Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine

It has taken me some time to get to the point where I can write a review of this horrendous place, as I have been mourning the 100% needless death of my beloved horse, due to the utter ineptitude of the equine veterinary staff at this godforsaken place. Please find below the report I gave on my mortality proof of loss form. And if you love your horse, DO NOT bring him here. They have no idea what they are doing.
The resident vet at our barn, Dr. Parrott, had seen my horse a few weeks before I brought him here, due to lameness at the trot from his patella falling out of place. At the time, he did not think that there was much to be done surgically, but that in time Zorro would get used to the patella and work to keep it in place, thus not allowing him to do dressage or anything of that nature, but still live a full life of hacking on the trails or around the arena. While it was disappointing, I was okay with that and wanted to do whatever I could to keep him comfortable and around for many more years. He did say that he was going to check with a surgeon that he knew to see if there was anything he could do. A couple of weeks later he got in touch and said that Dr. Garcia at Tufts thought he could do something to help. Never was the possibility of euthanasia on the table, or I would have never brought him in.
I took him to Tufts for his appointment weeks later (as they were pretty booked up). They did x-​rays and ultrasound, and found him to be a good candidate for surgery. Dr. Garcia said that there was a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance of it working, but if it did not he would not be any worse off than before. Had he said ANYTHING about the remote possibility of euthanasia, I would have hightailed it out of there faster than he could say «stifle.» I agreed to try the surgery and he was scheduled for the next day.
After the surgery, Dr. Garcia called to say that he was very pleased with how it went, but needed to see how Zorro was when he stood up. After he stood up, the patella went to the inside, unfortunately. He said he wanted to wait it out for a few days to see if Zorro would stand on it to make it go in place. At the time they believed it was due to a lack of muscle (which did not make sense as Zorro had not been out of work for very long). It wasn’t until they did the second surgery that Dr. Garcia saw that he had shredded the tissue.
It was over the weekend that euthanasia was first brought up, as the vet tech told me that it was either a second surgery to give him a fighting chance, or to put him down. Of course, I opted for the second surgery. The second surgery was scheduled for the following Tuesday. Again, Dr. Garcia was happy with how it went, until Zorro stood up and immediately shredded the tissue again in stepping back. At that point he said that there was nothing more to be done and Zorro would need to be put down.
«No worse off,» right…
DO NOT bring your horse to these people. If even one person reads this and decides against bringing their horse here, then my beloved Friesian’s death won’t be completely in vain.

This is the worst place to take your pet. You will be charged exorbitant fees to have your pet treated by students. At night there are no veterinarians in house for emergencies… Just STUDENTS! Your pet becomes practice
For seriously inept and ignorant students. Stick around at night all you hear are animals screaming in pain! You will be charged ridiculous amounts of money in order for them to build their new hospital!
Do not go here! No compassion! They suggested my dog have bilateral ACL surgery when I took him to another vet all he had was Lyme disease and this was treated with antibiotics!
You never get the same doctor twice and there is no follow up care!

Brought my horse in for a last ditch effort to get help for his severe breathing issues. I have to say that the pulmonary specialist, Dr Melissa Mazan, helped me to understand what I needed to do to get my horse back up and running again. Although he has permanent damage to his lungs from years of misdiagnosis and wrong meds, after my visit to Tufts, and following Dr Mazan’s explicit instructions, he is finally breathing well again. I had a very good experience at Tufts Hospital for Large Animals and would go back again.

