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October 2024 by Elisa Galante
We took our sweet Muffin to them for a CT scan because he had his eye removed and there was a tumor. We needed to know if there was still cancer or an infection from the lump that formed by his eye surgery. Turns out the tumor had quickly spread and caused neurological issues we couldn't fix. Unfortunately he passed away just a short time after which was devastating as he was the sweetest cat to ever live. Dr Quiggly and staff was very kind and compassionate. They followed up w a few phone calls until they heard he passed away. Soon after I received a book called Cat Heaven, signed by Dr Quiggly and a few staff members. It made me cry. I only went there once and yet they sent me this book in my time of grief. I was so touched. I definitely recommend them for anyone in an emergency. Thank you to all involved and Dr Quiggly and all the staff who helped me and Muffin and took time to sign the book. I am very thankful. Elisa
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September 2024 by melissa passarelli
I want to be clear that the staff was nice and I’m certain that others who left high reviews had a good experience. My issue is with their triage process.
My service dog was diagnosed with a heart condition a few years ago. I brought him to this hospital yesterday afternoon when we realized that he had overdosed on heart pills 5 hours earlier (we are in state visiting my parents and they didn’t realize that a bag he chewed up had his pills) and, even though he SEEMED okay, Pet Poison Helpline advised me to take him to get checked out because the toxicity could have a late reaction and he has a bad heart. I explained this at the front desk when we arrived and gave the case number for the poison helpline. The vet tech came in about 40 minutes later for triage, and I repeated that he had a heart condition and the helpline advised us to come and she confirmed she had the case number. I later found out that all triage did was temperature and weight (not heart rate or blood pressure which was the concern in this case). She said a doctor would be in soon. At the 3 hour mark, I decided to leave because we hadn’t been seen yet and my dog seemed fine. Upon announcing that we would be leaving they were ready to see him, and only at that time did they ask me for the helpline number so they could check on the case. In other words, their triage process didn’t do its due diligence to confirm that he wasn’t an urgent case. If my dog HAD been suffering after effects, how would they have known based on his temperature and weight alone? It would only have been if he started to have symptoms and I pressed the urgent call button, at which point it could have been too late to intervene. I’m really grateful that this was not the case.
All told I was there a total of 4 hours and paid $157 to have them call and confirm the information that I came in with and then take his blood pressure. If they had done that in triage hours earlier, I would not have minded waiting to get checked out, or i might have even decided to pay for just that and take him home.
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September 2024 by Les Hunt
Awsome staff very caring
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September 2024 by Marcos Souza
We used the @Carolina Veterinary Specialists by the second time. Unfortunately, the quality of their services has not improved. The waiting time is usually over 3 hours, and the communication about total time, expectation is basically non-existing. Would be great if the owners of this place take better care of the business, customers, and processes.
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September 2024 by Natalie Chastenay Rinschler
Awful experience. Went to Denver Emergency first and was referred to CVS because of a possible neurological issue. Head tilt, nystagmus, off balance. When Denver ER called them they told us they have Neuro on call. We drove an hour expecting to be triaged to see Neuro. Turns out they only have neurosurgery on call and not neurology. Wasted drive.
Not only this but when checking in the front desk staff member gave me a clipboard to
fill out, it took me less than 5 minutes to fill out-I handed it back to her and she asked me if I was checking out! I literally was just handed the clipboard by her to check in.
