Eye Care For Animals

An update from my last review. After my cat being sick for 3 weeks we finally found out what was wrong with her, no thanks to Dr. Wasserman… He claimed she had a mass in her eye or had FIP (a fatal virus that could kill her) without doing any test. He never even looked into anything else that could be related. As a healthcare professional, I would have looked more internally at the problem but that’s me… He was so incompetent that he misdiagnosed her with an eye issue when it was really her kidneys. Which the eyes can be affected by. Luckily our wonderful vet at Wonder Lake Animal Clinic was able to find out within 2 mins and do surgery for just a little more than Dr. Wasserman charged for simple blood work and steroids. Don’t take your pets here, he is not competent enough to diagnose let alone treat and heal your pets. He’s only after the money and will argue with you if you think anything other than what he does. Thanks for giving up on my family member jerk! Shes doing just fine!

I wanted to thank Dr. Wasserman and Katy for the tremendous care they took of my dog, Emmett. Dr. Wasserman tried everything in his power to save Emmett’s eye, but unfortunately he ended up having to remove it this morning in emergency surgery. Dr. Wasserman and Katy met me at the hospital within an hour of my call to relieve my dog of the horrendous pain he was in. They were kind, compassionate, and incredibly patient throughout the entire process. I am so grateful to them both. Dr. Wasserman is absolutely fantastic and will walk you through every possible scenario. I can’t thank you enough!

DO NOT take your dog to see Dr. Wasserman let alone get treated by him. He ABSOLUTELY should not be the primary physician at his age and lack of experience. He performed surgery on my dog and I was extremely nervous even using him. I read other negative reviews on here and other websites and they have all turned out to be true.
He convinced me that my dog required emergency surgery I decided to go through with it. What a mistake this turned out to be. Not only did my dog have a very difficult time recovering, when I brought him in for a follow up checkup, Dr. Wasserman gave him an injection in his eye that made him Unilocal worse than I ever heard in his life. When I looked at his eye, he was literally wincing in pain keeping it closed. I immediately called and was told to turn around. When I got to the facility the admin said she could hear him Unilocaling. I was put in a room for 10 minutes and Dr. Wasserman did not show up until I literally opened the door and said he has to come in. Needless to say we had a very heated exchange on what the hell he did to my dog’s eye to make him have that type of reaction. His answers were all about protecting his obvious mistake. There is NO doubt he did not administer the proper procedure. That entire night my dog kept his eye closed and was secreting yellow fluid. We had a final exchange the next day where it was clear I would never be going back to Eye Care for Animals.
Learn from this post. Dr. Wasserman needs to be removed as the primary physician at this place. I hope you benefit from this post and go elsewhere.

Eye care done right:) Caring staff, coffee/​tea while you are there. Clean bathroom too!

I took my 11 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in today because my vet diagnosed him with pannus and I wanted him to see an ophthalmologist to confirm this diagnosis and course of treatment. The vet tech, Heather, was so sweet and gentle with my dog. Dr. Kimberly Hsu (resident) first examined my dog and she also had a warm and gentle bedside manner. When Dr. Neal Wasserman examined my dog, he said my dog didn’t have pannus, which was a huge relief. Instead, he said my dog had an injury to his left eye and fortunately it had healed, but there was noticeable scar tissue. He gave me two ointments and told me to stop using the Optimmune ointment my vet had given me. He said his eye should improve soon and his vision should be restored. Dr. Wasserman and Eye Care were highly recommended by other dog owners in my community and I can see why. Everyone was so nice and caring to my dog who was in pain. Joanne at the front desk was also wonderful when I called to make an appointment and in subsequent conversations over the phone. If my dog ever has another eye problem, I’m taking him directly to see Dr. Wasserman.

Dr Neal Wasserman is the best! Always impressed by him, the staff, and the facility. Very caring and compassionate. He is extremely knowledgable and always remembers me and my dog. Nice to know I’m in good hands. Can’t recommend him enough.

Eye Care For Animals is great. The office staff is outstanding and always helpful. Our little dog has severe dry eye. We have seen Dr. Sisler for over a year now and her eyes are doing great. She will always be on medication to stimulate tear production and medication to prevent infection as well eye lubricants but her vision is good and his plan has worked and we are very very pleased with the continued care we have received from Eye Care For Animals. We feel very fortunate to have this facility near us.