BEWARE — BEWARE don’t go to this hospital. This year I have had to go to Tufts twice for my dogs and each time they tried to keep her overnight stating they had to perform multiple tests on her and that it would be significant costs. Each time I refused and each time my dog was perfectly fine. What finally prompted me to write this review is because I feel everyone should know what a money scam this operation is. As I sat in the waiting room, I noticed that people brought their animals in and overhearing many of the conversations between the tech and owners, each owner was persuaded to leave their pet there for tests, etc.
My most recent visit was for my dogs third eyelid which was inflamed. The tech comes out, does NOT even touch my dog, just stares at her for 10 seconds and says we need to call in a specialist — ophthalmologist and that it was cost $ 450 and was I willing to do that. I suggested that maybe there was something in the eye they could flush out and give drops for because, I said, as a vet hospital, surely after seeing 1000s of dogs that someone must have seen this before and there was no way this was the first time ever they saw that. So the tech proceeded to say she would take my pet out back for evaluation. The dog came in and said oh its definitely a mass behind the eye and we need the consult of an ophthalmologist and that again, it would be $ 450 and was I willing to spend it. (at this point I am noticing how they only care what I am willing to spend so basically my dogs diagnosis is a deep pocket theory. The doctor said that I would not be able to speak with the specialist (even though I paid for the specialist) so that we my second red flag. So after waiting hours for the supposed specialist, I asked about my dog and the doctor came out and said the specialist saw her and confirmed his suspicions about a mass. and that it would cost $ 1000s now because we needed a CT scan and a cardiac test and on and on. I asked to speak with specialist and doctor said «remember I told you that you can’t speak with specialist?».hmmmmm I thought — so odd. I then proceeded to say I would get a second opinion and the doctor said ok, that’s fine but will I bring my dog back to them for all the necessary tests? (third red flag). I said I don’t know but could I get antibiotics and see if that helps and he was adamant that it would penetrate the abscess and but that he would give it to me. So we went home. NExt morning my dogs eye was fine — she had dirt in her eye — that was it!!! So between a vet that sees 1000s of dogs and a so-​called specialist, neither of them could see it was just inflamed!!! So I decided to call the so call specialist because I had no record of him seeing her other than my payment, no notes, etc. I called three days in a row and Dr. LoPinto NEVER called me back and it’s because he NEVER saw her but I paid for it. I am in the process of disputing this and filing a claim with the board of veterinarian medicine. This place is run like a used car dealership. No one leaves with their animals, they push and push and push for you to commit to all sorts of tests. Absolutely shameful the deceptive practices of preying upon people and their emotional status at the time. BEWARE –go to the hospital in RI they are way better!

I gave a lot of thought before posting this review because I know that Tufts is supposed to have a stellar reputation for veterinary care. However, after multiple, disappointing interactions with this clinic (Foster veterinary hospital for small animals) I can safely say that this place is a total money grab. They will squeeze you for every penny they can get out of you at a time when you’re most emotional and vulnerable.
I feel they prey on pet owners’ love of their pets and desperation make their pets well. For example, the vets will often come up with extremely elaborate & complex treatment plans involving all sorts of diagnostics & laboratory tests etc… rather than starting with the most basic potential treatment based on the dog’s obvious symptoms and age — and going from there.
Does your dog have a cough? You can pretty much guarantee that your going to be told that your dog has a potentially serious and dire condition (heart condition/​tracheal collapse) and requires x-​rays, an EKG and lab work, etc… All in the name of «diagnostic thoroughness» and «we’re doing what’s best for the dog». Puh-Leeze…I can tell you when I go to my doctor complaining of a simple cough they don’t necessarily order an EKG and a chest X-​ray. I went on YouTube and listened to dozens of veterinarian posted videos of coughing dogs and I heard the distinct difference between a cough of a tracheal collapse (like a goose honk/​reverse sneeze) and simple kennel cough (often a dry hacking cough — sometimes w/​just a hint of that «honk» sound-​and sometimes with a foamy saliva discharge). My dog clearly had the latter. but they kept insisting that my dog likely had «tracheal collapse» (because apparently it’s common in dogs of this age)…but I knew from my dozens of hours of online research — and the fact my dog had more of a hacking dry cough that it appeared to be classic kennel cough — and even if I was wrong, can we go the conservative treatment path first?.
By the way, I would suggest you avoid Dr. Jardes. He out right refused to prescribe a simple antibiotic by phone unless I returned to Tufts so they could do even more elaborate and traumatizing diagnostic tests (on a 15 year-​old Maltese) for a simple cough! I tried to explain every time I took my dog to Tufts he wouldn’t eat for two days after, was shaking the entire time and was completely traumatized. My senior dog cannot handle that kind of stress. I’m just trying to keep him comfortable — I’m not looking to have open heart surgery or surgery for tracheal collapse surgery on my poor 15 year old Maltese — and if there is a simple and less invasive option (read: antibiotics) as a first course of action, then why not go that route first and explore more elaborate treatment plans after? Nope — Dr. Jardes’ attitude was totally snarky & arrogant — completely lacking in compassion. I don’t think I will soon forget how dismissive and glib this doctor was at a time when I was panic stricken about the strong hacking cough my poor little dog was experiencing.
By the way Dr. Jardes –if you’re reading this — I got the clavamox from another veterinarian (Dr. Nick Kotsopolous in Worcester, awesome guy) and it worked great. After about a week, my dog is significantly improved and is much happier. No thanks to you during a time my dog was suffering.