Vet tech came in to take history. No one even looked to pull the records that were electronically sent by Denver emergency even when we told them we were sent by them. We went through symptoms again and history. I handed him a copy of her labs (which were normal). He leaves the room and comes back tell me we can leave our dog and then flush her system with normal saline repeat labs in the morning and see if her symptoms improve. They assume it’s not vestibular syndrome and think it’s from my dog getting into something in the yard that could have been toxic. First of all her labs are normal (normal kidney, liver and blood counts) and she’s been triaged already to have symptoms classic of vestibular syndrome not related to inner ear/infection (normal ear cytology). My dog is otherwise active and not lethargic. Vet tech tells me that the vet states it couldn’t be vestibular syndrome because that condition is permanent. What? How can you even make that claim when you aren’t the neurologist and haven’t even come in the room to see our dog. Furthermore some cases aren’t permanent. And why is this conversation with the vet tech and not US as the owners with questions ? You want to keep her, run IV fluids and run labs in the morning? What? What kind of sense does this even make… At this point we haven’t even talked with the vet and the vet tech is the go between. Of course we have questions and he can’t answer them. He states, “well I’m just assuming that’s what she will do, she is still with other patients.” Horrible care. Sounded completely incompetent, we felt disregarded and rushed as if they just wanted us to leave our dog and “figure it out later”. We decided we were not leaving our dog and not waiting for the vet, especially if she wasn’t even going to be seeing a neurologist. We already lost faith we would receive good care. We asked for our dog back and had an issue with even this ask. Front desk staff went to the back to ask and then came to our room to tell us they have protocol to ask the vet first if they can give the dog back. This is nonsense. If I ask for my dog back, you give me my dog back. I had to wait another 10 minutes for them to give me my dog. I had already offered to pay the amount I owed for the visit but that I was leaving. After the vet tech finally gave us our dog we checked out and left and went back to Denver Emergency where she called a Neuro colleague to at least give us direction through the weekend until we can get in with Neuro Monday. I do not recommend taking your pet here at all. If anything go to CARE. That was our first choice anyway but they don’t have Neuro on call and was the only reason we went to VCS thinking we’d see a specialist same day. Never again will we go to any VCS facility. Just don’t.
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September 2024 by J K
My dog was diagnosed with IMPA - had a specialist that tapped her joints and diagnosed this, they only tapped her ankles not her elbows. She died last week.
In the process of all of this, the doctors were rushed, didn’t explain anything to me, and do not understand that people that have no experienced an autoimmune disease in their pet do not know anything. I felt rushed during the joint taps, and rushed in my visits with the IM specialist. No one thought to inform me of taking my dogs temperature when she wasn’t feeling well - specifically with this diagnosis. I asked if it was okay for my pet to go to the dog sitters- they said it was fine. I want to think that they care, but they seemed so busy that they don’t have the bandwidth to care. When my dog was dying in their care, they never told me that I should probably stay with her- they did let me see her- but I was unaware of the severity- they told me 50/50 when they knew very well that was too hopeful. I am devastated by the loss- and even more so that lack of resources and education they gave me during my pets diagnosis and treatment.
If you are reading this and your pat is diagnosed with autoimmune diseases, get a rectal thermometer and make sure to track their temperatures. Just this one simple resource could have saved my fur baby- but no one thought about this- because they see sick pets every day- they do not know how to help people that have never experienced a sick pet. I hope this message will humble them. The experience as a customer is not good. Just because you are nice and provide decent customer service, does not mean you are providing high quality service. You missed the mark there for me and my pet/ and it cost her life.
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September 2024 by viper Leo
This is for the specialist hospital in Matthews. At first they were all very nice. Then they took my furbaby out of the room would not tell my husband or I what they were doing. The vet came in told us all these treatments my furbaby needed but not what was already done. Told us they would work with us on payments but when I went upfront to setup payments the lady upfront was very nasty. Told me we had to pay $3000 as a down payment or we needed to reschedule. I asked where am I supposed to get $3000 and she told me some loan options and then said don’t you care about your baby. What the heck. I walked off to talk back with the vet only to see them rushing my husband out of the room and shutting the door. I told the lady upfront I need to talk with the vet and was told she has no time to talk with you pay $3000 or reschedule. What a rude and horrible experience will not be back
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September 2024 by Paola Dayton
So thankful we came here for the care of our dog. They were able to take our dog in as an emergency Neurology case and I couldn't be happier with how kind everyone was to us. Our dog is very anxious at the vet and the staff were all gentle and patient with him. Unfortunately, we did not get good news. The neurologist educated us kindly and was able to give us some great information on how to make our dog comfortable. Additionally, I found the facility to be clean and comfortable.
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September 2024 by Kauawa1
My dog experienced rear limb collapse because of intervertebral disc issues. My dog had to have a Spinal MRI and neuro care. The staff showed professionalism by collaborating as a team to give my dog great medical care.
