Less than great vet experience
I do not recommend Dr. Susan Wynn in Marietta. We took our elderly greyhounds to her for acupuncture (a treatment they have been receiving for years). Let me first say this: she did perform acupuncture and she performed it well, but the overall experience with her had Tom and I practically in tears when we left. Here’s the story, in brief.
We arrived and there was no grass at the vet’s office. Inside, we were escorted to a nice, carpeted exam room with sofas, but the office staff and nurse were sort of distant. We were given a lot of pages to fill out, and one of them told us all about how Dr. Wynn lectures all over the place and has two books. Seeing as Tom and I are IN academe, neither of us was impressed with this. We know lots of people who write books and lecture. Anyway.
Dr. Wynn met us and we discussed Stetson and Penny’s prior history. This was fine. She gave us some good suggestions about diet. But she told us a bit about her approach to holistic medicine, and during that part, she slammed our old vet a little bit, which was just rude. She slammed her nicely enough, as nicely as you can slam someone, but still. It wasn’t necessary. She also delicately talked down vet schools, essentially telling us that they don’t offer as good care as private specialized practices. I found this to be a bit odd, since she apparently lectures at vet schools and writes textbooks.
She didn’t greet our dogs in any sort of get-to-know-you way, but instead just knelt down and got to work.
Within MOMENTS of sitting down with Stetson she declared that he most likely has Wobbler’s syndrome, which is why his neck injury was as severe as it was. She said another breed of dog would probably not have been as badly injured. We tried to point out that Stetson had hit a glass door at 25-30 mph (no joke!) and that anther dog would have been incapable of getting that sort of impact because they wouldn’t have the speed. She continued with the Wobbler discussion and said he’s had it all his life. She said she’d never recommend surgery, but that it’s something to consider. She said this about five times. If you’d like to read a little about Stetson’s injury, how he got the finest care at one of the best vet schools in the nation, and yet they somehow still managed to ‘miss’ the ‘fact’ that he has Wobbler’s, click here.
She then turned to Penny, who is head-shy, meaning that if you grasp her head or neck she freaks out. Petting is okay; grasping is not. Dr. Wynn grasped her neck and tried to point Penny’s nose at the ceiling. When Penny wouldn’t do it, she declared that Pen probably has Wobbler’s, too. Again, we tried to tell Dr. Wynn that Penny is head-shy, but she just talked louder and talked over us; she honestly didn’t hear us over her own voice.
She performed acupuncture on Stetson but seemed to choose her locations on his body very quickly. We questioned her about this and she said that being super-precise isn’t the point. She also told us a lot about acupressure and suggested we learn it at home, which was a good suggestion. Her acupuncture treatment was effective; the next day he felt better. I won’t say anything bad about her acupuncture except this: she said she only believes it helps with muscle-skeletal problems and pain management, not anything else. And acupuncture, I believe, CAN help with all sorts of other things too.
So far, if you leave out the part about the Wobbler’s syndrome, we felt okay with her, even though she was brusque and uninterested in much of what we had to say. But then it was Penny’s turn for acupuncture.
First, we had to get Penny standing for some reason or other, then we needed her to lie down again. When Penny wouldn’t lie down right away, Dr. Wynn reached up and pinched Penny’s spine where she has a lot of pain from racing injuries. Penny began wincing, whining, and crouching, and after 90 seconds or so of wrangling, she was down on the floor. The whole time I was saying “Stop! Just leave her alone! She’ll lie down by herself if you leave her alone!” (And she would have; Penny is the laziest dog on earth). Tom was so stunned that he actually helped Dr. Wynn wrangle Penny (that old reflex of instantly trusting in the doctor). Penny is 11 years old. We’re supposed to be helping her pain, not inflicting it on her!
Later, Dr. Wynn wanted blood from Stetson because he’s been having a little discharge and has a tender belly. The guess was that he has a kidney infection, but she needed blood to be sure. She also said about five times that maybe we should consider going to an internist. Anyway, she and her nurse knelt down and attempted to take blood from Stetson’s foot. The flubbed up the first couple of needle-sticks. Then Stetson began to thrash and try to get away. I don’t blame him at all. She says, “Hold him down! Hold him down!” and he’s crying and whining and I never heard him do that, even when he broke his neck. So I said, “No! I won’t do it! You’re hurting him! I can’t take this, I won’t do it!” and basically had a little freak out. She did get the blood.
She reminded us always to call ahead because she lectures all over the place and writes books, so she’s not always in the office.
Tom took the dogs to the car. I went to the counter to pay the bill. It came to $377, which was about $177 more than I was expecting. I was stunned. I paid the bill, chatted with the vet student (I presume) at the desk who was nice and mouthed to me that I should “buy the dog food and glucosamine somewhere else because it’s a lot (she pointed her eyes at the ceiling for a moment) cheaper.”
We left feeling like our dogs were on their last legs. We discussed surgery and internists. It wasn’t until several hours later that we began to come out of this haze Dr. Wynn had put us in. Our dogs are not dying. It is not doomsday. Greyhounds rarely get Wobbler’s. You don’t need to rush to an internist just because your tummy hurts. Taking blood should not be so difficult.
We won’t be seeing her again, and on top of that, I’m angry at her for making us feel like crying for hours. I’m angry at her for hurting and scaring our dogs. I don’t recommend her.
