| rev:text
| - I took one of my dogs, a 10-year-old German Shepherd to Arrowhead Ranch Animal Hospital for a second opinion. One of their doctors, Dr. Pfafman, was listed on the Verterinary Medicine website as an animal chiropractic practitioner. Our vet had determined that our dog was losing his hearing, but could find no apparent reason. Before submitting him to hearing tests (not an easy undertaking for a canine), I wanted to see if perhaps Chiropractic would help since, as a human, I have received chiropractic care for years and understand that pressure on a nerve or set of nerves can cause all sorts of random symptoms. The young lady who checked us in was extremely pleasant and helpful. However, the visit went down hill from there.
I explained again, that we were there due to hearing loss and wanted the chiropractic assessment for which we had scheduled the appointment. A vet tech appeared from nowhere and immediately sticks the back of her hand in front of my dog's face; a dog who suddenly can't hear and is in a strange environment. So, my dog bit the back of her hand. I was completely caught off guard by this as was the tech. I felt badly for her and she kept saying, I just put my hand down for him to sniff me. OK... you're a professional pet handler; what part of "can't hear," and "new patient," makes you think he's comfortable with a stranger sticking their hand in front of his mouth??? We were taken to the exam room. The doctor comes in, no smile or warmth about him at all. He looks at me and says, "Don't let him near me. He bit one of my staff with no provocation, so he's not safe. Keep him away from me." So, I muzzled my dog and we proceeded with the exam. Rather than discuss the chiropractic aspects of why I was there, the doctor immediately decides that the issue is not chiropractic and requires $800.00 worth of tests. I explained that my current vet had done complete blood workup and x-rays less than 5 months ago and I would prefer he review that information before deciding on such expensive labs. Nobody told me that they would want copies of his medical records from our current vet in order to proceed. Afterall, I was there for a chiropractic assessment not a complete medical examination. Still, they started asking about the records and proceeded to call for those, but made me feel as if I were an idiot for not brining that information along.
Even before knowing if they could get the records, the doctor was pushing for the expensive additional testing. I was trying to explain the primary condition for which my dog was being treated at our regular vet. I could not think of the name at the time (lumbo-sacral syndrome), but I described the symptoms, the process taken to diagnose the problem, the medications used for the problem and Dr. Pfafman had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently, lumbo-sacral syndrome is pretty common in large breed dogs, especially breeds such as the shepherd who are prone to hip dysplasia (which thankfully, my dog does not have). Even though it is a common problem, apparently Dr. Pfafman is not familiar with this problem. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he doesn't treat a lot of large-breed dogs - I don't know. When I declined the $800+ in lab and diagnostic testing, the doctor reluctantly did the chiropractic assessment and "adjusted" my dog. He kept saying, "he's really difficult to adjust. He doesn't seem to trust me at all." REALLY?! He's in a strange environment with a man whose first intro to him was "keep that dog away from me; he's dangerous..." and you think he doesn't feel comfortable with you wrapping your arms around his hips and neck to try to "adjust" him. What was your first clue, Dr. Clueless?!
I will never take my dog back there even though I still feel that chiropractic would help him in general. I don't trust these people. They are affiliated with Road Runner Animal hospital which is where we took our dogs when we first moved to The Valley 2 years ago. We left that practice because everything seemed to be about the money there. They are very over priced on their labs and medicines. They are just terrible. While this model of running these two businesses and other affiliated veterninary offices in town may be profitable, I'm not convinced that they operate with your pet's best interest in mind.
So, now, my dog is under "house arrest" because of biting the vet tech and we have a record with animal control because of poor animal handling practices. Stay away from this animal hospital and this doctor unless you just have lots of money that you want to give away and hope that your pet gets well somewhere along the way of padding the doctor's pockets.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)