DO NOT TAKE YOUR BIRDS THERE! NOT EVEN A CANARY! KILLED MINE! DID NOT TRIAGE HER CORRECTLY AND LEFT TOWN WITHOUT A WORD. NO ONE TO COVER AS SHE WORSENED. SHE DIED UNNECESSARILY. SHE WAS ONLY 8 Y.O. AND I MISS HER SO MUCH. SPLINTED HER FX LEG WITH A PAPER CLIP AND TAPE. CHARGED $460. THERE WERE OTHER HORRENDOUS CHARGES. SO IF YOU C THIS WRITE UP...AND U HAVE A BIRD...RUN THE OTHER WAY!!!

I'm of two hearts writing this.



My experience with Dr. Spindel himself was practically miracle. I thought we were going to lose our sickly pet chicken - instead, three days later, we bring her home and suddenly learn that she's actually our fastest runner.



Because of this experience, we came back with our cat.



Dr. Lindley is the one who primarily works with our cat. At the time, we thought her problems were tooth and arthritis-related, which we explained. The first thing she does when she sees our cat is compliment her "pinched waist" - a matter that has been frightening us. We mention our concerns, which she blithely ignores.



She offhandedly mentions an elevated white blood cell count, and that that's unusual for a tooth infection. That's as far as she takes the conversation before scheduling her for a dental cleaning and tooth surgery.



Our cat's condition is similar to the way it's been when we brought her in. Trouble eating, frighteningly skinny, etc. Dr. Lindley calls us up to scold us for not bringing her in earlier, stating the same concerns we had had that she'd ignored previously. She also cut her nails against our consent. We find out later that Dr. Spindel had vetoed the dental surgery, and I suspect that was what she was really angry about.



They find a lump on her stomach, which they learn is cancerous. Dr. Lindley recommends thus: get a $1300 biopsy, and have her euthanized during it if it "looks too bad" - apparently to be left to Dr. Lindley's already questionable discretion. She coldly, annoyedly pushes this multiple times on a tear-soaked family, even after being told euthanasia is against our beliefs.



I learn later that when speaking to my partner, once learning of the cancer, she'd dropped the disgustingly cutesy pet names for our cat (and her name and gender entirely) in favor of a cold, clinical, "the cat".



Without explaining why, and emphasizing finances over wellbeing the entire time, Dr. Lindley tells us "it's either the steroids or chemo" like we were children who had just said a bad word, without explaining why. The fear that she'd kill our cat on the operating table ruled chemotherapy out completely. The experience leaves me so jarred that I call and ask for Dr. Spindel the next day for a second opinion.



Dr. Spindel, who wasn't in that day, called from what looks to be his home or cell number within the same day. He explains the actual situation, options, and tries to comfort us. While I do feel he was overly optimistic about chemo, I also feel he came from a sincere place - something that was missing entirely from Dr. Lindley, who laughed as she informed us that she would not be treating her own dog's bone cancer. I realize everyone has their own way of grieving, but combined with the way she treated and regarded our beloved cat - it made my skin crawl.



Staff is generally cheery - no matter what. We'd been told by a cheery technician "it'll be alright!" moments before Dr. Lindley would come in to pressure us to euthanize.



While I would rate Dr. Spindel himself at five stars for what he did for our chicken, I don't dare bring anyone with teeth there again as long as Dr. Lindley is still part of their practice. I feel lucky we got our dear cat back alive at all with her on the job.

