Highway Veterinary Hospital

This is your WARING!

So my Maltese has intermittently been bringing up his food. I called the Vet to speak with them to see if I could explain the symptoms and if I should be alarmed. No one returned my call. I waited several hours until almost closing time and called back to set up,an appt. since no one called back. I got an appt. for the next morning. (Hustle #1) Apparently they didn't want to talk over the phone they wanted me to make an appt.



Next day...I explained to Dr. Elise what he's been experiencing. She checked all his vials,etc. took him out and examined him. She came back and said everything looked Normal. She continued to check his tummy (squeezing, rubbing, pinching, etc.). She then says it looks like he doesn't want me to touch his tummy like he may be sore or something. So I think it's best if we complete an X-Ray, fecal exam, and cPL test. The way they do things is they come back afterwards with a cost breakdown on what your bill is before they complete anything. I almost swallowed my tongue but I obliged anyway. Didn't want to curse and scare her. The exam took 10 mins. she returned and WaLaaaaaaaa! Nothing found!!!! As I expected. He was clear as water. He looks extremely healthy! BUT I'm not finished yet. Dr. Elise explains that in cases like his they recommend that I purchase this Gastrointestinal Canine food for him to eat for 5 days along with these 2 different pills. And we'll be right back..... She returns with another balance sheet that adds another $150. Binding my total to 598.98 now. Oh and we noticed you called earlier and he needs a Heartworm refill. So that's been added...new balance is 636.36



I was so flushed I had to walk out and have my husband take care of everything else...b/c he is my voice of reason. I was livid to say the least.



Lets not get it twisted. I totally understand there are cost associated with owning a pet and caring for the pet, but I feel like this office preys on your emotions and you "ability" to pay.

When my husband and I walked in I felt like they assessed us and decided we weren't walking out with just a $63.00 exam fee!

I had so many emotions running through me it's shameful.

My instinct said we were being hustled. It was interesting how when we were at the counter paying the bill another customer walked in and walked straight to the back. Hence, they didn't want the new customer to hear what we were paying or me go off (which I decided it was no need for).

Find someone you can trust that won't price gauge you for NOTHING!



I'll allow myself to calm down first and call to have his records sent to me so I can find another Vet.



Again, this is your warning. I can't believe I was hustled by a dern Vet!!!!



***Pet parent client for almost 3years.***

Let me first start by giving a background on myself. I work in the wellness field and tend to take a holistic approach to things, unless it's an emergency (for myself and my pets).



That said, I had been using Highway Vet for about 2 years. There have been times where things worked out ok and I kept using them since they were the closest to my house. That is until my latest visit.



Our dog went in for a tumor issue. He is an 8.5 yr old Dane (they only avg 8.5 yrs), and I was informed that he HAD to be up-to-date on his shots before surgery. I won't make this a huge debate about how the veterinary world is woefully behind the times on the current research about pet vaccines and their frequency of use.



Needless to say I did not want to give him any vaccines, considering his age as well as his current health issue. After watching an online video from a vet named Dr. Karen Becker I was even more glad I stuck to my guns as she said one should never vaccinate a dog again with the exact health issue as ours.



This lead me to another vet that didn't require the vaccines. I'm really glad for that, but it also seemed after getting a quote from this new vet, that Highway was charging me $1000-1200 more for the same procedure.



Highway Vet has a team of people that are very nice, the facility is great, but their approach to animal health seems to mimic that of the human medical system, which is to focus next to nothing on good nutrition and just push medications, some of which have some scary side-effects.

Truly phenomenal! A month ago we relocated with all of our pets to Bowie. Finding Highway Veterinary Hospital was a wonderful relief after the stress of the move on our animals because this facility is not only warm, caring, friendly, professional, courteous, conscientious, and thorough, but also fully-staffed, convenient, knowledgeable, and reputable...lucky for our companions the list goes on and on! Thanks so much for everything guys, "Kitty" and "June" certainly appreciate you :)

James Peterson, DVM - Highway Veterinary Hospital - Bowie, MD —



At first I thought this was a great place to take my GSD puppy . Little did I know. I got my puppy at 8 weeks of age. He has had his first set of shots, and i brought him in to Dr. James for his next series of shots. He told me that puppies need a series of shots every 3 weeks untill they are 6 months old. I paid $400 EACH TIME for the vaccines. I spent over $2000 for the shots. I later called my breeder from which i purchaced my puppy and the breeder couldnt believe his ears. He said the puppy only needed one more vaccine, and the rabbies shot later. He also said vacciences should NOT COST MORE then $15 a piece. Which would make it max about $75. My breeder also told me that theyve been getting a lot of calls like this regarding vets charging so much since the economy went bad. At 6 months old Dr. James P told me my dog needs to have his baby canine teeth pulled, otherwise his adult canines would grow in crooked and need to be caped or removed or put braces on them. I found this strange. Ive had dogs all my life and never heard anything like this. I took my dog to get a second oppinion with a dental vet specialist. Who right of the bat told me that no such thing can be diagnosed with out xrays! Which Dr. James P did NOT do. The specialist also told me that it is common for dogs to have canines grow in croocked but ONLY in SMALL breeds. He said it was extremly rare for this to happen in large breeds such as GSD's. He also added that even removing the baby teeth would have NO EFFECT of where or how the adult teeth would grow in. Wich Dr. James P told me "once we pull out the baby teeth the adulth teeth will find their way to the whole where the baby teeth were and automatically grow in right". He wanted to do this procedure as quickly as possible because his adulth teeth were already coming in. When I told the specialist this he said, "He just wants to pull his teeth out and you will think that he solved a problem that never existed in the first place. His baby teeth will fall out no matter what. So by pulling them out he is not doing any harm to the dog. But at the same time hes making you think he made the dog better" . This made perfect sence to me, ESPECIALLY since Dr. James P wanted to charge me $600 for this procedure. I wanted what was best for my dog. But i later realized Dr. James P used me and cheated me. He knew that i got my GSD from a reputable GSD show dog breeder and thought i would pay anything. Save your MONEY!!! get SECOND, THIRD oppinions. Dont fall pray to their scam. They feed on the lack of knowledge people have about vet medicine and use it to charge outrageous prices!!! NEVER AGAIN!!