I called Westside around 6:30 this morning about my 9 week old puppy, who was vomiting and had diarrhea. The lady who answered the phone originally, was short and rude and treated me as if I was incompetent. She didn't care anything about my puppy or my call. She talked to me like I had no sense and was belittling me. I knew that my puppy was not ok though, and was still trying to communicate with this horrible woman. I asked about what would need to be done to begin to see what was wrong with my puppy. When I asked about the cost of the fecal that she told me that I would need to get done, she snapped at me. She never gave me any prices and told me to go to my regular vet. Still trying to communicate with this woman, for the sake of my puppy, I simply explained that I had a job that I had to open at and worked from 7AM to 6PM. She then slammed the phone down, putting me on hold. The gentleman that picked up the phone next, Darwin, had a totally different attitude. He was very polite and helpful, and he even gave me prices when I asked him. When I asked him the same questions that I attempted to ask the lady he answered all my questions with no attitude or hesitation. I told him that I really wanted to bring my puppy in to see what was wrong with him and see about getting him whatever treatment he needed. I asked him the lady who answered the phone first was going to be working that evening. He put me on hold to check the schedule and came back saying no. I did not want to come in if she was going to be there. I wouldn't trust her with my pet in a millions years after the treatment she gave me on the phone. Because of the horrible experience with the woman who I first spoke with, I honestly wanted to rate this clinic as a 0 star. Unfortunately, it forces you to rate them at least 1 star. That 1 star is for only for Darwin, not that he deserves only 1 star. If this review were just on him, then he would have all 5 stars; he did all right things to make me feel as good as I could. However, the lady who I first spoke with was a horrible person to deal with and made me feel so much worse in the beginning that nothing really helped. All I wanted to do was see about my puppy, who I knew wasn't doing well at all! This woman shouldn't be working in the vet field; if you can't show compassion and good customer service skills, then you have no business working with peoples' pets who are there children.

My three-year-old Schnoodle, Bernie, has epilepsy. He was diagnosed about five months ago, and has been managed very well on phenobarbital since then. Last night, though, he began to have seizures one after the other, about five minutes apart. I called Westside and Danielle told me to bring Bernie in. Bernie had a seizure on the way to the clinic and then had another one as soon as we got there. Danielle took him back to the doctor - Dr. Barnes - immediately, who got busy administering doses of Valium and phenobarbital right away, to try to alleviate Bernie's discomfort and tension from the seizures. They recommended that they keep him overnight on seizure watch and gave me an estimate of between $281 - 381 for everything, including the medications that they might have to administer throughout the night (we paid the $281 up front, with the realization that additional money might be owed upon pickup of Bernie the following morning). This morning, when I picked him up, I learned that he continued to seize all night, about once per hour, and I did indeed owe a little more money than originally estimated. I was happy to pay it, though, because they actively kept my dog alive all night as he seized over and over. Dr. Barnes came out and explained everything she had done overnight and what her recommendation was (to take him to see my regular vet for blood work and possible dosage adjustment). Danielle faxed my paperwork right over to my vet (Douglasville Veterinary Hospital) and then she carried my Bernie out to the car and hugged me before I left, wishing both Bernie and I well. The other reviews on Westside here made me apprehensive at first, but my experience could not have been better with this animal clinic. Danielle and Dr. Barnes clearly care very much about animals and they were quick to respond to the emergency situation we found ourselves in last night. As to other reviewers here complaining about the amount of money it costs, all I can say is that when you are paying for *emergency* services, you often do pay a premium. If my heater stops working in my house at 2am on the coldest night of the year, I am going to pay more for a repairman to come fix it at that hour than I would if it were during regular business hours. Plain and simple. In my mind, every penny of what I spent last night and this morning at Westside was justified, because they took excellent care of my furbaby. Thank you, Westside Animal Emergency Clinic, Danielle, and Dr. Barnes for providing a service that pet lovers hope they never have to use but are so grateful for when they are needed. You guys are rockstars.

We had to say goodbye to our Golden Retriever Mix, Daisy today. She was diagnosed with lymphoma about six weeks ago. Melissa and Dr. Barnes could not have been any sweeter or more compassionate. They made a horrible situation bearable. I can't thank them enough. Melissa brought Daisy to our car because we are taking her home to bury her and she hugged me and my husband and told us how sorry she was that we lost one of our babies.

I have a pug, While walking him Friday evening he was checking out some plants and suddenly acted as though he had been stung by a bee. Or at least that's what I thought, as he would 'nt let me look at him. I did a search online and they were recommending benedryl 1 mg per lb. the next morning about 5:30am I noticed he could not open his left eye and he was trying to rub it and flinching as though something was in it still. Worried that he may have damaged his eye I called the vet. To my surprise someone answered that early. So I brought him over, they took him immediately and examined him while I filled out the paper work. Only a few minutes later the nurse came out with a small piece of a grass blade and said she had removed it from under his eye lid. No Charge. I was so grateful, I was worried how much the cost was going to be and if he had damaged his eye. Thank God, and Thank you Westside

We went to this vet before and they saved our cat's life when it had an allergeic reaction and was the only place open at the time. Thanks to them we still have our cat today. Because of the great service we experianced then we went and visited them when our two dogs wouldn't eat and were being very lethargic, they were nice and the lady who helped us out even shared her experiences with us about her dog. The vet was nice and very helpful when we asked her lots of questions about when they (our dogs) would start to get better or what signs to look out for if it was getting worse. After a day or two our dogs were almost right back to normal. I'm a little disppointed that there are so many bad reviews on this animal hospital but every place has its bad days and when someone has a good experience they don't IMMEDIATELY write a review but if you have a bad one of course you're gonna write it!