Shively Animal Clinic & Hospital

01/31/12

Good clinic

by doglvrin at Citysearch

I have been using Shively Animal Clinic for many years. My experience has been mostly positive with a small problem in the past that Dr Mary Jane went out of her way to make right. I have a very sick dog and they have been a good source of information that has really helped me to keep her alive and well. They seem to be very good diagnosticians and don't mind if you get a second opinion for a difficult diagnosis. After having used several vets, I feel fortunate to have found Shively. The bad that come with the good....the excessive wait. They have recently raised their prices too. Still, it is worth it for the skill level of their vets and the services they offer.

01/28/12

Best place to take your pets

by staceyreed1 at Citysearch

We live in New Albany and 13 years ago when we were referred to Shively Animal by a friend, we took our very sick new puppy there. Dr. Scott saw our dog and not only did he heal her, but she was there for several days, during which time, I was called every day a staff member and updated about her condition. Not only was the bill not nearly as much as we had anticipated, but they let us make payments-who else does that?! No one.

Since then, we've always taken our dogs there for everything ranging from shots to surgeries, etc. One night several years ago, our big puppy, Noel, managed to drag a platter of chicken off the kitchen counter that I had coooked all day and set out to cool. I walked into the kitchen and thought "What'd I do with that chicken???" She ate it. Bones and all. I called Shively Animal Hospital and it was after hours. Once again, Dr. Scott helped us out by opening the office for us, meeting us there and giving us several days worth of dog food specially to help Noel's tummy digest the bones.-all for free.

Over the years, anytime we have needed anything, they have always gone above and beyond.

This past week, we took Noel, now 13, to the animal hospital because she's been limping. Dr. Scott saw us and recommened we have x rays done simply because he didn't seem to think it was arthritis, like we believed. It was bone cancer. We were told afetr viewing x rays that we could amputate the leg, take her home and keep her on pain meds so she will be comfy and most likely just have another 2-4 weeks with her. We opted to euthanize her which was hard to say the least. The staff was very compassionate and even Dr. Scott kept unconciously reaching out to pat Noel's back or rub her belly. Our experience was as good as it can be under those circusmstances and once again, they hospital gave us the option to make payments to them by holding our checks. Yesterday we received a sympathy card from the office which was a nice touch.

Listen, as with a human ER, you are probably not going to be able to walk in and get right back. If you're a pet owner and you value that pet as a family member, simply resolve yourself to the fact that for good care, you may have to cool your heels. I've never dealt with anyone other than Dr. Scott but I've never noticed any rudeness by staff there. Random staff members even passed along condolences to us while we walked out and waited at the desk to settle our bill. Like with most other things and situations, I believe you get out of it what you put in to it. If you're rude with them, they may be rude back. They do have an extremely stressful job-I can't imagine working in a vet's office-seeing animals sick and dying every day.

We can't say enough good things about this place and regardless of bridges being opened or closed, we'll always find our way there for our furry babies sake.

11/08/11

The cheap price isn’t worth the death of a pet

by BeccaAnn at Citysearch

I rarely do these reviews but I just really think what happened is worth others hearing about. I’ve always brought my animals to Shively because they are affordable and for the most part nice (other than the staff seeming to be overworked and stressed) I’ve always been prepared to wait and the wait was worth it for the price however, my outlook on them has completely changed in the matter of 24 hours. For one they’re hours say that they open at 9AM but I got there at 8:30AM and there was already a three hour wait. A women in line next to me asked one of the ladies at the front desk what time they opened and she said that “it depends on when the doctor arrives” and the women responded “so should I get here at 7AM?” and the women at the desk said “it just depends on when the doctor arrives.” It would be nice if Shively changed their hours of operation on their door so people that want to try to get there before they open can be seen first, for me that was the whole point of getting there early because my dog was in pain and needed to be seen quickly.

After 3 ½ hours of waiting I finally I got to see the DR. I had two dogs. An 8 year old America Eskimo and a 3 year old Maltese mix. Our America Eskimo had been limping; I explained to the DR that she WAS NOT being herself since Saturday the 11/5. She is active and she wouldn’t even take one step in front of her, we thought maybe she broke her left leg or somehow displaced her shoulder. The DR felt her leg and said nothing was broken, gave her an anti inflammatory shot and prescribed pain medication. I figured “okay, she is a DR, she had to be right.” I accepted her answer and we moved on to get my Maltese mix her updated shots.

