Midnight Sun Animal Hospital & Emergency Care

We found this clinic when we needed emergency care for one of our cats several years ago. Staff and doctor were helpful, informative and knowledgeable. We decided to make them our regular clinic and have been very happy with them ever since. Yes, emergency drop ins require patience and may involve long wait times. Appointments for non-emergency visits work well. Dr. Frost is a great cat vet, always helpful and full of ideas for dealing with issues when there are solutions and incredibly compassionate when the only solution is to let the pet die peacefully.

Warning, this review is not for the faint of heart.
I took my best friend, Pedro, a long haired Chihuahua to the Diamond Animal Hospital on June 13th, 2017. The visit was to find out what was causing him to act abnormally since he had been in a fight with my French Bulldog Mack on June 9th, 2017. It took 45 minutes to see the vet around 2:45 as walk in appointments start at 2:00pm. As per usual, around 5 employees stood around behind the receptionist desk during my wait speaking about things other than work.
We went back for the exam in a regular vet room and an assistant took Pedro's vitals and let me know the vet would be in. Half an hour later in walked Emily Mehlman the vet. She had seen all 3 of my dogs before for minor shots and check ups and seemed competent enough during those visits. I let her know the dogs had been in a fight over a toy and Pedro had been acting funny ever since; not eating, acting wounded, and not wanting to leave his crate. I let her know I didn't know if it was a broken bone, bite wound, or something happened to an organ. I also reminded her of Pedro's poor teeth and our plan to extract all the teeth he had left when the time was appropriate.
She began her exam by feeling Pedro from tail to head. After that she took a treat and waived it in front of his face appearing to test for range of motion. She let me know she believed he had a strained neck. I said, "Geez are you sure we don't need to do any xrays or blood work?" She responded, "No, I am sure of it he has a sprained neck." I thought to myself she is the expert she must know what she is talking about even though this exam was only 5 minutes. She prescribed Pedro 3 different pain medications and let me know he might act like he feels better with the meds but keep him from doing anything strenuous with the other dogs and moving around to much. I asked general questions about how long it would take to heal and she said a month.
With Pedro home and taking the meds he did act like he felt better. He was moving around like normal but I kept him in his crate and kept his interaction with my 2 French Bulldogs to a minimum.
3 weeks in he just hadn't quite turned the corner to being 100% so I felt him up and down and found an abnormal clump of hair on his neck. Sure enough he had a bite wound. I cut some of the hair around it and it looked pretty bad.
I called Diamond Animal Hospital and let them know the next day they had misdiagnosed his injury. My point of view I expressed to them was they could treat him for free or I would come get the paperwork for all three of my dogs and take my business elsewhere. The owner of the Hospital called me and let me know she believed it was my fault and that Pedro had been bitten after the visit he originally came in for. She said they couldn't examen a dog head to toe for a bite injury without shaving their entire body.
If I told you the dogs had been in a fight why not shave his neck to check for a bite wound do to that is where you believe he has an injury? Or check it more thoroughly then a 5 minute exam? Shouldn't it be routine to check for a bite wound after I tell you the dogs had been in a fight?
I went and grabbed my paperwork from Diamond Animal Hospital and took Pedro to another vet clinic in town. The other vet said that they should have absolutely caught the bite wound during the first visit.
We tried to help Pedro fight the infection but it was too much for him to overcome. The bite wound met up with his bad dental health and ran wild. I had to make the ultimate decision to put him to sleep because the infection kept spreading and opened up a massive hole in his cheek.
If you truly love your pets like I do avoid Diamond Animal Hospital like the plague.
Hypocritically Mehlman proclaims herself to have an interest in wound management in her bio on their website.

