I have gone to my previous vet for years, and have always been happy with the care my dogs have received. But a few years ago another vet bought the clinic, he is an excellent vet but there has always been something about him that irked me. My older Boxer, Roxie has a small little lump on her back leg about the size of a pea, I saw it develop about a year ago, or longer. With Boxers, you have to be careful of that because they are prone to tumors. My dearly departed Cracker, has had several bouts of them which were mostly middle risk, and had to have several of them removed. Roxie has only ever had one, which was removed, but was low risk. Soon after I noticed this lump, I had my favorite vet at that clinic evaluate it, she advised me to do further testing if it changed in size, but she didn’t think it was anything to worry about. Next visit for Roxie’s annual vaccines, they did a needle sample of the lump, and when lab tests came back, there was nothing of risk, and the vet I liked told me unless it changed in size or appearance, not to worry about it, but now it’s been tested and they had a good sample. We were both on the same page that we don’t need to do unnecessary surgery, especially on a 10 year old dog, as the anesthesia and procedure is hard on them, especially as they get older. Of course the clinic owner told me it could spread and take over and it needed to be removed. Um, it’s been there for about 18 months and remained the size of a pea. About three years before, he examined her and tells me she had a heart murmur and advised meds and treatment, and asked if she was lethargic or overly lazy. Um, no, no one who has been around her would call Roxie a lethargic dog, at all, lol. Well, you guessed it, she’s still fine.

That was pretty much my wake up call this time. I know I like the other vets there, but the money goes to the owner who is an alarmist, and is just the type, that if you ask him what time it is, he’ll tell you how to build a watch. Now this gets down to basic customer relations when doing business. With me as the customer, especially if I am dealing with something I’m not an expert on, I want the people I’m paying to be competent at what they do, be able to explain it without a bunch of mumbo jumbo, and not make things complicated. Also if I think someone is trying to sell me something I don’t need or use scare tactics, they never get another chance. I would never treat my customers that way, nor do I like being treated that way. I will do anything for my dogs, and have never denied them the care they need…..but those two instances, I knew my own dog well enough to know I was being hard-sold.

So I took a friend’s recommendation and went to Five Points Animal Hospital, on Woodland near 11th, and was very happy with how the first visit went, when I had to admit Roxie for having diarrhea. It’s very close to where I live, and they seem to have an organic, common sense approach, which I can relate to well. They don’t claim to be the cheapest but they are good. I don’t want the cheapest, I want good. But I don’t want to get hoodwinked either, lol. Their website is http://5pointsanimalhospital.net/ They were very nice, and got her in promptly, and were really good with her. And trust me, she can be a handful. lol. I always like supporting East Nashville merchants, as I am one of them myself. I really believe that buying locally sustains our community for the long haul, and I recommend these good people.