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Blue Cross Animal Hospital
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- Category:
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- Honolulu, HI
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5 reviews for Blue Cross Animal Hospital
This is the place to go if your dog is sick & you want results. If you & your dog want to be pampered with wine & hot men spraying Evian water on your face, please don't come here. Go to Lanai instead.
BUT... if you want a no-frills very caring & honest veterinarian with a million years of experience, Blue Cross is the place to go.
The Truths:
1. There's usually a 3-week waiting period to get an appointment. This just shows that there's an extremely high demand for Dr. Alison's services.
2. There are walk-in's, but be prepared to wait anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Sometimes, the truth hurts. If your dog is overweight, Dr. Alison is direct & will let you know. Don't take it personally, just feed your dog less. That's what I did with my Benji.
4. The prices are very-very reasonable. They charge you correctly & don't try to sell you additional unnecessary services.
I now go to King St Pet Hospital. I would never bring my pets here unless I had too since the staff is not that friendly and my cats got fleas from this place TWICE. I was gonna give them 2 stars but I'll give them 3 since my bad experience was years ago. Still an experience though right?
I was put off a bit by some of the negative reviews but when our 6 yo dog of 1 month (off Craigslist) fell very ill very fast I took her to another vet who checked her for heartworms (negative), tested positive for a tick borne disease (EHRLICHIOSIS she was tick infested from Nanakuli side when we got her) and then wanted to hospitalize her and run more tests amounting to $1k, I just couldn't afford that (and believe me a got a good dose of self-righteous attitude and guilt tripping for that fact - and I will add for one simple visit, test, and bottle of antibiotics it was well over $100). I got the round of antibiotics for the Ehrlichiosis and thought to wait for a few days before doing anything else since she was still eating (though I had to hold her by the food because she was too weak to stand). I was distraught. My husband wanted to put her down because she wasn't getting better.
Out of desperation I called Blue Cross and they said to come in there was no wait. The doctor not only saw her immediately but was very practical, clear, obviously knew his stuff, and non-judgmental about my financial situation. He ran a first run of blood tests to check her liver, blood count etc (a test that the previous vet said would be another $120 and take a day to get back) for and affordable $30 and said from there we would be able to see what direction to go. Everything checked out fine. He had a deep knowledge of the island (wanted to know what part of the island each of my dogs (2 - both gotten from C-list) were from) and of the illness in general. I was impressed. In a nutshell he was able to allay my fears (we thought she was dying), test and treat her (gave her an injected antibiotic which he was surprised the other vet didn't) and give her injected pain killers and vitamins for her low red blood count. All of that (in 20 min) and I bought a bag of science diet for our other puppy for well under $100.
The women at the front were nice and helpful. He was a gruff, direct, older haole guy who knew his stuff and wouldn't give you any BS. Yes it is "low tech" - no fancy shmancy computers and it is very worn and "old fashioned" but if that translates to low cost for quality health care and good "old fashioned" veteran experience in veterinary care then it is totally worth it.
Most Vets are capitalizing on rich people's ( or people whose animals are their only kids) concern and ability to pay premium for their pet. I care deeply for our dogs, but don't have the funds to spend a couple thousand and be able to feed my family. Every town should have a low cost clinic like this for folks who love their pets but can't afford several hundred dollars for even a regular visit or thousands for an emergency.
Grossest pet clinic I've ever been to. Granted they are probably the cheapest, it is so dirty in there. I wouldn't trust my pet staying there overnight. When we first took our puppy there, the vet was so rough with her and didn't seem to even care. No way did we ever go back there.
I know a lot of people are not fans of this clinic but I have to admit the vets there are good and have tons of experience under their belt. They are extremely reasonable and affordable. They probably can keep their prices low because they are not a high maintenance vet clinic. So if you are a prissy girl who carries their dog around in their purse, this place will definitely turn you off the moment you walk in. You will not be getting any Zen-like vibes here. . . go to a spa if that's what you want. This is a super simple vet clinic. I should point out however that they should sweep their floors more often. I just took both my dogs here for their annual shots and checkup. The lady vet (sorry I don't know her name) clipped their nails and did the anal gland cleanse. I paid $27 per dog for everything (visit, shots, nails, gland)!! Anywhere else I would have paid well over $100 for both dogs. When she was giving one of my dogs a shot he kept squirming around and crying and my husband kept saying, "It's ok, it's ok." She quickly corrected him and told him that by telling your dog "it's ok", your dog will think that it is ok to cry and move around when you want him to be still. Some might have taken offense to this but it makes perfect sense. The best part is everytime I needed to go I never made an appointment, they just took me.
