Fitchburg Veterinary Hospital

They took terrible care of my dog. The dog boarding facility is filthy. She was fine when I dropped her off for the weekend. When I picked her up she smelled terrible, even though they claimed she got a bath earlier that day. I usually let her sit on my lap in the car, but this time she had to sit on a blanket in the backseat so she didn't make the car smell as bad as she did. During her stay, she had a full wellness exam and all her shots. They told me everything came back normal. After her stay she got so sick, she got kennel cough (she wasn't due for her shot for another month, but she got it early and got kennel cough anyway) - I can only assume because of the filthy facilities? Her cough was getting really bad, so I took her in, they confirmed the kennel clung. They did an X-ray- they said she has had a collapsed trachea for years, and that she had a tumor pressing on her trachea- they said she has had this for a very long time, probably her whole life. (Why didn't they know any of this from the wellness exam?) [redacted] prescribed an antibiotic for the Kennel Cough. He said this was the most important thing to treat. He said to call if she didn't feel better in 2 hours. I called- they told me to wait 2 more- I called 2 hours later and was told to bring her in. [redacted] was really struggling to breathe at this point. When we arrived, the front desk girl, [redacted], would not let us see the doctor. She told us to go to another clinic in Middleton- They turned us away while she was in respiratory distress! why did they tell us on the phone to go all the way to fitchburg- just to tell us to go to Midddleton when we got there?! This was a 20 Minute delay that could have been the difference between life and death for [redacted] She was not able to recover from all this. I would never recommend anyone bring their pet here. As long time repeated customers, I cannot believe they would treat us this way. Camp K-9 is much better. It's a bit of a drive but the staff is friendly, and would never turn away a dog in respiratory distress. I strongly feel that if [redacted] had never stayed at Waggin' Tails and if the Fitchburg Veterinary Hospital would have been responsive to her breathing condition, she would still be here today.
After all of this they sent me a bill. I disputed it and they are insisting it be paid. They are stating that [redacted] underlying health issues caused her death... Really? [redacted] told me she had the issues her whole life. They don't think sending her away while in respiratory arrest was the issue? Or the filthy boarding facilities? Today when I called to dispute the bill they told me she died from an enlarged heart.. this is news to me. This business is not willing to accept any responsibility for their actions. they also told me that if I did not take down my reviews of their business they would contact an attorney for slander.. for what? Telling the truth?
Do you really want to send your pet here? If you want to keep them around, I would think twice.