Fulton Animal Hospital

Do NOT recommend!!! Unless Dr. Spier has changed his approach to managing diabetic dogs, in my opinion his treatment was nothing short of negligent and he has no business treating pets at all given the lack of care our diabetic boy received.

For ten years we took our two large mixed breed dogs and two domestic cats to Dr. Spier without incident. One of my mixed breed dogs was dx. with diabetes in Nov. 2011. Was left in the care of Dr. Spier overnight to be regulated.

He was picked up at 4:30p the next day. We were given instructions to give him 40u of NPH insulin twice a day. He came home shaking, unable to walk, unable to put one foot down at all, saturated in urine, blood shot eyes, hoarse bark and slept for two days straight.

Had we not been home testing we would have killed him the first week he was home. After three days we contacted Dr. Spier because his blood glucose readings were hypoglycemic low. Dr. Spier said he may be honeymooning and to stop giving insulin. He never once mentioned that the amount of insulin should be reduced. It was 40u or nothing. He was, in fact, not honeymooning. He was being overdosed.

In December we switched vets and in March got a copy of his records while there. Prior to that point, we had considered leaving our two cats and other mixed breed dog in the care of Dr. Spier.

His records showed that one hour prior to being picked up to come home his blood glucose read 'lo' on the vet's machine. Meaning his blood glucose was under 20. He was hypoglycemic, near coma and death range. His records show that he was only given one shot of 40u of insulin that day - one shot put him in that state. Yet Dr. Spier felt confident telling us to give 40u twice a day. No notes on his record of his hypoglycemia being treated. The hypoglycemia was not mentioned to us at pick up. It does, however, explain why he was shaking and unable to walk when he was brought home.

His records don't show him being tested after 4p his first day there - leading us to believe he may not have been monitored at all during the evening hours. We will never know if he went hypoglycemic at night or if he experienced seizures as a result of low blood sugar. His records don't show when he was fed, how much he was fed and what type of food he was fed. His records don't show if water was provided or if he was allowed potty breaks. All important details for a diabetic dog.

A full diagnostic workup was never run on him at time of diagnosis. Turns out he is also hypothyroid - which would have come up had a CBC been run on him. His fasting triglycerides were 383, fasting cholesterol 1055 and he was suffering from chronic pancreatitis. Those factors likely led to his diabetes diagnosis.

Because of the overdosing he was not able to be regulated on the NPH insulin and had to be switched to levemir. His maintenace dose is 4.5u - equivalent to 18u of NPH. More than 50% less than what Dr. Spier prescribed for him.

Dr. Spier also never explained that exercise can lower a diabetic dog's blood glucose. Our dog will drop 120 points on a 20 minute walk. Given his overdosing, had we taken him for a walk we likely would have killed him as his blood glucose didn't have room to drop. Thankfully it was November and the weather wasn't decent enough to walk. He never explained that elevated blood glucose can cause diabetic dogs to develop ketones and that you can buy strips at a local pharmacy to test for them, as anything more than a trace can be deadly.

After reviewing his records in March we decided that none of our animals would return to Dr. Spier's care. They have all since been switched to a new vet.

Have been using Dr. Dattellas since she took over and was pleased until I tried to get a prescription for heart guard. Staff is incredibly rude and spiteful. I rescue dogs that typically have many health problems and have spent 10s of thousands of dollars on them over the last few years, and this place will never get my business again. Once you irritate the staff by complaining, they spite you and don't give you all the records to go somewhere else. Find any other place besides here. I have told all my pet owner friends to switch vets.

I have had nothing but good experiences with Dr. Spier and I, too, have a diabetic dog who was diagnosed in spring of 2011. Dr. Spier answers all of my questions, even offered to see my dog after hours on a weekend when I was concerned about his blood sugar level.

Asking questions is key when visiting a veterinarian because you can't talk to your dog once you get home, unlike with a child.

Highly recommend this animal hospital and Dr. Spier's work!!