Eastlake Veterinary Hospital

Horrendous. Tl;DR: The new staff doesn't respect pet parents or the pets themselves as creatures who deserve a death with dignity. We were patients of Eastlake Vet Hospital for over a decade. Dr. D'Orazio was amazing and genuinely cared about the physical and emotional health and well-being of our pets. He was always frank and upfront about the possible outcomes of any given situation. He was there to cry with us when our cat had advanced cancer and needed to be put to rest. He paid tribute to our Newfoundland that he got from puppyhood to his last minutes--staying late to be with him during the pandemic. When we got a new puppy, he told him all about our old puppy. He truly loved our animals. With the vets shortage as it is, I made an appt with a feline practice to diagnose my 9 year old cat with advanced dental disease and a severe cardiomyopathy which would make surviving the surgery unlikely. That vet confirmed after blood work that it was probably the most humane thing to do to let him rest peacefully. I called Eastlake to see if they could get us in for the procedure because it's been where we lost all of our other pets and the staff had always been so kind. We showed up with test results and had already explained our plan--which we made with a vet who keeps the whole cat in mind, and doesn't focus on keeping them alive just to make people feel better. The vet-who I don't think even told us his name--came into the office and started examining our cat. He was asking about his eating patterns and what not. I was confused and tried to reiterate that we were there to say goodbye to our cat that we loved enough not to put through treatments that he likely wouldn't survive. It was then that he proceeded to try to talk us into surrendering our cat to the humane society because someone would treat him. No amount of explaining to this guy that this wasn't about the money--prior to his blood work up, we had scheduled a full dental removal surgery--made him just STOP with his preaching about how other people would do better by our pet that we didn't want to lose--but also didn't want him to suffer. When he realized how upset my husband, son, and I were he started talking about how he never meant for it to come across this way and he feels really bad and doesn't want to be put in this position... my son said, "This isn't about you or YOUR feelings." We all walked out at that point, all of us in tears, because this heartless guy seemed to believe that we just wanted to be rid of our cat and somehow putting him in a cage at a 'rescue' would be better for him than us stopping his pain while his whole family was next to him. Never, ever again! The few times we've taken our pets there since the staff changed, it's been cold, unfriendly, and nothing like it was before they took over. Having to lose a pet is incredibly awful. Having a vet staff who wants to drag your pet through treatments just for them to feel better is a huge red flag. I truly hope this is a lesson for him about how to handle the fact that sometimes it's just time to let pets go. He may see pets die every day... but our family didn't deserve having to justify the loss we were already grieving when he decided his feeling and his animal welfare agenda was more important than the cat and people in front of him.

posted: 08/23/2023

We like this vet better than our previous one at Mercer. They are friendly and accomodating. I really like that they try their best to make sure our puppy feels safe. We had a teeth cleaning done for our pup here and they did a great job at it. But we didn't receive my post-care information and had to call to realize that they had forgotten to give her pain meds. But overall, I do recommend them for pets in this area.

posted: 03/05/2023

Caring staff. I’m always able to get someone on the phone. We’ve taken our cats here for 15 years. Lucky to have them in the neighborhood!

posted: 08/19/2023

The vets and techs here treat our odd little dog with TLC. They light up when they see her, and their careful attention has kept her healthy.

posted: 01/21/2023

They really care about your pets. A little pricey but attentive and skilled. My dog recently had dental surgery and they called twice during it to update me and my pup is doing great after.

posted: 03/16/2023