Hoof & Paw Animal Clinic

I thought I would share my horrible and very frightening experience of taking my dog to the worst animal clinic in Belleville IL(Hoof and Paw) My year old Boxer Tyson has had a very large growth on his nipple that recently began to bleedConcerned I decided to take him to the vetUnfortunately his current vet was not able to see him in a timely manner so my only option was to take him to HOOF and PAW When I arrived I noticed they were very busyIt took the front employees some time to acknowledge I was there but I thought oh no big deal I know what it's like to be busy at workI finally checked Tyson in and we waited for almost an hour to see the vet The first vet to see him was an older woman who asked some questions and mostly listened to my opinion of what I thought it may beShe looked him over, left, and said she would be right backAbout minutes later an older male vet came in and asked some questions about his age and also looked him overHe then asked where I usually take him and after I responded the vet said "well why did you bring him here." I told the vet I coulnt get him in and this was the earliest appointment I could findThe vet then said "well he is years old and it's at this age for boxers to get tumors and he will continue to get them." I asked him if the tumor was malignant or benign and if we could run some testsHe then said "well he is years old and at the end of his life so it wouldn't matter." I was completely shockedI couldnt believe this vet was telling me my dog didn't matterI should have left immediately but for some strange reason I just stood thereThe vet then informed me that the best thing to do is remove his nippleI informed him that my dog is very nervous and rarely let's me "doctor" him upThe vet put a muzzle on my dog which was appropriate and began to place tiny rubber bands around my dogs nipple so that it would fall off on its ownMy dog immediately became agitated and started thrashing on the groundAt this point it's was just me and this older make vet trying to hold down my very frightened dogI could no longer man handle my 75lb Boxer and went to let him free when out of nowhere the vet takes my dogs hind legs lifts him off the ground and slams him down on the ground at which point my dog forcefully hit his head upon fallingI immediately started panicking saying to the vet that my dog was too agitatedThe vets only response was "just hold his front leg." This battle of me trying to get the vet to stop and him yelling at me to hold his leg went on until my dog slammed his head so hard that he nearly passed outOnce the vet finished putting the final rubber band on my dogs nipple he removed the muzzleMy dog then layed on the ground with his head down for what seemed like eternityI thought oh no he killed my dogTyson finally stood up obviously shaken and wobblyI must have had a look of terror on my face when the vet looked at my dog and said "he is only like that because you have probably never messed with him." I just thought please let me get out of here and let my dog be OKOnce I got to my car I noticed the scratches and blood coming from my arm that occurred while attempting to "hold" my dog down Today was a horrible experience for both my dog and IMy hope is that no one will ever experience this terrorThankfully my dog is still alive but who's knows what kind of head injuries he might haveI will be taking him to our vet for a checkup and I pray that he was not severely injured

I thought I would share my horrible and very frightening experience of taking my dog to the worst animal clinic in Belleville IL(Hoof and Paw)
My year old Boxer Tyson has had a very large growth on his nipple that recently began to bleedConcerned I decided to take him to the vetUnfortunately his current vet was not able to see him in a timely manner so my only option was to take him to HOOF and PAW
When I arrived I noticed they were very busyIt took the front employees some time to acknowledge I was there but I thought oh no big deal I know what it's like to be busy at workI finally checked Tyson in and we waited for almost an hour to see the vet
The first vet to see him was an older woman who asked some questions and mostly listened to my opinion of what I thought it may beShe looked him over, left, and said she would be right backAbout minutes later an older male vet came in and asked some questions about his age and also looked him overHe then asked where I usually take him and after I responded the vet said "well why did you bring him here." I told the vet I coulnt get him in and this was the earliest appointment I could findThe vet then said "well he is years old and it's at this age for boxers to get tumors and he will continue to get them." I asked him if the tumor was malignant or benign and if we could run some testsHe then said "well he is years old and at the end of his life so it wouldn't matter." I was completely shockedI couldnt believe this vet was telling me my dog didn't matterI should have left immediately but for some strange reason I just stood thereThe vet then informed me that the best thing to do is remove his nippleI informed him that my dog is very nervous and rarely let's me "doctor" him upThe vet put a muzzle on my dog which was appropriate and began to place tiny rubber bands around my dogs nipple so that it would fall off on its ownMy dog immediately became agitated and started thrashing on the groundAt this point it's was just me and this older make vet trying to hold down my very frightened dogI could no longer man handle my 75lb Boxer and went to let him free when out of nowhere the vet takes my dogs hind legs lifts him off the ground and slams him down on the ground at which point my dog forcefully hit his head upon fallingI immediately started panicking saying to the vet that my dog was too agitatedThe vets only response was "just hold his front leg." This battle of me trying to get the vet to stop and him yelling at me to hold his leg went on until my dog slammed his head so hard that he nearly passed outOnce the vet finished putting the final rubber band on my dogs nipple he removed the muzzleMy dog then layed on the ground with his head down for what seemed like eternityI thought oh no he killed my dogTyson finally stood up obviously shaken and wobblyI must have had a look of terror on my face when the vet looked at my dog and said "he is only like that because you have probably never messed with him." I just thought please let me get out of here and let my dog be OKOnce I got to my car I noticed the scratches and blood coming from my arm that occurred while attempting to "hold" my dog down
Today was a horrible experience for both my dog and IMy hope is that no one will ever experience this terrorThankfully my dog is still alive but who's knows what kind of head injuries he might haveI will be taking him to our vet for a checkup and I pray that he was not severely injured

From Feb 2018-June took my y/o lab to see about some runny stool issuesAfter the second visit, multiple medications, I requested bloodwork, Xrays etc(She had lost over pounds and was starting to not eat) They provided another round of medication again with no positive ending resultsFinally, during the 5th visit in months, they did an ultra-soundTheir diagnosis was cancer to her abdomenShe was swollen and full of fluidThe doctor informed us she had less than days to live and to prepare for her deathShe was having difficultly breathing and wasn't eating at allShe would barley get up to go outsideThey did nothing to help her swelling, which was pushing on diaphragm and creating it almost impossible for her to breathJust sent us out the door with my dog almost deceasedWe took her to a different vet and they immediately started assisting herShe had ltrs of fluid drained off her abdomen and she could breath freely againAfter several test/blood workIt was verified she didn't have cancer but had Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)She is now on simple medications and is breathing, eating and playing like her old self againIf Hoof and Paw would have done bloodwork when I originally asked we may have been able to avoid all of this and the near death of a member of our family