Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Value Vet to the Rescue

Every few months, on at least one of the various Eastside e-mail lists, someone asks for veterinarian recommendations. There are always many different opinions on who will provide the best of care for beloved anipals. Hoodspender, knowing how much we Eastsiders love our pets, asked me to tell about my initial experience with Value Vet. It's a great story because it shows how caring and thorough Value Vet is. It will also serve as a reminder that some vets aren't the only game in town anymore and that the ones who are slacking need to pick up their game.

When I moved to Inglewood in 2000 from the West End Area, I decided to start taking my pets to Mobley's for their healthcare needs. While they weren't cheap, they definitely weren't as expensive as my previous vet practice (Murphy Road) had been. I had some great experiences with some of the vets at Mobley, my favorite being the cutie-pie with the curly, red hair. I never had any problems with them until early last summer. We had recently moved a few streets over to a home without a fenced yard. My husband and I were hanging out in the yard with the pets when my extremely overweight beagle-mix Ruby ran after a small woodland creature. After much screaming from her people, Ruby returned after about five minutes. We brought her in and proceeded to go about our evening. Well, a few minutes later, I noticed that something was very wrong. Ruby was lethargic and drooling like she'd OD'd on Thorazine. I picked her up and rushed her to Mobley's. It was 5:50 PM. I arrived at Mobley's about 3 minutes later. They were to close at 6:00 PM. There were a few staff members standing out front, smoking and talking. I told them that something was seriously wrong with my dog. They told me that they were closing, but I could take her to the emergency clinic in Rivergate. However, it didn't open until 7 PM. I was freaking out at this point, so I drove across the street to Value Vet and waved at one of the vet techs to come out. I saw that they were also closing, but the tech told me to bring Ruby in right away. She and another staff member immediately started caring for Ruby. Ruby had a temp of 106 F, which was dangerously high. If she hadn't been cooled down soon, she could have suffered brian damage or died. The super-nice vet and staff told me about the gravity of the situation, but never made me feel guilty at all. They gave her subcutaneous fluids, an NSAID injection, and observed her for about an hour after their closing time. They didn't act like it was a big deal at all, staying open for us. While we waited for the pooch to cool, they even clipped her nails. To top off the life-saving experience, I think the total bill, including the nail clipping, was only around $75. I made a permanent switch that day from Mobley to Value Vet.

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Call for posts!

Hello Everybody!
Just wanted to say HELLO to everyone this evening.

Hoodspenders has gotten off to a nice little start this last week and I'd like to make a call out to those who frequent any of the businesses in Inglewood. If you have something to say about a business, an experience you had there-bad or good-something you'd like to pass on to your fellow East Nashville/Inglewood residents...let us know with the link to your right.

Also, if you visit, leave a comment, let us know you're out there. Pass it along to your friends

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