I took the dog’s home, and my mother tried to get our American Eskimo to take her medication and she wouldn’t. She just got into her bed and went to sleep. That morning my mother woke up to our American Eskimo laying on her side in our hallway gasping for air. She had used the restroom on the floor (which is not like her), her body was shutting down. My mom quickly got her in the car and before she made it to the main road she was gone. She suffered a painful death and was lifeless lying in the back seat and we were helpless.

We called Shively and the DR was in shock, said that she didn’t show signs that anything else was wrong with her (not her fault) however, my issue with this is that I told the DR she was not acting herself AT ALL, this dog was normally energetic, she flies out the front door when we open it, and since she had been sick I’d open the door and she couldn’t even walk to the door. She had to be carried; shouldn’t that have told the DR that there was more wrong than just a pulled ligament?

Shouldn’t an X-ray should have been taken just to be sure. After my mother talked to the DR on the phone the DR seemed to think it was a spinal injury, possibly a ruptured disc which caused bleeding filling her lungs cutting off her air supply. Why couldn’t she have determined that when she was seeing my dog in person? How could she determine that by phone and not in person? I understand this was the only DR and they were busy but that isn't a good enough excuse for me. Why not do everything possible to diagnose the animal correctly? Even if it was something that couldn’t have been fixed we could have at least put her to sleep so she didn’t have to suffer if we had known it was a a spinal injury.

My family and I are still coping, with really no solid answers. She was a family member to us and now she had to suffer a horrible death. Why did I wait 3 ½ hours to try to get my dog help when she passes away less than 24 hours later?

Needless to say I will be finding a better vet, one that does a full assessment on the animals and cares for them as if they were their own. The price doesn’t matter to me anymore.

08/10/11

The Best Animal Hospital and the Best Vets

by Wayne624 at Citysearch

It is hard to read the negative reviews given by some people when my experience with Shively Animal Clinic has been nothing but great during the past 10 years. Dr. Joyce, Dr. Mary Jane and Dr. Joe have literally saved the lives of three of our Schnauzers, all with life-threatening problems when presented to them. I will always be eternally grateful for the skillful and compassionate care my pets were given then and continue to receive whenever I bring them to the Clinic. I couldn't disagree more with those who chose to say extremely negative things in their reviews about Dr. Joyce and Dr. Mary Jane. I don't believe you can find a vet in this area who will treat you and your pet with as much compassion and respect as these two ladies. The fact that they demand a level of excellence from their staff is just another positive aspect of the practice and another reason Shively Animal is successful in treating pets for any type of disease, injury or routine care. I personally cannot say thank you enough for the positive difference they have made to the health of my pets. Also, they provide this excellent care at a very affordable price. The wait at times can seem a bit long, but when you factor in the best vets in the area at a reasonable cost, I wouldn't consider going anywhere else..

08/02/11

Worst Hospital in Town!

by deepchisholm at Citysearch

It may be a great (or at least good place) to take your pets to but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT EVER work for this hospital. This hospital quite possibly promotes the most toxic working environment of any place I have ever worked for. The employees are constantly tense and stressed. Tempers run high. It's not uncommon to find people screaming at each other in the kennels. The supervisors literally sit or stand around while the "lesser" employees do all the work and cater to the supes. Dr. Mary Jane Fuchs is the absolute worst kind of person ever. Not a day goes by that she's not completely condescending to an employee....and that's a good day. When she's in a super foul mood you better steer clear because she will mow you over and cuss you out in front of everyone. She tells people they are idiots. She patronizes her other doctors. She lies frequently to clients and if you have a family emergency, become ill or injured, etc. do not expect sympathy from her. One coworker had to go to the hospital due to some unnatural pains she was having during pregnancy. She contacted another coworker who willingly covered her shift. Despite that Dr. Mary Jane STILL screamed and cussed her out for being flaky and irresponsible and then cut her full time schedule down to one measly day and refused to give her days back. She told this employee those hours went to someone who actually wanted to work.

It's amazing how she sleeps at night after the way she treats people.