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September 2024 by Jonathan Woog
Typical and expected of an emergency vet. Formulated response - blood work, then x-rays, then ultrasound, then MRI, then whatever costly item they can add on. Spent 48-72 hrs under their care with no diagnosis or care for determining what the issue could be for $1000s of dollars. Plus, they mislabeled our dogs blood work with another dog’s name and had to come back to have more blood work drawn - no charge thank CVS, so kind of you! - to take two more days for results and no results. It’s a racket. They’re not about care; just about how many tests they can run and how much money they can make.
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September 2024 by Nancy Galimi
We went here late at night on a Sunday because our dog had a terrible allergic reaction and was full of hives everywhere. We were seeing right away. The vet was kind and explained to us what had been given to our dog and explained they needed to keep observing her progress. We were able to go back home the same night with our girl, and she was fine since she got treated here.
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September 2024 by Philip Boyce
Very friendly and caring staff
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September 2024 by Amy Schuver
Neurology had my paralyzed dog walking in two days - so grateful for their quick help and amazing care!
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August 2024 by Kellyn McNamara
*** Upon checking the website, it looks like the doctor we encountered is either no longer with the practice or is not listed on the site. *** Matthews Location *** My pup was unattended for half a second back in October and got into a container of meds that I thought were out of reach. I called the poison line and left for emergency vet right away. The nursing staff and administrative staff at Carolina Veterinary Specialists were amazing - so sympathetic, did a great job of explaining what was happening and seeing if I needed any support, and got us settled in an exam room to wait in a very compassionate way. When you're experiencing a medical emergency with a loved one - and yes, my dogs ARE just as much my loved ones as any human - the value of being treated kindly and gently can't be overstated.
All that to say the doctor we encountered was VERY cold - I would go as far as to say he was cruel with how he spoke to me and my mother who had driven us, as I was beside myself. I was still inconsolable when he came in, I was on the phone with my best friends as they and my mom tried to help me control what was a genuine panic attack in the midst of the office.
He started off strong, "Let's cut to the chase". He was clearly annoyed at my emotional state and was speaking to me with an aggressively condemnatory tone. He said it was "clear that he was already experiencing neurological symptoms" because he was "drooling excessively" and shaking... He threw a bunch of numbers, prices and procedures at us as fast as he could, seemingly, while I tried to process everything. My gut told me to slow down, to ask questions. I told him he's a staffy, he drools like his life depends on it... and he's shaking because even at the vet I had NEVER left his side until that night. I asked if he was sure the neurological symptoms were as severe as he thought, and, without apologizing, he went on to say that it's important to have information like that in "evaluating an animal's condition"... I told him that if he hadn't come in guns blazing with a 5000USD quote and "odds are", "we'll do everything we can", he might have been able to get that information in a less traumatizing way for "an animal"s family.
He explained that there was an outpatient course of treatment that we could administer at home, which I quickly requested; he left dismissively and a wonderful nurse came in to explain the activated charcoal regimen and pricing. We didn't see the doctor again before we left.
I still ended up still shelling out $1500, but it was worth it to know he was home and I could take care of him. He was perfectly fine. The cherry on top? Tests conducted at his follow up with his vet showed zero abnormalities - it was my vet's assessment that he probably didn't ingest enough of the medicine to start with to have experienced any "neurological symptoms", and she was horrified and apologetic at the experience I relayed to her.
Again - the support staff was great. But, if my dog's life hadn't depended on it, I never would have entered an office where that man practices.
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August 2024 by Scott Harber
These doctors really care. In 2022, I rushed my 11-year-old lab into the emergency vet. They kept me up to date on what was going on. After they explained his condition and that nothing more could be done, two different vets spoke with me, each for over an hour, each to help me to understand my dogs condition. They kindly answered the same questions over and over, explained that the procedure would not give my best friend the outcome I hoped for; and they patiently waited while I cried.
Last month, we needed answers on what was going on with another family member. The internal medicine veterinarian spent over an hour in the room with us answering every question with compassion and understanding.
