dog to the place for an in-person inspection. Strike removed.

3. Sick. You did not tell us what kind of sickness. Some babies get sick without any contact with other animals. Blaming Neel Vet for your puppies getting sick? Quite sad. The vet is a hospital and a hospital is where sick patients go to. Of course, there is a risk of a virus/germ spreading. Duh! Strike removed.

Bad, but legit reviews, is fine. But everything in your post just seem to be way off. I just can not bring myself to believe it. But hey, it is your loss for not going to Neel Vet again. They are still one of the top vets in the state.

[tnajk]

I'm sorry if you feel my review is off. Unfortunately, every word is true. The sickness the puppy is recovering from? Bacterial Pneumonia deep in the lungs. 3 antibiotics and daily nebulizer treatments later and she may recover from this after all. We realized the risk in taking newborn puppies to a pet hospital so they stayed in the warm car with one of us while they checked mom out. It was only when they told us to go ahead and bring them in so they could teach us to tube feed them that they were exposed. It is too much of a coincidence that the particular puppy they were handling was the one to get deathly ill. They should have never had us tubing them to begin with.

If you believe Neel to be one of the top vets in the State, then that's fine I understand why you might feel that way. We chose to go there after reading all of the reviews thinking very highly of them and have come away with quite a different opinion. I should say that all of our dealings with them were with one particular vet and so perhaps that is where the problem lays. I understand there are many vets at Neel, so I shouldn't put such a blanket of blame over this but we will personally never trust our animals to them again.

[Thunder]

Who was the doctor? I know there are a lot of new vets freshly out of college and interns. Do you remember who treated them?

[tnajk]

I PM'd you.

[Thunder]

I got it and replied. What was important is to rate the care against the specific vet person that was responsible for the care of your dog and puppies. I would not rate Neel Vet as a whole. That place has so many vets, either experienced or freshly out of college, and interns. Your decision where you feel comfortable with your family members receiving medical care. If there is an emergency and your regular vet is closed, I'd still recommend Neel Vet, but only go for Dr. Rachael and/or her hubby. They work there and are very experienced. I don't trust anyone else. There has been a few times when none of them was available, but since they all knew me, they knew what to do ...and that is by calling Rachael, day or night. Rachael is fine with that, I remember once during overnight, they had to call her and she came in after she advised them on what to do on the phone.

I am not saying other vet persons are bad, but just speaking from experience. I am sure some others are just equally fantastic, but always be cautious.

Rachael treated a Koi fish once. :-P