The staff at Diamond Animal Hospital were and are awesome. Our dog of 17 years
was in his last days and the staff helped my wife get through this tough time. The amount of thoughtfulness and caring was real. The entire staff sent and signed a sympathy and condolences card. We have taken my son's min pin there a few times and they are really abount helping the animals and considerate of owners pocketbook. I will continue to reccommend and use this awesome clinic

the only reason this place gets one star Is cause they are open 24hr; otherwise they don't deserve any stars!! my dog had its chest ripped open and the skin/fur was just flapping...it was so horrible and you can tell my 10yr old dog was in a lot of pain, and when we arrived they informed me that it would cost me $750 for meds and to sow my dog up and if I didn't pay it in full that they could not treat my dog...I was in hysterics!! I didn't have that kind of money and after 30min of trying to borrow, and gather whatever money I possibly could (my dog is painfully waiting) they come back with another estimate of $250 which they would staple rather than sow, and I would have to buy meds separately...BASICALLY $250 WAS THE BARE MINIMUM COST OF THE TREATMENT WHICH IS ALL THAT MY DOG REALLY NEEDED. So borrowed the money and paid the $250. When I went to pick my dog up, they informed me that they sowed my dog rather than stapled him (stapling him is way cheaper than sowing I guess) and told me that I was charged an additional $100 for the procedure. THEY CHARGED ME FOR THE PROCEDURE WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND EXPECTED ME TO PAY ANOTHER $100 WHEN I WENT TO PICK MY DOG UP. I SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO PAY THE ADDTL $100 SINCE THEY NEVER INFORMED ME OR HAD MY CONSENT TO STITCH MY DOG. MY DOG WAS SUPPOSE TO GET STAPLES. STARTED TO OBJECT, BUT THEY conned me into thinking that they gave me such a WONDERFUL DEAL ....Paid a total of $350 for a procedure that was $750!! They told me to come back in 2 weeks so that they can take out the stitches....They did such a wonderful job on the stiches that i was back there within 5 days cause the stiches came undone!!!( NOT ALL, BUT ATLEAST HALF) When I went in to show them the stitching was coming undone assuming that they would redo the part that came undone but NO..THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY DID. THE VET SAID THAT THEY COULD NOT JUST REDO PART OF THE STITCHES) NEEDED TO REDO THE ENTIRE OPERATION (PUT MY DOG UNDER ANASTESIA, AND DO THE WHOLE NINE YARDS OVER) AND THEY WOULD ONLY CHARGE ME $450!!! iI TOLD THE UNCARING, GREEDY MONEY HUNGRY VET TO SHOVE IT!! I PAID MORE THAN I NEEDED TOO, AND HAD THE COURTESY TO STAY QUIET FOR THE SAKE OF MY DOG...BUT NO MORE!! I WOULD NOT RECCOMMEND OR ADVISE ANY ONE TO TAKE THEIR PETS TO DIAMOND ANIMAL HOSPITAL. EVEN IF MY DOGS LIFE DEPENDED ON IT, I WILL NEVER TAKE ANY OF MY DOGS THERE...THEY HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT HOME AND A GREATER ONE ELSEWHERE.

I took my dog to this hospital and received the best service I have had at any animal clinic I have ever been to. They were very caring and made sure I understood everything that was being done. I would use them anytime and recommend them to all my friends and anyone else asking. If you want the best service and caring employees, take your pet here.

I recently had to take my dog Scarlett into Diamond Animal Hospital. She had tortion of the stomach and I was told it was going to cost me $3,500 dollars for the surgery to fix her. Since I could not afford this, they told me that if I signed the dog over to the vet, they would do the surgery and find her a home. With only 15 minutes to make a descision, I signed over my pet to these people. I called this morning to see if she made it through the night and they told me "Scarlett is no longer your pet, so she is no longer your concern and we cannot give out that information". This response was cruel and has caused a lot of anguish for me and my family. I will never have a nice thing to say about them or for them.

I have taken my pets (dogs and cats) to Diamond for many years for care. Every doctor I have encountered there has been professional, courteous, and they seem to genuinely care about my pet. Drs Riddle and Merrigan have helped my dog Midnight out on several occasions. Both are exceptional vets and I am glad to call Diamond Animal Hospital my regular vet hospital. They are the best in Anchorage!!!

I have been to a few clinics in the area over the years, and this one by far is one of the best I have been to. Both the technicians and the veterinarians there are helpful, smart, and are always friendly to and respectful of my pets. The best part is that they are open 24 hours a day. They schedule appointments during their normal business hours giving me the benefit of a great relationship with the day doctors, but if any of my little critters has a problem after hours, I can bring them in whenever I need to. Having vets that I can trust with my pets day or night is a huge relief! Thank you Diamond! Keep up the great work!