Central Carroll Animal Emergency LLC

I’ve read so many horror stories about emergency vets, that I was really nervous about taking my dog here, but I didn’t have a choice, since my regular vet was booked and it was a Saturday. Everyone was so nice, and Dr. Keller was honest about what was going on with Stitch’s kidneys. I didn’t walk out of there with a ridiculous bill, and they were so compassionate. It helped ease some of the pain of making a very hard decision.

Do not take your pet here for care, not if you want your pet to survive. They killed my dog. What a cold and insensitive group of individuals.

I called four vets that were closing as I called on a Saturday afternoon, and thankfully, one of them gave me Central Carroll’s number. From the person that answered the phone, the administrative assistant, vet tech, to the vet, everyone was wonderful. They were all friendly, knowledgable, and so great with my puppy. They gave no money surprises, of course you may pay more, it’s an after hours clinic. However, mine was the same price was my normal vet. Dr. Barnes, the vet at the time, was a great vet and very warm and comforting. My dog had to get xrays and had to stay with them for awhile because he had to be sedated for them, and they immediately put me at ease, and he was done 30 minutes before he was supposed to be. When I went, shifts had changed and it was a different staff, and they were equally as nice. I was hoping the vet at the time also worked somewhere else closeby, because she was so excellent. She works in Waynesboro, and it may just be worth the drive. Thanks so much for making it a great experience and Central Carroll would be the first place I would call if I had another emergency after hours.

Unless this is your absolute last resort, you are better off waiting until your regular vet opens. You will pay about 5 to 6 times what a regular vet charges and get MAYBE half the compassion and service.

Never in my life have I come across someone so completely rude and smug. I brought my 2 female cats into this practice to be euthanized. They are 15 year old sisters. Many things have changed about them over the past few months. One seems very confused most of the time, the other meows for hours on end for no known reason. It is believed that they both have some degree of dementia. A few weeks back one of them developed a urinary tract infection which prompted her to begin urinating on my carpet. Shortly thereafter the other cat began doing the same, as well as defecating all over my house. This behavior has increased rather than stopped and my home is being destroyed. The very difficult decision was made that we could no longer allow this to continue.
We called this facility on a Saturday to give them a very brief description of what was happening and asked very pointedly if euthanasia was a service that they could facilitate. We were told yes.
We drove 45 minutes to this facility (it’s the closest place that is open on a Saturday). The ride was extremely stressful for both cats who are not used to being outside our home. When we arrived there were no people waiting, and no receptionist either. A tech came out, barely spoke beyond telling us we would need to fill out two forms, and asked us why exactly we were there. She left us for about 10 minutes. When she returned she said the doctor needed to know more about what was going on. We explained the details again, the tech went into the back again. About 5 minutes later she returns and says the doctor will not agree to do the procedure. Upset and very dismayed we asked to speak with the vet directly.
A few minutes later Dr. Tanya Hopkins walks out behind the front desk, arms crossed, without introduction and silent. She give a nonverbal but clearly delivered, «Yeah, what» look? We begin to explain the details to her and she says in a disgusted manner, «I didn’t become a vet to euthanize healthy animals.» I explain that they are not healthy, everything about them has changed, our vet believes we are seeing dementia, and that we can’t continue with them destroying our home. She says nothing, just stares at us. We ask if she is going to talk, her reply was, «Have you even thought of any alternatives, a rescue group, the Humane Society has an open outdoor drop box you can put them in». 15 year old cats with the beginning signs of dementia and no control over where they are going to the bathroom and she thinks a rescue group is the answer? She thinks it would be more humane to leave them in an outdoor cage over the weekend for the Humane Society to find on Monday morning? Is she completely ignorant to the fact that the national average (according to the ASPCA) for cat adoptions is 30%, while the other 70% of sheltered cats are euthanized? She thinks I should abandon two cats that I have cared for and loved for 15 years and force them into an already over burdened and under funded shelter system that would most likely euthanize them?
During all of this no one from this facility ever looked at either cat. This so-​called doctor had no idea what condition they were in. They could have been horribly ill, malnourished, or badly mistreated, but she couldn’t be bothered to even look. We filled out their forms agreeing to pay for an examination if the doctor deemed it necessary. If she is so concerned about an animals well being shouldn’t she have at least taken a look at them?
I stated that had we had any idea it would be like this we would have never come. She says, «No one told me about this». We shot back at her saying that miscommunication between she and her staff is not within our control. She threw her hands up in the air and said very loudly, «Fine, I’ll euthanize your cats that aren’t even sick». At this point there was no way I wanted this witch to be a part of what was already going to be a horrendous experience, and I told her so. We picked up the carriers and left with the cats.
Her behavior was anything but professional; it was childish and reprehensible! That all of this occurred without her ever so much as looking into the carriers, much less actually examining both cats, is beyond any claims of «ethics» she could try to use. Her conclusions regarding us were fully drawn before she ever met us, which is despicable.
Had she shown any compassion or humanism for our situation this would have been a totally different experience. If she had spoken to us in a calm and adult like manner and explained that she would need to examine and assess both cats to ethically feel that this was in their best interest we would have understood.
Bottom line: her behavior was hostile and unprofessional. She drew her conclusions without ever taking a look at either cat and offered abandoning them as a preferable alternative. We are filing a formal complaint with the Maryland Board of Veterinarian Medicine against this monster.