Purdue University Small Animal Hospital - West Lafayette, Indiana

Meredith Larson

My baby boy William who is 1.5 yo went in for what I like to call his “breathing surgery” he ended up having some extreme complications after his surgery was finished. He technically died for 3 minutes and ended up on a ventilator. I didn’t think he was going to make it and honestly I don’t think most of the employees did either. He had a 25% chance of surviving the ventilator and he is a bulldog so the statistics were stacked against him. However, I am currently playing fetch with him and his very cute wrinkles. I can tell how much time and energy the Emergency Department gave him because he came back an even bigger sassy pants than he already was. I had to get him a cat water fountain because he refused to drink out of the water bowl more than once because he thought his water was “dirty”… it never was. Purdue also put up with my constant visits, which were practically every other day. By the end of it they didn’t even need to ask me my name at the check-in counter. He spent almost his whole time in the Emergency Department and they were the best. I finally got to take him home after almost 3 weeks. When we went for a check-up, we had over 10 people stop by to say hi to William, take pictures of him, ask if his case could be used for lectures, etc. He was truly loved by his care team, and dare I say the entire ER. I just wanted to say thank you to all the doctors, med students, and the rest of his team, who spent their time to update me multiple times a day, send me pictures and videos of him throughout his journey, and most importantly helped William get back to his perfect self. We miss you all but William and I both never want to be anywhere near an emergency hospital ever again.

A special shoutout to Dr. Lum, Alex, and med student Ryan!!!

Nancy Marshall

My dog Groucho was attacked by an off-leash pit bull, and my partner rushed him to Purdue. He had a been bitten, and had a large skin tear on his upper arm. Because 12 year old Groucho is on medication for heart problems, he had a cardiac workup before being anesthetized. He also had x-rays to make sure he has no internal injuries. Then he was stitched up. All of this made for a long day, and a lot of people saw him.
He came home with pain medications, and went to his regular vet for follow-up. The large wound, and several small wounds healed beautifully. I've always appreciated the excellent care both of my dogs get at Purdue.
I want to add something else. I read the reviews, and I noticed that with a few exceptions, most 1 star reviews were made by people who were upset about the bill. It's my opinion that people should educate themselves about the real costs of owning a pet, and do NOT get a pet if they can't afford to care for it properly. Purdue can't provide the quality of care they offer if people don't pay the bill.
In Groucho's most recent case, we were given an estimate of $6,000, so we put down half of that before he was treated. However, in the end the total bill was about $1,600, since he had no internal injuries. The balance due back to us was immediately refunded.

Again, if you can't afford a pet, don't own one. And for the love of all dogs, keep your dog on a leash at all times. My Groucho had to suffer because of someone's recklessness. I'm so thankful to live 3 miles from Purdue's Emergency Clinic.

Jenna Keltner

Went there a couple weeks ago because my 2 year old cat had a bladder blockage the Saturday of memorial day weekend. They refused to treat him because we couldn't afford the $500 deposit and didn't have care credit. He died because we couldn't get him care until Wednesdays. My baby is gone because these people care more about money than they do the community.
If you are going to take emergency patients, the least you can do is offer payment plans or lower the deposit amount because literally nobody I know has $500 on hand. Do better.

Holly Westendorf

I brought my dog Jasper to the ER May 5th Sunday morning because he had a weeping sore on his ear and blisters on his groin area. I was told the sore and ear were not infected and told to treat him with benedryl and over the counter anti itch cream and follow up with my vet. He came out of the er worse than he went in. His blisters were even bigger and redder than when I left him. I immediately called my vet on Monday. They had me bring him in and said he had a pyoderma/staph infection. They had to give him steroids and antibiotics and prescription strength anti-itch medication. They said all of this should have been done at the ER. The ER also didn’t even weigh my dog right so I was giving him more Benadryl than what I was supposed to. The ER said he was 81 lbs and he his actually 53 lbs. The ER also had to sedate him to even exam him and my vet didn’t even have to do that. I’ve brought my animals to the Purdue ER and have never had a problem. This ER has saved several of my animals through out my life. I am so angry at this last experience. I no longer feel that this is a good place to bring my animals. I am including before and after images of Jasper’s sores the day of the er visit. I did call and have an investigation launched on this case but the doctor justified everything wrong they did. They did a cytology of the inside of the ear. Not the wound behind his ear because they wanted to see if he had a yeast infection. They weighed him wrong because he wiggled. Then the doctor said that prescribing antibiotics for his pyoderma/staph infection wasn’t necessary because the antibiotics could cause him to become antibiotic resistant and cause gastrointestinal issues. I was going to just drop this and not leave a review until I found out they double charged me. Fortunately they caught that and refunded the 2nd charge. However, today was the last straw. I was billed another $28 today for the cytology of the wrong body part. It is July 2nd and I just got an added on bill for may 5th. I will never go to Purdue or recommend them again. They were once a reputable establishment but are now in it to make money without actually doing anything. My vet now recommends Indianapolis but I will be willing to drive to Ft Wayne or further before I ever go here again.

Garry Skaggs

Very Disappointing Experience

We waited almost 2 months just to get an answer because someone was supposed to review the records that our vet sent, including X-rays. Our vet had recommended Purdue, but all we got after calling was the response: "They are reviewing the records." Meanwhile, my dog’s condition worsened, and sadly, he had to be put down due to the cancer he was suffering from. It was heartbreaking. Don’t waste your time here – they seem too busy to call back or follow up on important cases. If it helps, please shred the file for me, the dog dad (Garry Skaggs), for a dog named Boy.

Cindy Hall

This is the 2nd time this facility became our hero’s. This is seriously the “University of Chicago” for your precious animal. We will never go anywhere else for the care of our baby boy. To the staff, doctors and all students THANK YOU♥️

Dawn Crawford

My German Shepherd has had a full hip replacement and I cannot praise everyone at Purdue Small Animal Hospital enough! They have taken excellent care of my girl and have showed us both so much care and compassion for what we were going through. After both surgeries I received daily calls for several weeks from different team members checking on us and making sure that we have everything we need for a successful recovery. Prior to her first surgery, Rhett stayed in constant contact with me and basically held my hand from a distance to coach me through everything that we were about to endure. Thank you is not a strong enough word for Rhett and the amazing team members at Purdue. Princess Peach and I are forever grateful!

Madison Culbreth

Can’t help but think my baby would still be here if they would’ve taken me more seriously. Took him in at 1:30am, didn’t get out of there til 6am. Just for them to flush his nose and prescribe a week worth of antibiotics. I know my cat and he suffered from URIs a few times in his short life and I told the vet what has always helped in the past and she said “they don’t normally do that” my cat was clearly miserable and out of it. I could hear fluid in his lungs with out even using a stethoscope yet she said his lungs were fine. Fast forward 4 hours later, we had to rush him back in. This time it was a different vet and they immediately brought him back and stabilized him. We were told his lungs were compromised, he was hypoglycemic, and his kidneys were failing. His body was shutting down and he had no more fight in him. Everybody there the second time was great. I just wish the first vet would have listened, even if it didn’t changed the outcome it would’ve been less time he had to suffer.. I paid close to $1000 just for my cat to die.