Northwood Animal Hospital

I had a bad experience with Northwood Animal Hospital. I had previously been a fan and had recommended it to many people, especially because of their outreach efforts in the community. However, when I was out of the country recently, my neighbor unfortunately decided to take my dog there after he ate part of a toy. It was just after hours on a Friday, and they said they needed to keep him, which they did for 3 nights. The bill was $1,000 without surgery or medicine. When I returned to the country, I called and left repeated messages for the manager to discuss the bill. She never returned my call. When I went in person, several of the employees were very nice, but the one person who assisted me was not very helpful. I again reiterated that I would like a returned phone call from the office manager. It has been over a week, and I still have not received a call. I work a lot in the animal rescue and shelter community and I have fostered hundreds of animals, so I have dealt with many different veterinary clinics. Based on the lack of customer service and inflated pricing on the bill, I would never return to Northwood Animal Hospital.

KILLED my beloved Cockatoo!!!!! Cloud, whom I found in critical condition around 1:30AM EST on Friday 12/23/11. needing immediate vet care. After calling quite a few vets in the local Pensacola area I came across Northwood Animal Hospital's info through a google search. I called them, told them the issue, and asked if they had a bird specialist who could help. They told me that they did have a bird specialist on call and I could bring my bird to them. I even called back to verify that they had someone on call because there was no one in our local area who saw birds after hours and my birds condition was critical. Again they told me that they did have a bird specialist on call who could see her. We drove the 3 hours to get to Northwood, arrived around 5:00AM EST. Once there they told us that they didnt have a bird specialist on call and we would have to wait until 8:30AM EST. We were charged $119 for the vet that was on call to state that she could do nothing for my bird because she did not know anything about birds. I was called back at 8:45AM EST and the Dr. Cavell came into the room around 9AM EST. The Dr. had examined my bird already. She advised that we do a procedure called a purse string suture. She stated that she did not want to do any surgery and that it would be best for my bird to see her regular vet for further treatment. Dr.Cavell did the procedure which closed my birds vent. Dr.Cavell stated that she was concerned about the bird not being able to go to the bathroom but she should be ok for a couple days. After speaking to my regular vet he stated that he never does a purse string procedure on birds because it can kill the bird if they can not go to the bathroom. We had left around 11:15AM EST. I did not state any concern at the time because I felt since Dr. Cavell is a qualified specialist she knew what was best. They never gave me the impression that my birds life was ever in any danger. After leaving Northwood I did call University of Florida at 11:10AM EST. who has an exotic bird veterinary surgical care team to see if I could take Cloud in to be looked at. Their soonest availability was not until Wed. 12/28/11. The lady on the phone did ask if it was an emergency situation and at the time of the call I did not feel it was. I then called my regular vet on the way home to see if I could get Cloud in sooner to be looked at, their soonest availability was not until Thursday 12/29/11. We arrived home around 2:45PM EST, it was then when I noticed Cloud extremely lethargic, had vomited and could barely stand, her eyes were glassy. I called Northwood right away 2:52PM EST, told them the situation and they told me that Dr. Cavell was not in the office and would not be back for another 30 minutes but they would give her the message to call me back when she returned. Our regular vet was already closed for the holiday weekend and we had no vet to turn to as we watched in horror our bird go from worse to finally dying. At 4:10PM EST. Cloud died in my arms. In my opinion from the information I got from my regular vet after cloud died about the purse string suture, and the fact that there was not a vet on call to attend to Cloud as soon as possible, which if I had known that there was not a vet on call who could see Cloud immediately I would have gone to Gainesville to the University of Florida, but I went to Northwood because they were closer by a few hours and I felt cloud was in dire condition. I feel the lack of medical immediate attention given, the procedure done, and lack of close observation led to the death of my bird and hold Northwood ultimately responsible for this death. Something I feel with the proper care and treatment could have avoided such a tragic outcome.