Unfortunately another little growth in my 10 year old pup’s eye, but fortunately I have access to Dr. Sisler and his amazing staff at Eye Care for Animals. Once again, problem solved and I have a happy dog on my hands again who is healing beautifully with minimal disruption and discomfort. Thank you Eye Care for Animals! :)

My dog developed a very nasty infection in one of his eyes. We took him to our vet and were told that he has chronic dry eye that led to the infection. Our vet recommended surgery but told us we might also want to have him checked out by Eye Care for Animals. Our dog is a lab pit mix and is very stubborn and was refusing to let anyone near his eye. I was very distressed as our regular vet told us that because he was so combative with taking meds and has a chronic condition that he could lose his eye. Our dog is only two years old so this was very upsetting to hear. We decided to take him to Eye Care for Animals and we saw Dr. Gaerig. She is fantastic. To being with, she told us he did not need surgery and that his condition is very manageable. Unbelievably, she was able to calm our dog down and was like the dog whisperer. Within 10 minutes he was allowing her to examine his eye and she was applying various ointments and drops. Dr. Gaerig was very encouraging and suppotive (whereas our regular vet told me that because my dog was so combative that we might never get the condition under control) and gave us some techniques for getting the medicine in his eye. Our dog now takes his medicine twice a day and his eye is doing very well. I cannot say enough about the entire staff and especially Dr. Gaerig and Katie, who took care of him. Whereas I walked into their office thinking the worst I walked out of the office feeling that the situation was under control. I have nothing but good things to say about this place. As far as the bill, I my regular vet charged me more than the appointment I had with the Eye Care for Animals.

Our older dog has been plagued with eye problems (cataracts, ulcers, not producing tears), and after a particularly bad week in Sept, her vet recommended Eye Care for Animals. Luckily, one of my co-​workers has been a patient, or rather, her dog has been a patient, and had nothing but good things to say about the group. They have 2 locations, one in Bucktown, one in Wheeling, and we opted for the Wheeling location so that our dog could see Dr. Sisler. He was great with our little old lady, and made her eye exam seem almost enjoyable. Her problem was diagnosed, and we were sent home with eye drops, which cleared up her problems almost immediately. When she ran out of drops we had the fortune of being able to have them mail us more drops, or, call them in to our local pharmacy, saving us the drive back up to Wheeling. Scheduling has never been an issue, either, which is a plus. We are very happy with the care our girl receives, and, feel confident that the vets know what they’re doing.

I have nothing but praise for Eyecare for Animals and Dr. Sisler. When my Chow/​Lab mix developed an eye problem that required the removal of her right eye, the surgery was expertly performed and my dog healed quickly. Yes it cost $ 1,800 but I was provided with an interest-​free credit card that allowed my to spread out the payments to fit my budget. Subsequent visits monitored the condition of my dog’s good eye so that she kept her vision almost until the end of her life (6 years after the surgery). The staff was very courteous and always called in renewal of my dog’s eye medicine prescriptions to Walgreen’s promptly (Frisky was the only member of my family to have a Walgreen’s prescription discount card). I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this clinic to anyone.

This review is directed at Eye Care For Animals business management and not necessarily the doctors themselves. My dog was scheduled for her 3^rd recheck appointment. It is a 30 minute drive to this place from our home. I called while on my way and explained I was running a little late. JoAnn (who answered) said ‘no problem’. My appointment was at 10:45am. I arrived at 10:55am.
When I arrived, I was smugly told that, the doctor was in surgery and I would have to reschedule. I asked if there ‘had been an emergency’. She said no, surgery starts at 11am.
Why wouldn’t they have told me this when I called to let them know I was running late? Why would they wait until I got there only to turn me away? This also leads me to believe that they intended to rush us through the ($ 100+) recheck appointment.
And the biggest question: what ON EARTH makes them think I’m going to pay them good money for that kind of ‘service’.
With that, I will absolutely not be using them again. Blue Pearl in Northbrook or Buffalo Grove Vet Specialist are great alternatives.

