NYC Veterinary Specialists

Doesn't Recommend

JMoug

Joined 2 years ago

Wish I Could Go Back In Time. My sweet, beautiful baby was tortured and killed in this place, after I spent several thousands of dollars there on treatment (half my savings/enough for a downpayment on a house!). When I brought my dog in and he was under the weather after a small relapse, but relatively normal (with a good prognosis for recovery), and 24 hours later he was in critical condition and suffering, tied to tubes in ICU, injected with 9 very strong meds and miserable. My gut screamed that something was wrong and that I should take him out of there, but they kept telling me to wait as it could be "unsafe".

The morning I was finally going to take him home they told me his heart gave out and he died. Then I found out he had been given no nourishment at all the last several days before his death. I'm convinced he was over-medicated/starved to death. They even admitted more or less that this was the cause (another doctor just after he died), then changed their story.

Some of the nurses and staff there were extremely rude and callous. The doctors were polite and helpful, but that's business.

I can't help feeling my lovely, sweet soul, my baby would still be alive today if I had never taken him there. This has broken my heart and devastated me. I adored that dog. He had been though so much with me; he was the sweetest animal, and had a real "star" quality about him. Everybody loved him, except this awful place.

BTW, the Better Business Bureau gives this establishment an "F" rating. If ONLY I had known. My vet knew little about them, knew none of the doctors there, yet heartily recommended them. I'm wary now, and no longer sure what to believe in terms of veterinary advice.

Doesn't Recommend

jc170

Joined 4 years ago

BEWARE. I wrote the following review on Yelp. I heard from three people, thanking me for the honest review. One from the Humane Society telling me that the reason is that there are not more reviews like mine is because they have deep pockets and a lot of fake reviews. Two weeks later Yelp filtered my review.

BEWARE: They can do any procedure to your pet, but that does not mean they should. They performed surgery on my Friend's 17 year old cat. The owner spent 18,000.00. The cat was hospitalized for 10 days, and then had to be put to sleep. How does a caring vet suggest surgery for an animal of that age. The cat would have died without the surgery. But the owner was not advised of all the possible risks on an animal of that age. Shameful.

Doesn't Recommend

Scsugg

Joined 2 years ago

NYC Vetinary Specialists. They misdiagnosed our dog. We spent $15,000 and our dog died. The doctors were constantly rotated so it seemed like we never saw the same doctor. we wanted our beloved dog to live so much, we would have paid anything. NYC Vetinary Specialists took advantage of our distress and gave our dog substandard treatment. Need I say more

Recommends

TimRNYC

Joined 2 years ago

Our Husky is doing GREAT!. Our Husky, Eva, has made a complete recovery after treatment for a malignancy under her tail. She underwent surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Dr. Karen Oberthaler was fantastic! Not only was she thorough and knowledgeable, she also showed a degree of understanding of our anxiety that we did not expect. We are grateful to Dr. Oberthaler, Dr. Kyles (surgeon), and the staff of NYC Veterinary Specialists for taking care of our Eva. She is alive and well thanks to them!

Doesn't Recommend

BAD HOSPITAL

Joined 2 years ago

BAD HOSPITAL WORSE EMERGENCY ROOM. PET OWNERS BEWARE...READ ALL THE BAD REVIEWS for this place...There is a reason so their rating is low and so many horrified pet owners are posting here. This hospital has the worst emergency room and understaffed. Many people like myself have gone in with a pet and come out without one. You won't even get a phone call back and these are the only Vets that are so above it all don't give out their emails. Leaving money aside the Vet's here just don't care you are an Estimate to them not about compassion or medicine...I watched a two year old dog die in waiting room because the non english speaking pet owners did not understand how to sign the papers for the estimate so they refused to give the dog a breath of oxygen and it died. My dog was screaming in pain and they did not weigh it and thus the next day I was not able to obtain medication. Less than One Star

This other poster has posted this link for filing complaints

How to file a formal complaint.

by DeadPetsDoTellTales at Citysearch

Those with such unfortunate experiences may file a formal complaint with the investigative office: Office of the Professionals New York State Education Department, 163 West 125th Street, Room 819, New York, NY 10027 Tel: 212-961-4369 Fax: 212-961-4361 To download complaint form go to: www.op.nysed.gov/opd/complain.htm

It is your legal right to request from the hospital and veterinarian(s) a copy of your pet's full medical records, tests, xrays, labs, etc. and necropsy report if done. Preserve all records.

Doesn't Recommend

Custodian

Joined 2 years ago

There ARE better alternatives.. In less than a year and a half, at least two (2) separate cats died without warning the day after Dr. Karen Oberthaler gave them chemotherapy at NYC Veterinary Specialists (see ComplaintsBoard, Vetratingz, and Yahoo! Web sites). My young cat was one of them. He was terminally ill with cancer but still playful and energetic when I brought him to her for palliative care. He died abruptly and painfully less than 18 hours after she injected her chemo and wrote in her discharge orders that ?Everything went very well today.?

