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January 2024 by Kathleen M.
Dr Barker took excellent care of Shadow and when she died of old age, we adopted 2 Tuxedo cat brothers, from a local rescue. 1 was hurting & she gave us great advice for what to do & what to do next, if he continued to have difficulty climbing & leaping. We bought cat stairs & did exactly as Dr. Barker suggested. He healed quickly. We have been with For the Love of Pets since 1990. Our pets have had exceptional care @ For The Love of Pets for decades.
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January 2024 by Ras J.
Dr. Abbie Barker LIED about my dog's diagnosis, COERCED us into an UNETHICAL surgery she was in no way competent to perform that RESULTED IN HER DEATH, then LIED AGAIN and tried to COVER UP THE TRUTH. - Dr. Barker diagnosed Mia's front left elbow with osteosarcoma. HOWEVER, she failed to disclose that she detected the presence of a Mast Cell Tumor near the surgical site that presented extreme risk, and failed to disclose additional masses detected in other limbs that would have disqualified Mia as a candidate for amputation surgery. Instead, I was told that Mia's other limbs were arthritic but healthy and of no concern. All 3rd party veterinarians who have now reviewed the case have stated that it was unethical and never should have been performed based on this concealed information and Mia's age. It has become clear after reading the statements of the state medical board complaint FILED BY HER OWN EMPLOYEES that she knew alternative treatments would not be profitable for HER, so she coerced us into the $6,000 surgery. Dr. Barker has been overheard by staff members saying that she "only wants cash cow clients", clearly demonstrating that her decision making processes are completely financially motivated, not ethically motivated. - Dr. Barker withheld the fact that a surgery of this caliber was beyond her professional abilities and that her facility lacked the necessary resources to manage any complications. - Prior to surgery, Dr. Barker's staff repeatedly expressed their concerns over the ethics of the surgery and whether Dr. Barker should be attempting it at all. She ignored these concerns. - On the day of surgery, Dr. Barker stated to her staff repeatedly that she shouldn't be doing the surgery as she recognized it in the moment to be beyond her abilities. She chose to attempt the surgery anyway. - Dr. Barker started the surgery, cut Mia open, then panicked, left Mia hemorrhaging on the operating table for 45+ minutes while she then called in an outside surgeon to come to her facility to complete the procedure. Mia lost a lot of blood during this time. None of this information was disclosed to me. Instead, I was told "the surgery went very well and there were no complications or concerns." - After the 2nd surgeon completed the procedure, Mia failed to return to consciousness and her heart rate remained elevated to 220+ BPM with falling blood pressure for over 3 hours. I was never contacted during this time. I had to just show up to the facility out of gut feeling that something was wrong to learn this. - Dr. Barker told her staff that she recognized Mia's post-operative condition as critical and that she needed to be immediately transferred to another facility to save her life. None of this was communicated to me until after I had been at the facility for close to an hour, costing us precious time. She also failed to disclose to me that she told her staff that Mia would need a life saving blood transfusion due to blood loss after she abandoned the surgery. - I asked Dr. Barker repeatedly why this was happening - she failed to disclose any of these details and just said "I don't know." - I was then forced to put my dying dog on a stretcher into the back of my truck and drive her over an hour through rush hour traffic to attempt to save her life. By the time we reached the other facility she was in very critical condition. She died hours later. - I returned to FTLOP days later to ask Dr. Barker again what had happened. She continued to conceal the truth and pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred during Mia's surgery. She also stated to her staff "I'm worried about what's going to happen if he finds out the truth."... - HER ENTIRE STAFF OF 10 PEOPLE WALKED OUT ON THEIR JOBS JUST DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS and filed a complaint with the state medical board due to these events. All statements here are taken directly from that complaint and my direct interactions with her. FB: Justice For Mia Meatball
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October 2023 by S B.
Took my 11 month old frenchie in to be neutered and he was well taken care of, in fact I have had my other pets spayed and neutered and not one of them were as alert as he was. Thank you Dr Barker.