I had my first appointment with Dr. Sisler today. I got worried when my dog was occasionally showing a glossiness in her eyes.
This clinic is Wonderful! They were able to make an appointment for me within 2 days of my initial phone call (rare at a veterinary office. or any doctors office).
The front office staff are extremely friendly, which is SO important when you are dealing with people concerned about the well being of their furry family members. Immediately when Dr. Sisler walked in the room, he was very kind and friendly. He and his tech did the initial exam of my dogs eyes. He explained that, just like with humans, as we age our eyes may not be what they once were, but that her eyes look fine.
We asked a bunch more questions and we were done. Sure, the visit cost $ 160+. But I think it is to be expected. This is after all a vet specialty.
I was 100% happy with my experience with Dr. Sisler and the office staff. If any eye issues come up in the future, I would not hesitate for a moment to return to this office.

Our cocker spaniel had 2 eye surgeries at this hospital last year and while the outcome was not what we hoped for the staff are all very caring. I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion but I don’t feel we were ever pressured into any treatments or their thoughts were only money related. Unfortunately many eye surgeries on dogs are still fairly new and also these surgeries can be expensive. You need to be an informed consumer with any medical treatments these days human or canine related. Dr. Sisler is an amazing veterinarian very compassionate, willing to discuss treatment options and possible outcomes. We would not take our dog anywhere else for eye treatment.

This place is too focused on $$$ — no matter the age of the dog, no matter the wishes of the owner. I would pass on this place.

I brought my dog in about a month ago to get information about having a benign tumor removed from his lower eyelid, which I was told was quite common with older dogs. The woman at the front desk was nice enough and the tech that helped out was friendly. We were just going to get an estimate and find out our options. The tech performed a test or two, mainly to see if my dog is producing enough tears. Then the doc came in and looked at my dogs eyes and informed us that he could not perform the surgery with a laser so he would need to put him to sleep for the surgery and cut the bump from his eyelid. Then he left the room and the tech came back in with the estimate– $ 1800 if something unexpected happened during the surgery then it would be a little more. We were shocked and said we were not sure if we were going to be able to do it right away so we would be in touch. When I got to the front desk I was told I owed $ 300 for that visit. I found this completely absurd. They could have at least warned us how much the tests were going to cost. I paid for the visit and decided that anyone that would charge that much for a consultation surely would overcharge for the surgery. I called around to different vets to see who performs this surgery besides this animal eyecare specialist and found many. I only went to this guy because our vet recommended him. We found a vet in Des Plaines who not only offered us a free consultation because we were first time clients, but also informed us that he performs this kind of surgery regularly and would do it for $ 500. I’m glad I didn’t just settle for Animal Eyecare– I recommend everyone gets a second opinion/​estimate. I love my dog and if spending $ 2000 between the office visit and surgery was my only option I would have done that but I’m so glad there are people out there that are able to understand that not all of us can afford $ 300 office visits and $ 1800 routine surgeries.

My dog was turned away because of money. They gave me an estimate of 1958.00. I borrowed this money & called them back the next day to set up the appointment to have his eye removed. They told me on the phone that it could cost more than the estimate they gave me. I told them I had to borrow the 2000.00 to get this done could I possibly make payments on the remainder if it was more money. The answer was a big NO. I explained that I was not a rich person but that I loved my dog as much as they loved theirs. It didn’t matter that they would look down on me for not being a rich person but it really mattered to me that they would turn away a dog that had such a horrible problem & 3 different vets agreed that the eye needed to come out asap. My dog came from an abusive family & was bought at Puppy Lovers. He has a genetic eye problem that caused him to need his eye removed. I did the best I could to get the 2000.00 but they would not budge to help us. I believe that if you are a vet you should have a heart if not for people still should have a heart for the animals. I have contacted our regular vet that referred us & told them the whole story & they apologized & will not be referring anyone else to go through the hell that I had to go through. Please think twice before going here unless you are rich.

This place is awesome. It’s nice to talk to doctors that know their stuff. The doctor and resident explained everything fully. The assistant was kind and gentile, so where the doctors, to my little dog. On top of that the office staff was nice and pleasant. Haven’t seen that in awhile in doctors offices.