NYCVS, by the way, makes heartwarming promises: ?We treat your pet as we would treat our own pets; we treat you as we would treat a family friend; and we treat your family veterinarian as our partner.? Unfortunately, Dr. Oberthaler ignored those claims in every way ? she refused to do follow-ups for crucial biopsy results; she did not confer with my vet; she failed to give relevant discharge orders that might have helped save my cat?s life; she never offered condolences. NYCVS?s slogan is ?Your pet is part of the family.? Yet they waited two months before responding to letters that asked them to explain my cat?s post-chemo death. Their idea of comfort was to offer me a guided tour of their facility to show how wonderful it was, while they stonewalled. They testily advised me to get over my cat?s death.

On my first visit, Dr. Oberthaler was cordial but self-serving ? she inappropriately proposed treating my cat with Palladia, which she was actively promoting, a costly canine cancer drug approved by the FDA, but only for dogs with mast cell tumors. She raved about it as if it were a wonder drug that could help cats with other kinds of cancer. But it had adverse side effects and at that time, no clinical cancer trials to prove its efficacy for cats. Also, Animal Medical Center and other animal hospitals had stated online their refusal to use Palladia for cats. It meant my cat would serve as a test animal for her ?off-label? research, at my expense and my cat?s. When I rejected Palladia, she lost interest in my cat, so that getting vital updates from her was like extracting teeth. Later, she denied that she had proposed Palladia for my cat ? despite the fact that there was a witness who confirmed she did propose it and had even given me the protocol and cost estimates for it. Chemo and prednisolone were her other options. The chemo, she insisted, should be combined with a chest tap.

Oncologists usually say: ?Dogs and cats generally tolerate chemotherapy much better than human patients do.? If this is true, then something was deadly wrong with her prognosis (3 months) and diagnostic or treatment skills, since two cats died the day after her chemo. Her instructions before and after the chemo were inadequate and sloppy: She mentioned only minor side effects (nausea, diarrhea) but no risks. She gave no warning whatever of symptoms that might indicate life-threatening complications or that her treatments could result in death the next

Recommends

Steller1

Joined 2 years ago

Expertise and Empathy Night and Day. When my 12- and-a-half-year old cat was was diagnosed with a squamous cell tumor in his mouth, the surgeon who biopsied him at my vet recommended New York City Veterinary Specialists for further treatment. I was fortunate. I walked into their airy, windowed, ground floor waiting room, which is comforting in and of itself. My even-tempered, and understandably scared maine coon was gently examined, first by an experienced technician and then by Dr.Lachowicz, a kind and thoughtful oncologist who gave me the treatment options (chemo and radiation), thoroughly explaining the pluses and minuses of both. Though I agonizingly decided against either, after four months my cat is still alive and eating, with pain medication to ease the process -- The cost at NYVS is fair. In the interim, I have called NYVS for help and advice, once late at night when I spoke to Dr. Bessler, on overnight call. Dr. Bessler, despite not knowing me, was friendly, of good humor and very helpful. I have subsequently had further dealings with Dr. Bessler and he is a is a true sweetheart. All the doctors I have encountered, in bringing my cat for further examination, have been empathic and knowledgeable, as are all the technicians, with a kind support staff, as well. For a 24-hr. specialty hospital, New York Veterinary Specialists also seems reasonable and is generous.

Recommends

foodexplorer

Joined 7 years ago

Compassionate and Knowledgeable. My husband and I found a small bird in the street, It must have fallen out of its nest and it couldn't fly. We called 311, 911 and got very little help. We decided to bring the bird to an animal hospital. After many calls, some places were closed (ASPCA, etc.),311 operator also sent us to a place which was closed. Tried our local vet which wouldn't take the bird.

It was Sunday night and finally we found NYC Vet. Specialists. They saw the bird for no charge. Dr. Bessler examined it and identified it as a house sparrow and then gave us instructions as to how to handle the situation.

Doesn't Recommend

Ralehman2002

Joined 3 years ago

Not Accountable. My puppy got his foot stuck in an elevator and luckily it was only the nail bed that was affected. I took him to the vet emergency room late night. Upon waiting in the holding room for an hour, they took my dog and cleaned up the wound and inserted the sutures, all for a modest $750.00!! I understand this rate, given it was an emergency room visit.

The very next morning the bandaging literally slipped off of his foot. I took him back to have the bandage put back on properly. They charged me another $67.00, for what I consider to be unacceptable bandaging the first time around. I could have gone to Duane Reade and bought some gauze and tape and done it myself, had I thought they were going to charge me AGAIN for what I consider to be a poor bandaging job the first time around.

Doesn't Recommend

canyongrrls

Joined 6 years ago

Nightmare for your animal - stay away!. They butchered my cat while withholding material information that I needed to know so I could have peacefully and appropriately put her to sleep. This is a chop shop. No one has called with condolences but they sure do want thousands and thousands for their opportunistic practice. This place is a hell hole for animals.

They recommend too much surgery and too many treatments all to get money while the humane thing would be to let these sweet creatures go with dignity rather than cut them into bits on the operating table and left to suffer with tubes and painful procedures for days at a time.

Someone needs to investigate their practice of preying on the frightened and traumatized owners of animals who will say yes to anything to keep their loved pets alive while they cash in. It should be illegal.