Orange County Animal Emergency Service

I have only praise for the OCAES. I recently took my dog there on the weekend of Labor Day. Dr. John & the vet assistant were fantastic, caring & diagnosed my dog's issue quickly at 12AM! Yes, it is costly, but it's a wonderful service offered in our area on weekends/holidays/evenings when other vets are not available- so I'm willing to pay extra for that service.

I've had at least 8 experienced here. Every single one has been bad. Either you wait for a long period of time (we waited an hour yesterday before leaving and rushing to Flannery), you get an uncaring doctor (although now they do actually have some good ones like Dr Joe from Otterkill and catskill), or you get gouged so badly in the price (it's about $300 just to walk in the door) because they know you have little other choice.

It's just a horrible place and has been for years.

I understand waiting if there is a bigger emergency. But if I'm there then I have what I feel is an emergency too - and even if the doctor could come in and give my dog some pain meds and let me know he would be with us as soon as he could that would be acceptable. To ignore us for an hour while we can hear them chatting with staff and laughing in the back hallway - well that isn't acceptable.

The cost there is outrageous for any procedure. Outrageous. You don't have a choice if you have an emergency and I expect SOME cost to be associated with being able to access a vet at 3 am - but they really take advantage of you.

I hate this place.

This place SUCKS!!! This is the second time I have used their "services". The first time I had brought my dog there for what I thought might be a seizure. The vet tech came in and took vitals. Then told me the vet would be right in. 20 minutes later I got pissed and opened the door to their back hallway. They were arguing over their McDonalds order!!! They charged me $250 for the office visit and bloodwork. All to have no diagnosis or even idea of what the issue could be. When I paid I was less than happy. The receptionist saw my business card in my wallet (I am the owner of a grooming company) and took a deep breath. Shockingly 2 weeks later I received a check from them for most of the cost stating they had "overcharged" me. BS! You know I am prominent in the animal care field and didn't want me running my mouth. Didn't work! Tonight my dog suffered a deep cut to his leg which required stitches. Rather than drive to the better emergency facility in Wappingers Falls I tried these idiots again. They told me it would take 1 1/2 - 2 hours to knock him out, stitch him up, and wake him up. They called just under two hours later to pick him up. 5 hours later he has not stopped crying. Supposedly they gave him an injection of a pain killer. He isn't groggy after being knocked out which blows my mind. To me, it's like they barely knocked him out or he's in such pain that it's fighting through the grogginess. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!! The new facade on the outside doesn't mean what's inside isn't crap!

I called to bring my cat in. I told the receptionist that my cat was in heat (which she was), and asked if there was anything they could do. The receptionist said yes, and to bring her in, and it would cost $75. So I bring her in, and after waiting 2 HOURS, we finally saw Dr. Clark. Dr. Clark was very unprofessional and handled my cat like she was a wild animal in the zoo. Meanwhile, my cat is a 7 month old kitten.



After the "examination" she told me yes in fact my cat was in heat, which is something I already knew. I asked if there was anything she could do, she said no and sarcastically said "I cannot stop her cycles." All I wanted was for her to be compassionate to the fact that my cat was having discomfort, and was scared to be at a vet that was handling her so maliciously.



Then, after all of that, and a waste of my time, she charges me $81 and tells me she will not argue with me about this. To sum it up, they told me they would be able to help me, which they DID NOT (and in fact made my cat feel worse), made me drive there and wait 2 hours, and then said there was nothing they could do. On top of that, they charged me even more than what they initially said.



It is my opinion that she is more concerned with money, rather than the well-being of our pets.