Friendship hospital for animals Reviews

I had to bring my little 14 year old chihuahua in and he had to hospitalized. The amount of care that Dr. Roche and Dr. Murphy showed and did for him, was amazing. They explained everything in detail to me, answered my questions and kept me updated on his progress while he was in their care ( 2 nights) . 5 stars for the medical team, but I felt I had to take a star away for this place because of their billing department. The woman I spoke to, Katie, Was pretty rude to me when I mentioned that I was not getting their emails in order to pay the deposit.( they were going my spam), which she didn't even provide me a suggestion to check the spam folder. She spoke pretty condescending to me and just told me " pay before 9 am" and hung up.
This place is pretty expensive, but I just glad we were able to get a spot and had 2 great vets and their nurses taking care of my Little guy.

Worlds slowest animal hospital. You have arrived. Time on phone hold if not hung up on 15 minutes; 75% of the time they just hung up without answering. Time for tech to walk down to pick up pet 20 minutes maybe. Time for tech to walk down with pet after pet entirely checked out. Time 1: abandoned after 40 minutes of wait time. Ordered 2 pizzas for take out after last visit, anticipating incompetency. Went at 8pm to 24 hr animal hospital Not a single customer visible. When they eventually picked up phone, and said dog would be down immediately. Ate slowly yet ate most of one pizza. Should have ordered the tiramisu and cappuccino as well; who knew anyone could be so incompetent with the basics. If you cannot walk a dog then how can I trust you with things that are actually complicated. Asked to speak to CEO. He/She apparently does not speak to patients. The lack of customer service clearly starts at the top. Lots of fine doctors here and everywhere else. If you have an incredible amount of free time and like eating takeout in a parking garage this is the place for you. For no charge they will throw in a in a few surly staff and it could be quite an evening.

Hello everyone I had my dogs wife having a seizure by 3 am on the morning and we came to this hospital in emergency by 3:46 am and it s 11.50 and didn t have anyone coming to us and talk to us for the dog the service was really bad and if you want you need to go to an other and better emergency hospital they really don t care about having waiting for 7hours on them parking lot !!!!!!!!!

I have no real qualms with the medical staff and the quality of care given. The vets and vet techs genuinely seem to care.

This review is about the hospital management and non-medical staff:

This animal hospital is constantly at max capacity making it very difficult to either 1) take your pet in for emergency care or 2) receive information in a timely fashion (long call wait times or unanswered emails). For example, my cat was recently hospitalized. The hospital staff were supposed to give us a call in the morning with information on his status. We did not hear from them as expected; we had to call later in the afternoon (after waiting on hold for an hour) to find out they had not yet taken his temperature because they were busy since they were at max capacity. Why continue to take in pets if you are unable to adequately monitor the pets already in your care? If you are unable to respond to queries in a timely fashion, then why not hire more staff?

The price for care, tests, hospital stays etc. are astronomical and exploitative. Especially since Friendship Heights is the only emergency hospital in the district leaving many people without options.

The non-medical staff leave something to be desired. They are often rude and unhelpful.

I understand that this hospital is consistently triaging and operating at capacity, but I would highly recommend that you take your pet elsewhere. Had an absolutely terrible experience (bordering on malpractice) when I brought my dog in for a leg injury.

The check-in process was disorganized and frantic - I arrived to see a man screaming loudly because his dog died in his car while waiting for several hours to be seen. The vet techs who eventually came to talk to him seemed confused and aloof.

Estimated waiting times for my appointment were way off - I was told that my dog would be examined and receive x-rays in 3-4 hours, but the entire ordeal took 10 hours. Again, I understand that this hospital is constantly triaging, but 6-7 hours off the initial estimate is not great.

Most importantly, however, the vet who examined my dog completely missed that he had a broken femur characteristic of bone cancer, and instead diagnosed him with a torn knee ligament, ultimately suggesting that we wait several weeks to see an orthopedic specialist. Despite directly communicating suspicions that he might have a femur/hip injury to both the vet and vet techs who processed him, the vet only took x-rays of his knee. If I hadn't taken him to another vet for follow-up, he would still be dealing with a broken femur and would probably die from undiagnosed metastatic bone cancer in the next few months.

I am not sure how this hospital has good reviews (especially considering my experience and the perceived experiences of those who were there at the same time). I've been to tiny 24-hour vet clinics that operate with a much higher standard of care than this place, even with COVID-19 restrictions in place.

