Companion Care Pet Hospital

Michelle Simone

I want to start off by saying I want to be fair with this review. The front staff are very kind and helpful. They have worked with me time and time again to get my dog in on last minute visits on multiple occasions and credit is given where credit is due. HOWEVER: back in April, I rushed our Weim to this hospital. He overall was not doing well, and had a dangerously high fever. They very much saved his life then. They got us the diagnosis he needed. Dr. P admitted she had not worked with many dogs who have his condition which was confirmed by herself, radiologist studies, and othopedics specialist review. When Dr. P wasn’t certain of a treatment plan moving forward she referred us out to blue pearl specialists of East Orlando in May. We consulted with the specialist who then sent her findings back to this office in May. This is important to note. May of 2023. We began a carefully vaccinating our boy between May and now, Dr. P has seen us multiple times between May and now. Our dog has HOD, if you don’t know what it is- consider yourself lucky. Our specialist recommended we follow through treating our dog with steroids, should he have a flare in the future. Our specialist sent the most recent and breed specific research available to this office with her recommendations to keep on file. On 9/20/2023 Riku relapsed, and began to flare. Overnight his fever shot up and we got him in next day to be hospitalized on fluids, and steroids thanks to the floating vet who was in that day. She followed our specialists directions. Things took a turn for the worst when we went for our recheck a week later with Dr. P, who was not happy that Riku was on steroids but he was on them so there wasn’t anything she could do because you can’t just stop taking them. At the recheck Riku was doing much better, she recommended we could do a 5 day taper or keep the 7 day taper schedule on my discretion. I kept the 7, as Riku has a auto inflammatory disease- he would need more time than a healthy dog to recouperate. A few days later when we dropped down to giving Riku prednisone once a day Riku was showing signs of being in immense pain, and I could not touch him without him screaming and trying to bite me. I called the office, to let Dr. P know, and instead of recognizing he was suffering from his current flare she prescribed him some Gabpentin for his pain- when what he really needed was to continue his prednisone. The next day he could not get up on his own without assistance, the gabapentin was doing absolutely nothing for him. By Thursday 10/5 he was unable to walk. I called at 4 pm that day to let her know and she stated he needed fluids that they couldn’t give him. We rushed him to VEC, where they gave him additional pain meds and sent us home. The next morning I followed up with Dr. P, and explained that the opioids he was given didn’t help, his fever was spiking and he needed to be hospitalized, yet again. They got his fever under control, and gave him more opioids, and we were prescribed a fentanyl patch to allievite his pain. No one told us that the medication he was injected with, would actually prevent the fentanyl from working until that medication cleared his system. Saturday 10/6 we went back as again his pain was absolutely intolerable, so they removed his patch and gave him another injectable opioid. We were informed he had “some” blood in his stool which I wasn’t aware of because he hadn’t been up and moving -he hadn’t used the bathroom that day yet. That afternoon, we discovered Riku had a GI bleed, the only new meds administered in that 48 hour period were by this office. We rushed him yet again to the ER. Our ER vet determined the bleed was caused by the antibiotics he was given, and by the grace of god- she had first hand experience with HOD dogs, and quickly administered the steroids he needed. Riku is mobile again, no thanks to this office. We will not be returning. You had 5 months to tell me you didn’t agree with our specialist. Your choice to ignore our specialist almost cost Riku his life.

Oct 11, 2023

Paola Narvaez

Pretty upset with this office. As a new owner of an 8-week-old Siamese kitten, I was trying to be diligent in keeping up with her healthcare as she was very young & freshly rescued from a kill shelter. I was recommended Companion Care Winter Park by a friend who spoke highly of them. Initially, I was very pleased with this office’s willingness & availability to do a drop off visit at short notice when I was concerned about my kittens’ sensitive stomach. I also appreciated the reception staff’s kind demeanor at each of my visits. The problem didn’t occur until our second visit 2 weeks later, when I expressed my concern for a growing patch on her mouth to the vet. The vet quickly checked over her vitals + her physical body, but completely disregarded the patch of concern and only took a photo of it to compare the next visit. I thought this was strange, but I didn’t question it as I’ve already been feeling like a bit of a hypochondriac over my kitten. If the vet didn’t think it was something that needed to be managed immediately, then why would I challenge it? (Lesson learned!) It was choked off as allergies & thus I began a journey in testing different kitten foods for her to try since I was trying to avoid this patch overwhelming her mouth. That didn’t happen & the patches/lesions grew to her body + ears. It wasn’t until I found ringworm on my own body, that I was able to put two and two together. This means my kitten has been running rampant with growing ringworm & it wasn’t even a point of mention for the vet during our last visit. I luckily already had an appointment scheduled for the following day. I ended up being the one to inform my own vet about the ringworm I discovered on her, even though this should’ve been the other way around given they had the opportunity to catch it 2 weeks prior. They didn’t have enough “iso” rooms, so I wasn’t even going to be able to sit through the appointment with her. At the end of the appointment, they returned her to me & after apologizing for the ringworm, the technician communicated the doctors’ obvious diagnosis to me. They ended up prescribing her a topical wipe & an oral antifungal which they didn’t have on hand. Instead, I had to order it online which takes another x number of days to actually get delivered. (Ordered 9/22 & still haven’t received) So, “upset” is honestly an understatement. I understand there is always room for error, but I expressed direct concern about the growing spot & it was completely disregarded by the vet. Because of their laxity & ignorance, this ringworm has quite literally taken over my kitten’s body when it was only a growing patch on her mouth 2 weeks prior. I’ve completely lost trust in their service & will not be returning as this veterinary office can’t seem to diagnose a case of ringworm even if it’s explicitly pointed out to them.

Sep 26, 2023

John Boghos

Finding and trusting a new veterinary office is as stressful for people as it is the pets, right? I am so grateful for CCPH! Everyone there has been so helpful and caring with our Bernedoodle, Mowgli. He is a large breed dog and has a lot of nervous energy by the time we get to the office. But they are always super kind and loving to him. The receptionist, Christi, is very efficient and warm. And from her to the techs, to the doctors, there is no drop off in service. If you’re looking for a new vet or have a new pet, THIS is the place to go. It is a bit of a drive for us. But it is 100% worth it. We are thankful that we found such a wonderful care partner for our buddy.

Apr 25, 2023

Lopez Studio

Always an amazing experience. The team is very informative and understanding of all my questions. Definitely recommend bring your pets here!

Oct 12, 2023

Stephanie Lindgren

I brought my Chihuahua puppies here. They were able to get me right in. Very personable. Did a great job answering and asking questions. Did not waste my time trying to upsell everything under the sun to me which was very much appreciated. Reasonable pricing. Clean office. Nice staff. Caring vet. I'd highly recommend them. I'll definitely continue to use them. Left feeling really good about my puppies care.

Jul 26, 2021