My dog died a few days after surgery at Animal Ark. The services started fine, consultation was good if not a bit high pressured, surgery was done quick, but the after care was terrible. My dog had a blockage in her bowel, during surgery the Dr found she had perforated her bowel. Operation was done on a Fri afternoon, but because they were closing at 11am Sat they rushed me to pick her up Sat morning. I trusted if the Dr said she was ready to go home she was - he's the expert, this was a new situation for me. I was given no instructions or a check list of warning signs to potential complications - in fact the Dr only seemed to indicate she was fully on the mend. While still in the Dr's care that morn she was so weak she had defecated on herself. While she was resting in my lap Sunday night she suddenly started breathing erratically and died - we were stunned. She had been weak since being home (but she had been weak prior to surgery plus she had just had surgery, so assumed this was normal), hadn't eaten (I had forced feed her a little), was drinking a lot but figured this was because she hadn't been drinking much prior to surgery. She had no control of her bladder - I attributed this to the IV and her drinking a lot from being dehydrated. After she passed the Dr told me it must have been her heart. But as I did some research I found all these things I described above were signs of post surgery complications. For example, these were signs of internal bleeding (there was also signs it could have been her heart too, but if the Dr was concerned her heart may be an issue after surgery why wasn't I given a list of a things to watch for that may indicate a heart complication from the procedure?). A simple press of my fingers to her gums and watching the color of the gums from the pressure would have shown me if she was suffering from internal bleeding and I would have rushed her back to the ER. I've never had to care for someone after surgery. I have no idea what to expect as far as recovery. I had been given every indication she was on the mend, no worries. If the Dr had provided say a "warning list" of things to be on the watch for after surgery, I would have been wary, more on watch, and I believe she would still be alive today. I had given her her pain meds 90 mins before she died - I read online if you think a dog has internal bleeding don't give them pain meds as they increase the bleeding. A list saying "If you're pet is still weak or weaker X hours after surgery, check for this" or "If your pet still can't control her bowels or bladder X hours after recovery then check for this" would have gone a long way towards saving her life. I've talked to other vets who were surprised she was dismissed so soon, especially given the perforated bowel, and who said they wouldn't have dismissed her until she was stronger and at least eating and passing waste ok and indicated a 2-3 day period under the care would have been insisted upon following such a procedure. When I questioned the Dr about the rushed dismissal, he claimed after care was offered - it was not. Her surgery was very expensive, but a little bit more to assure a 100% recovery would have been no problem - I would have gone the extra mile to save her. I believe when you enlist the help of a Dr for surgery, you expect quality care from start (ie prior to surgery) thru the surgery thru post care. It was like once the surgery was done, the Dr.'s obligations were done. Now I know, and next time I will make sure I'm more educated and not rely on the Dr. alone, even if it costs me more money (like return trips to the ER to be make sure all is ok if I am seeing warning signs the Dr has told me, or I know of myself, to watch for), because 100% recovery is the only goal. Do your research and make sure you get a Dr. who will make sure you are as informed as possible to assure your pets recovery follow surgery.

I've been taking my dog to Animal Ark for the last 8+ years and have always had a great experience there. The staff and doctors are kind and caring.

Last year, my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma. If it wasn't for Dr. Leia Lindley, I know he would not be with us today. She treated our dog like he was her own and was there for us every step of the way during his chemotherapy treatments. She made sure she was always in the office to administer his treatments and was always available to answer any questions and concerns. We are very grateful to her and the staff at Animal Ark!

I made an appointment to board my dog & was asked on the phone if he was up to date on his vaccines. I replied that they have all his records (from another vet which we have an insurance plan through & pay a fee every month for) & I believed that he was up to date. When my husband dropped our dog off on Friday (3 days later) paperwork was all ready for him which stated that our dog was not up to date & they were going to charge us around $250 for the shots. His shots were only 10 days late. My husband said he didn't know about this but had to give them a $100 deposit for the shots. They asked him to have me call to discuss. When I spoke with them (while I was already in another state) they said they had to give him the shots if he didn't have it done yet. I told them not to give him the shots because he could get them for free from the insurance plan we pay monthly for. I called his regular vet & they called Animal Ark & told them our dog would be fine for an extra 10 days but Animal Ark said that wasn't ok. I then got a phone message on Sunday from the actual vet at Animal Ark stating that our dog had diarrhea & was vomiting so they weren't going to give him the shots. When I picked him up on Monday afternoon I was told that they did end up giving him the shots Monday morning even though I told them not to repeatedly & even though they called the day before to tell me they were not giving him the shots. Every time I dropped him off there, which had been about 5 times, I was asked if I wanted the vet to do this or do that while he was there over the weekend. All they are concerned with is getting your money. I told them I wasn't paying for the shots. If they couldn't take him without him having the shots then they shouldn't have accepted him when my husband dropped him off. Or better yet, they should have told me over the phone that he was not up to date on his shots the day I made the appointment, or the next day, or the next day. They knew he needed them before my husband dropped him off because they sure had the paperwork ready and waiting when he walked in. We recently moved to the area from another state and had boarded our dog there around twice a month for the weekend. They obviously aren't content with getting the $72 for each of those weekends - they try to get money out of you any other way they can, even if its giving your pet vaccines & checkups without your consent.