Please reconsider before taking your pet here.

Please consider emergency care carefully... Friendship was the gold standard in DC. I have recently had a bad experience. I dropped off my dog in critical condition, I was told he could have cardiac arrest at any moment, I paid $4,000+ and left feeling he was in good hands. When I called for an update over 3 hours later, the front desk transferred me to a manager Olivia. She told me my dog had essentially receive no care for the past several hours. She told me there was no update and "no news is good new" implying my dog did not go into cardiac arrest. I asked when he would receive care, and she told me that she had spoken to the medical team and my dog was not provided care because they were busy and other pets that were more critical. I mentioned the urgent and critical nature relayed by the veterinarian for my dog, she replied "I'm ending this call because we are talking in circles" Out of desperation, I offered to personally transfer my pet to another emergency room if they were too busy, she not only welcomed the idea, but encouraged me to call around and put me on hold. One can only imagine the panic which ensued. This is not a feeling I wish on anyone. After a long hold and merged calls with local area emergency rooms, I was told my dog was receiving care at Friendship and it was not recommended that I transfer him at that moment. I asked to speak with anyone medical, a tech or assistant to calm my fears, but I was again refused. I did not sleep that night. I was called the next morning by a caring, competent and empathetic Veterinarian, and since then, I have fortunately had a sense my pet is getting the best possible care. They assured me my pet was cared for within minutes, but I was not allowed back given the pandemic. COVID policies might have a part in my sense of hopelessness that evening, but I hope their support staff are re trained, or they allow critical pet parents more information within hours of admission.

Wonderfully friendly service and care. They were very patient and thorough. The front desk staff were very organized and welcoming. Check in is still a little sticky, but it makes sense given current conditions. Very pleased with the service and care.

My dog was really sick.. I waited 8 hours only to be told they needed to run more test... They gave me 2 options.. I opted to take him home and monitor like I was instructed by the Vet. She said I declined treatment!! That wasn't true.. I said a waiver stating I would pay up to $700.. with $200 of that paid so that he could be seen. They take primary appointments over ER visitors.. Let's just say I spent $500 for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! I'm happy to report my baby boy had pancreatitus and he's recovering slowly. I'll NEVER BRING MY DOG HERE AGAIN!! There only interest is the area... and financial... Not in the best interest of the pets.

Yea umm no. Lol, save yourself a visit and don t take your dog here. Especially if you re African-American lol. The disregard they show for not just you and your dog is telling. Find somewhere that genuinely cares about your pups or adult dog well-being. My poor baby threw up 3 4 times during the course of our almost four hour wait , once being in front of the hospital and no one batted an eye or hasted. I did see one Caucasian woman s dog (who looked fairly fine in my estimation) being rushed inside to triage while me and my puppy waited in the car for them to conduct vitals and run a lab test. All of that took 3.5 hours.

Once I saw my puppy showcasing signs of dehydration, I had enough. I called the front desk to inform them and someone promised water I waited a few minutes and called them again (at which point I was put on hold). Mind you the doctor had informed us it would only be ten minutes for the lab results and we had been waiting more than ten minutes.

I left to get him water from a nearby Safeway. I was on my way back and tried calling again when I was put on hold yet again. I then realized going to this hospital was a big mistake (note my dog is hacking, coughing and spit vomiting this entire time).

I decided to go try and find elsewhere to go because I truly just didn t feel comfortable going back based on the treatment. I received a call from the hospital about twenty minutes lady from the front desk agent who proceeded to argue with me as I tried to explain my frustration.

Regrettably, I did hang up (which is rude I admit). I called back apologizing and let them know they can mail me the bill for the visit ONLY. I want literally nothing else to do with this hospital.

0/10. Would not recommend.

I ve used Friendship as my puppy s primary care vet for the last eights months but I m switching immediately. The vets and nurses are great and frankly I m sad to leave, however it takes 10-14 days to get my dog in for a non-emergency appointment and they re the most expensive in the area. On top of these issues, the non medical staff is INCREDIBLY rude. That was the last straw for me. I m sad to leave our doctor but relieved to never have to call and deal with the staff who answers the phone ever again. It was made clear during the last conversation I had while trying to book an appointment that they don t value my business so I feel I have no other choice than to go somewhere else.