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October 2023 by M B
Just not a good experience. Bad customer service and little help with the situation on hand. A waste of time
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October 2023 by Jodi Lewellyn
My 12 yr old cat Simba recently had a very unfortunate thing happen to him which resulted in a fractured jaw and him unable to eat or drink for several days, the Dr also found some other medical issues which made options for treating him more limited. The Dr suggested an Etube to provide him the nutrients needed to help him recover. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for her and the wonderful staff at For the Love of Pets.They were compassionate, kind, accommodating and highly skilled. I feel Simba is with me today because of the Doctor and all that she and her staff did for Simba. They worked tirelessly until late in the evening on a Friday night putting the Etube in and I am beyond grateful. I am happy to report he is once again a healthy, happy and very loved cat and I have tears of gratitude as I type this. Huge hugs and sincere thanks to you all and please know how appreciated you are and all your hard work does not go unnoticed.Love Jodi & Simba
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August 2023 by Denice Huff
Nothing worse than a sick fur baby. Everyone here was so kind and gentle. They really understand that these little creatures are family and we are stressed. They explained everything, offered advice, was very thorough in making sure they helped get her healthy again and that I understood my options and next steps. I have never had such a good vet visit. They really do care about each animal.
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August 2023 by Carolyn N.
I took my dog in for an appt on Tues, treatment did not help my dog whatsoever, waited for blood and urinalysis results to be discussed on Thursday, did not happen. Called several times Thursday and Friday never received a return call from vet as promised. Now it's late Friday afternoon my dog is still suffering discomfort and no help from vet. This practice needs to change its name to Collect our fees immediately and then totally disregard your pet's needs. I'm terribly disappointed in this experience, my dog deserved better treatment. She's suffering..........NOT RIGHT......Shame on this so called "vet". for the love of pets what a joke!!!!!!!!!! insulting!!!!!!
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July 2023 by Jesse M.
Abbie is amazing. We love her and so do our puppies. Great experience, tons of patience and a ton of experience. We found our forever vet
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March 2023 by Rick S.
This place has hands down the most courteous, generous staff I've ever experienced, After being a customer of nearly every other veterinary practice in Nevada County, For the Love of Pets has my future business. They did everything in their power to properly and adequately care for my elderly barn cat while keeping costs BEYOND reasonable. Thank you so much
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October 2022 by Louise K.
Dr Avery and Dr Marie Carlos gave my small Chihuahua too much anesthetic and killed her. They didn't give her an exam or blood test prior to giving her anesthetic !! Horrible horrible Veterinarian's !!
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October 2022 by Hannah Chamber
Reasonable cost, friendly staff, clean facility, and it's right in town. I'm not sure there's anything that can make my dogs actually love the vet but they do fine at this place. ?
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October 2022 by Jerri Kehoe
Had an emergency need for a vet on Labor day. All of the other recommended vets I called in the early morning had no openings. I went searching on my own. They were open and help my dog. They treated him with care even without electricity. I knew instantly he was in good hands.
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September 2022 by A.I. Salat
Less than most vet place around. They are nice and considerate.
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July 2022 by Aly W.
Closed when they're supposed to be open. It's 2:45 on a Wednesday. Update your hours so people aren't wasting their time.
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May 2022 by Katie S
This place used to be excellent. It's really gone by the way side since changing ownership. Dr. Rob Avery & Dr. Maria DeCarlo, treated everyone and their pets like family and their top priority was your fur babies well being. It was without a doubt 5 star service all the time.Now all the previous staff that worked with Rob & Maria are gone. I felt like that was the first warning sign when all previous personnel started to drop off one by one. Then I noticed that the customer service started to go lax. Since the ownership change, you suddenly don't receive lab results info. No one calls you to let you know and even if you call to ask, you won't receive them right away. I had to request 2x for cancer tumor biopsy results. That's horrible. They try to push everything through an automated system which isn't very user friendly and they no longer do appointment reminder calls.The other thing that really irks me is the car service. I understood the need through the pandemic and I know it's not gone, but there is no reason why they couldn't just require masks in the office and allow the owners to come in with their pets. I hate handing my dogs or cats to the tech for them to take them in and me having to sit in my car. It's unnecessary and it's very stressful to the animals. They also take forever now, are often late on the appointment times, and their prices have increased (which that part is partially understandable, however they are way more than I think they should be even with our current inflation issue).All in all, I used to recommend this vet to everyone but now, I definitely would not. They sent out a customer satisfaction survey with some pretty mediocre questions and didn't include a comment section, I would have included all of this in the survey but there was no option too which tells me they weren't exactly interested in getting an honest opinion. So I instead decided to post it on a review. Hope this helps people in deciding where to go.
