Ridge Lake Animal Hospital

Ridge Lake Animal Hospital seemed like a great fit at first. All routine exams and vaccinations went well for my puppy, until he got into some food that didn't agree with him. I brought him in to have an upset stomach treated, and was recommended that I move forward with blood work and x-rays incase he ate a toy for example, or something that caused a blockage. I told him it was just food that didn't agree, but because I love my dog I moved forward with what the doctor recommended.

Afterward I was handed a $640 invoice, even though I pay them $83/month to have him on a care plan.

Afterwards I was handed a "pre-invoice" or an estimate...and I was stunned. Come to find out the vet tech was new and forgot to give me the estimate first.

I brought this to their attention and said I wouldn't have agreed to the bloodwork and xrays if I knew it costed $400 extra. They admitted to this mistake, but STILL wouldn't back down.

I personally own a business and recognize that if I make a mistake and do not fully inform a client I can't just slap them with a huge bill. My hairdresser gives me an estimate before she does my HAIR.

The worst part about all of this, is that knowing they made a mistake, the office manager insulted me and said that she's "sorry that I have a financial SITUATION". The situation is that you have a lot of new staff that aren't fully trained and didn't do their job and you're passing the bill onto me.

And I was also told that FOUR different staff members quit very recently and they are scrambling to train new staff. Red flag. Do not trust this office.

Love this hospital! Great Veternarian's and Staff!

I bring my dog Boomer here for services. The staff is very good with him, and paitent. I recommend this hospital!

We were going on a trip and this animal hospital was close to home. The Kennel required a Bordatello so I took my dog for a physical and a Bordatello. The Vet saw him and the overall experience with the vet was okay. In the end they prescribed the dog some medication. Final bill was $157. Of that $157.00, $55.00 was for a medication that the dog did not need but we purchased it because if he were in pain we would want to make him comfortable. He has some arthritis. I noticed that they kenneled so I asked them about the Kenneling. $20.00 a day was fine so I went ahead and cancelled the original Kennel, paid the $20.00 as a deposit. 3 days later in route to the airport I showed up to drop off the dog. While dropping off the dog they said that I needed a Fecal test and Heartworm test and it was a condition of boarding. They also had a $5.25 fee if the dog had diarrhea. If you have ever boarded any dog you would know that it is not unusual for a dog to get diarrhea. They are nervous and eating something totally different. None of this was disclosed to me by the staff when I made the reservation. On the way to the airport I decided to call the owner and the adminstrative asst asked me what was wrong. I explained to her that none of this was disclosed to me and that I felt that it was inappropriate to start adding all sort of things at the very end. She told me that she would have the owner call me. She called back 10 minutes later and informed me that she had called my previous vet and that they said that the dog was due for these tests. 1st, she had no right in calling the previous vet 2nd; I am the customer not the vet. Shortly afterwards I did get a call from the owner and I was able to talk with him. I explained to him that as a business practice it is not a good idea to spring all sorts of fees and rules last minute. He agreed and was nice enough to say that he appreciates us bringing these things to his attention and that our dog would receive the ultimate in care.



When we arrived to pick up the dog once again we had to deal with the staff that apparently does not understand that there behavior directly affects the success of the business. The bill total came out to $222.50. My wife gave them a credit card and asked if the deposit was applied to the balance and that she would like to have a breakdown of charges. The staff ran the credit card and basically said that they would print up an invoice after the transaction was completed. When they told her to sign she refused until she had a breakdown of the charges. Begrudgingly they gave her the invoice. Sure enough the deposit was not applied. We ended up waiting for about 25 minutes just trying to get someone to reverse $20.00. While my wife was waiting the staffer that was there said to her the following things, "Well we didn't charge you for diarrhea, we gave him a bath because he was filthy and we did not charge you for that, we cut his nails because no one has done so, He should have been in critical care because he is so old." We also heard that the error was due to: "busy day”, "2 Emergency patients", “Long Friday" and “New Computer system" They also lost the dogs leash and collar.



I believe that the staff cares about animals they just don't care about you. When you take your animal to this animal hospital they will tell you what is best for your animal and you are not allowed to have any say in the matter.