Vet Recommendation?

We used to go to Stream Valley Vet for our two cats and highly recommended them until just recently. We are looking to find another vet to take our remaining cat to. Does anyone recommend another vet in the area?

 

I take my dog to Old Mill and have been happy with the care he gets there. Knock wood, we have not had anything serious though, just immunizations and eye and ear stuff. They are very good with dogs and very thorough. Also they always call to follow up and see how he's doing.

 

She's not in Broadlands (more in Cascades/Algonkian Parkway towards Lowes Island) but I've been very pleased with Dr. Deanna Mitchell at Animal Medical Center of Cascades.

 

We have been pleased with Ashburn Farm Animal Hospital - over by the Ashburn Farm Giant.

 

Another vote for Ashburn Farm Animal Hospital.

 

AFAH vote again- my baby has been well taken care of there by all of the vets!

 

Love Dr. Grasso at AFAH! Everyone there is very nice.

 

Deanna Mitchell in Cascades is great, worth the drive. We hated Stream Valley.

 

Absolutely! She's the best!

And extremely compassionate when I had to have one of kitties put to sleep.

 

Yes, top votes for Dr. Grasso at Ashburn Farm. Problem is she has a limited schedule. Also, top votes to Dr. Velling at Ashburn Village Animal Hospital. I originally took the boys there and moved them to AFAH when they opened because they were closer to me. Now I use both Vets because if your cat/dog has a procedure done at AFAH and they need to convalese over the weekend you can't leave them because they no longer have tecnicians checking the patients on Sunday. It's strange. You would have to move them to the 24hr ER hospital in Leesburg. The second reason I moved my 18 yr old Birman back to Dr. Velling is I personally felt he was more proactive when treating a geriatric patient.

 

Dr. Velling was wonderful with my dog ... and was extremely caring when we had to make tough decisions about her. I didn't care for Dr. Grasso as much when she was with Dr. Velling (I think that was Dr. Grasso that used to be in with him - have not seen her since she left there), but that was mainly because I felt like she was pushing accupuncture quite a bit and we just could not afford to do that.

 

Quail, can you talk about the reason you are leaving Stream Valley Vet?

 

We battled behavior problems between our two cats for the past two years, which was triggered by multiple events including the death or our daughter during labor, both of them being sick, etc. When one of our cats started peeing in the house, which was completely unlike him, we took him to Stream Valley. As a result, the vet put both of our cats on Valium to try to get some order back to the house, because the other drug (busparone) had not worked. We were told that Valium may increase the cats' liver levels and that they would need to have blood work in 2-3 weeks, but it was only mentioned in passing...nothing to worry about really, we thought.

This past Saturday night, we had to rush one of our cats to the emergency hospital in Leesburg because we noticed that he was not eating and was just lying around, which is TOTALLY not like him. It turns out that he had toxicity of the liver and his health basically crashed on Monday. We had to euth. him Monday afternoon. It was his 7th birthday and also my husband's birthday on Monday (And the VT shootings were going on as well. I am a Hokie and have a brother there now. Bad, bad day all around). We have been totally devastated.

We found out later that we should have been informed about the risk of DEATH from the Valium and we should have been instructed on what signs to look out for. We had noticed that his activity level had decreased, but we had figured that was because he was on the drug. We also found out that his liver level should have been tested 2-3 DAYS after taking the drug, not the 2-3 weeks that we had been instructed by the vet. If we had been told about the potentially lethal side effect, we would have NEVER given this to our cat. He should not have died--he was a healthy, happy, loving cat.

Also, we know that Stream Valley knows about his passing and we haven't even gotten a phone call from them. They did attempt to call my cell, but they did not leave a message. We took our other cat off of the Valium immediately and we just cannot continue with Stream Valley because we no longer trust their decisions.

 

Interesting. I can't confrim it was Dr Grasso that was with Dr Velling as I never went there, but as far as Dr Grasso goes ...

I have not had to opt for acupuncture for a pet yet, but what I liked most about Dr Grasso's approach was that she refused to immediately fall into the "let's find a 'drug' to put your cat on."

In my case, my BJ (13 YO when I had to have her put to sleep - and I'd had her and her sister since they were 16 weeks old - adopted both from a shelter in Philly before I moved here) was suffering from cancer. Rather than bombard her with drugs, Dr. Grasso and I tried a more natural (homeopathic) approach first. For a good year and a half BJ thrived despite the fact that she shouldn't have. Quality of life and continuing love and affection from my pet vs a pet who lived but was basically counting down the days ... was more valuable to me.

I guess I liked that Dr Grasso was willing to explore alternative options rather than just fall back to what a lot of human doctors do - write out a prescription for a drug that has more harmful side effects than the original ailment does.

So to sum up my long post - I liked the idea that she would suggest acupuncture - generally a less invasive procedure - before resorting to advocating pumping a pet full of chemicals that would cause all kinds of other issues. JMHO.

 

Sure, suggesting acupuncture is fine. We just felt more pressure over several visits than suggestion, that's all ... very well could have just been our personal reaction to her. I really could not do 4+ years of accupuncture. We chose options other than drugs as well and our dog was 14 when we had her put to sleep.

 

Quail, thank you for sharing your personal and tragic life events. My condolences for the loss of your baby girl and your feline. It's very sad.

Peppermint, I transferred my Birman back to Dr. Steve Velling because I needed an aggressive allopathic approach. I've always believed in holistic medicine (treat the root cause, not the symptoms) But an 18 year old cat does not have the luxury of time for holistic healing (wait and see approach) when he's dealing with hyperactive thyroid, pancreatitis, IBD or Irritable Bowel Syndrome and failing kidneys coupled with all the geriatric ailments (failing vision, weight loss, a little senility) He still has a wonderful sparkle in his eyes so I have to do everything possible to keep him comfortable. I do give him B complex and B12 shots along with his regimen of pills.

I recently took him in for dental work - AFAH was not comfortable giving anesthesia to a cat with his years but I felt there was a problem with his teeth since he picked at his food. If any were rotting I felt there could be a correlation (directly or indirectly) to his other ailments.

Dr. Velling walked me through all the precautionary steps they would take. He took x-rays first (AFAH doesn't have the equipment), put him on an IV, hooked him up to a heart monitor and administered a lighter sedative then what's usually given. While he was under sedation, they also performed a sonogram (AFAH does not have a sonographer) to see if his pancreas was enlarged.

There are two philosophies to healing and I believe both Vet practices offer a mix of both (holistic and alopathic) along with topnotch credentials and a disciplined approach to healing our animal companions. I would recommend both.

 

We like Dr. Cathy Atkins at Ashburn Village Animal Hospital. Our cat has a urinary tract infection, or so we thought. I called and was able to come in for an appointment 20 mins later. This issue popped up a few months after her annual. So I have experienced both sides of an office visit with Dr. Atkins.

 

THE best vet in the area, and I mean THE - is Dr. Tom Jones of Ashburn Veterinary Hospital, 20893 Stubble Road (near Partlows). 703-729-9200. He also has a separate Feline clinic -Feline Medical Care Center located in Gordon Park. 703-723-9940.

This man opened up his clinic on a Sunday to check on my cat, Sam. He's an awesome human being and vet. I can't say enough about this guy. And I can't believe that no one has posted about him.

 

I am so sorry to hear about this, I can only imagine how I would feel if it were one of my cats...but THANK YOU for posting this and at least letting us know if we ever get advice to use valium to NOT USE IT.

 

I have had good luck with Ashburn Village Animal...I used to live near there and one day my cat had a scratch on his cornea ... they took him immediately and were not to outrages with their prices.