I do not recommend Dr. Susan Wynn in Marietta. We took our elderly greyhounds to her for acupuncture (a treatment they have been receiving for years). Let me first say this: she did perform acupuncture and she performed it well, but the overall experience with her had Tom and I practically in tears when we left. Here’s the story, in brief.
We arrived and there was no grass at the vet’s office. Inside, we were escorted to a nice, carpeted exam room with sofas, but the office staff and nurse were sort of distant. We were given a lot of pages to fill out, and one of them told us all about how Dr. Wynn lectures all over the place and has two books. Seeing as Tom and I are IN academe, neither of us was impressed with this. We know lots of people who write books and lecture. Anyway.
Dr. Wynn met us and we discussed Stetson and Penny’s prior history. This was fine. She gave us some good suggestions about diet. But she told us a bit about her approach to holistic medicine, and during that part, she slammed our old vet a little bit, which was just rude. She slammed her nicely enough, as nicely as you can slam someone, but still. It wasn’t necessary. She also delicately talked down vet schools, essentially telling us that they don’t offer as good care as private specialized practices. I found this to be a bit odd, since she apparently lectures at vet schools and writes textbooks.
She didn’t greet our dogs in any sort of get-to-know-you way, but instead just knelt down and got to work.
Within MOMENTS of sitting down with Stetson she declared that he most likely has Wobbler’s syndrome, which is why his neck injury was as severe as it was. She said another breed of dog would probably not have been as badly injured. We tried to point out that Stetson had hit a glass door at 25-30 mph (no joke!) and that anther dog would have been incapable of getting that sort of impact because they wouldn’t have the speed. She continued with the Wobbler discussion and said he’s had it all his life. She said she’d never recommend surgery, but that it’s something to consider. She said this about five times. If you’d like to read a little about Stetson’s injury, how he got the finest care at one of the best vet schools in the nation, and yet they somehow still managed to ‘miss’ the ‘fact’ that he has Wobbler’s, click here.
She then turned to Penny, who is head-shy, meaning that if you grasp her head or neck she freaks out. Petting is okay; grasping is not. Dr. Wynn grasped her neck and tried to point Penny’s nose at the ceiling. When Penny wouldn’t do it, she declared that Pen probably has Wobbler’s, too. Again, we tried to tell Dr. Wynn that Penny is head-shy, but she just talked louder and talked over us; she honestly didn’t hear us over her own voice.
She performed acupuncture on Stetson but seemed to choose her locations on his body very quickly. We questioned her about this and she said that being super-precise isn’t the point. She also told us a lot about acupressure and suggested we learn it at home, which was a good suggestion. Her acupuncture treatment was effective; the next day he felt better. I won’t say anything bad about her acupuncture except this: she said she only believes it helps with muscle-skeletal problems and pain management, not anything else. And acupuncture, I believe, CAN help with all sorts of other things too.
So far, if you leave out the part about the Wobbler’s syndrome, we felt okay with her, even though she was brusque and uninterested in much of what we had to say. But then it was Penny’s turn for acupuncture.
First, we had to get Penny standing for some reason or other, then we needed her to lie down again. When Penny wouldn’t lie down right away, Dr. Wynn reached up and pinched Penny’s spine where she has a lot of pain from racing injuries. Penny began wincing, whining, and crouching, and after 90 seconds or so of wrangling, she was down on the floor. The whole time I was saying “Stop! Just leave her alone! She’ll lie down by herself if you leave her alone!” (And she would have; Penny is the laziest dog on earth). Tom was so stunned that he actually helped Dr. Wynn wrangle Penny (that old reflex of instantly trusting in the doctor). Penny is 11 years old. We’re supposed to be helping her pain, not inflicting it on her!
Later, Dr. Wynn wanted blood from Stetson because he’s been having a little discharge and has a tender belly. The guess was that he has a kidney infection, but she needed blood to be sure. She also said about five times that maybe we should consider going to an internist. Anyway, she and her nurse knelt down and attempted to take blood from Stetson’s foot. The flubbed up the first couple of needle-sticks. Then Stetson began to thrash and try to get away. I don’t blame him at all. She says, “Hold him down! Hold him down!” and he’s crying and whining and I never heard him do that, even when he broke his neck. So I said, “No! I won’t do it! You’re hurting him! I can’t take this, I won’t do it!” and basically had a little freak out. She did get the blood.
She reminded us always to call ahead because she lectures all over the place and writes books, so she’s not always in the office.
Tom took the dogs to the car. I went to the counter to pay the bill. It came to $377, which was about $177 more than I was expecting. I was stunned. I paid the bill, chatted with the vet student (I presume) at the desk who was nice and mouthed to me that I should “buy the dog food and glucosamine somewhere else because it’s a lot (she pointed her eyes at the ceiling for a moment) cheaper.”
We left feeling like our dogs were on their last legs. We discussed surgery and internists. It wasn’t until several hours later that we began to come out of this haze Dr. Wynn had put us in. Our dogs are not dying. It is not doomsday. Greyhounds rarely get Wobbler’s. You don’t need to rush to an internist just because your tummy hurts. Taking blood should not be so difficult.
We won’t be seeing her again, and on top of that, I’m angry at her for making us feel like crying for hours. I’m angry at her for hurting and scaring our dogs. I don’t recommend her.
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