Pieper Memorial

Pieper Memorial is a unique state-of-the-art medical facitility for animals and pets that provides a wide range of specialty and emergency care. It is open around the clock and is comprised of board-certified staff with a passion for the loving and caring of pets. This hospital has many departments to treat sicknesses and injuries including an oncology, cardiology, neurology and anesthesiology...

If I could give it zero stars I would. Absolute worst veterinary care I have experience in 30 years. We typically see Dr. DeNapoli in Marlborough but were sent to Middletown to deal with a chronic pain issue and subsequent limp for our 9yo Australian Shepherd. (Mind you this had been ongoing for almost 5 years and was never fully resolved). He was treated for Lyme even with several negative test results - and it was insisted we continue to treat for Lyme even when he dropped 10lbs in 5 days from the antibiotics and refused to eat. He showed elevated white blood cell counts (red flag for cancer) but it was completely dismissed as "just an infection, likely Lyme"....for which he never tested positive.

A mass on his lymph node was completely missed by several vets until we mentioned it was there following bloodwork. Upon biopsy it was cancerous and surgery was scheduled. The day of the surgery he presented with a mild fever (we were told the cancer most likely was the cause of that) and surgery was put off. Rather than rescheduling, he was put on extensive pain medication and various testing was done to look at the location of what was determined to be three separate tumors. Surgery was again discussed but he was kept in the clinic for his fever (which subsequently spiked on the pain meds as a side effect of the medications).

I took him home on a Friday, 3 days after his hospitalization, unhappy with the lack of care he was receiving in the hospital and the blatant disregard for his stress levels which were denied left and right. I was told he was perfectly happy there - I'm sorry, I work in animal behavior, I've lived with this dog for 9 years, he was FAR from stress free. I could have documented his stress signals in a textbook they were that obvious. Stress is a fever trigger.

I watched him suffer for 3 days and waited for a new surgery date. When someone FINALLY returned a phone call, we were told his earliest consultation would not be for another 2 weeks and the surgery would be much later than that. The doctor's also came to the conclusion that "amputation would be an EASIER surgery" than tumor removal with no explanation as to why they drew this conclusion. That is correct, this dog's well being was put on hold and he was been left in a state of suffering because they wished to cut off a healthy limb as an easier alternative to soft tissue removal. Clearly by postponing they wished for his cancer to spread and the leg to atrophy and thus leave no choice but to amputate.

They suggested we stick with a "pain management" path - fentanyl patch, gabapentin and tramadol were NOT even touching his pain and I cringe to think what they were doing to his liver and kidneys especially being that gabapentin is NOT approved for use by the FDA in animals and the studies are severely lacking. At no time did they suggest we seek out a specialist who wouldn't balk at the task of performing a very complex surgery - no. They wished to keep the money in house. Greedy, selfish, lack of compassion, lack of people skills and common sense.

When I wrote this review on their facebook page, we were contacted and ask to remove it because it would make them look bad. When I refused they sent a letter in the mail with all of our records stating we are no longer welcome to bring ANY of our animals there now or in the future for any veterinary care or boarding. I'm ok with that because I'd prefer to use a practice that doesn't expect their patients to lay back and accept everything at face value while doing no research of their own and never questioning what is being done.

I prefer to see a vet who's staff is courteous when returning phone calls (if at all), or better yet, the vets themselves make the time to call back. Not here - here you will get staff members who call and say (and I quote) "I don't know why you are even bothering to spend the money on an MRI - I can hear him in back screaming every time the doctors touch his leg, he's obviously in pain".

I prefer a practice that is honest in their approach and doesn't have 10 different stories from 10 different vets, none of whom have consulted with one another.

I prefer that when I ask an educated question about how a particular drug is interacting with another drug and how and when it will be removed (ie will it be slowly weaned to avoid the most common side effect of seizures) that the answering doctor be aware that seizures are even a potential side effect to begin with.

I will never use Piper Olson or any of their affiliates again nor will I recommend them to anyone who wishes to leave with their animal in one piece. Atrocious the way this has been handled.

A beacon of caring veterinarinans working together for your pet246020attr:emergency careveterinarians

We offer a 24-hour emergency service that provides your pet with critical care seven days a week.

We offer a 24-hour emergency service that provides your pet with critical care seven days a week.. Specialty Services include Dentistry,Dermatology,Diagnostic Imaging,internal Medicine,Neurology,Oncology,Surgery,Anesthesiology

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Neurology and Neurosurgery, Orthopedics and Soft Tissue Surgery, Internal Medicine, Dental and Oral Surgery, Physical Rehabilitation