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| - I brought my dog here for an emergency visit after she nearly fainted at the Riverdale West park. She froze on the spot while playing with another dog, started panting frantically, and I could feel her heart rate lowering and her gums then went white (very bad sign for dogs).
While they did see us in a somewhat timely manner, I'm not entirely satisfied with the visit. The vet was vague about what caused this to happen, which is understandable given no patient history or any testing, and suggested blood-work, though he didn't really think it was necessary. By this point they didn't seem to be entirely concerned as she started to regain colour and normal breathing. Since blood-work can be pricey, and he was not her regular vet, they suggested we take her home, give her honey since her heart rate was low, and let her rest and monitor her. We followed their instructions and she had an allergic reaction, which sent us right back to the clinic for shots. She was exhausted after all was said and done, and after a full meal, slept the rest of the day, and recovered normally over the next few days.
I got her in to see her regular vet within a couple days, and he was completely shocked they had suggested honey as it is chock-full of pollen and allergens. He said under no circumstances would he ever suggest feeding a patient honey as it is too risky, and said he would only ever recommend something like syrup since it is high in sugar but has very few ingredients. He guessed that she had a hypoglycemic attack and prescribed a high calorie supplement that contains no allergens.
I'm on the fence about this one, I deliberated rating it 3 stars since they were time-efficient, asked a lot of questions, and weren't too pricey. However I cannot get past the fact that they recommended I give my dog something full of allergens. While it may seem like something minor, my dog is a 6.5lb. Chihuahua, an allergic reaction in a dog that size can escalate pretty quickly and had we lived any further from the clinic, it could have been much worse.
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