Ankeny Animal And Avian Clinic

Dr. Jess was wonderful. She was compassionate and always fully addressed my concerns regarding my pet’s care. She sent thorough emails detailing our appointments so that I could review and research to make informed decisions about my pets care. Unfortunately, the staff as a whole are a complete mess. There seems to be a major lack of internal communication between staff members, patient charts and notes not being updated, constant scheduling issues. Additionally, this clinic encourages medications even when not medically necessary and seems to have a lack of understanding of the true risks of some of the “fear free” medications they regularly use. I’m sure the owner will comment on this and say that they do understand the risks and that those risks are rare, but many fear-free medications can cause long-term neurological injuries that cannot be seen on labs and pets cannot speak for themselves so there’s literally no evidence to prove that these risks are “rare.” How do I know this? Because it happened to me with a similar medication and doctors gaslit myself and millions of other med injured people. I absolutely refuse to risk my animals going through what I have gone through. I highly encourage this clinic to do some continuing education on medications like gabapentin and trazadone and only use them when medically necessary. I was misled to believe that medications would not be pushed on me and my pets and that non-prescription options would be offered first. And lastly, the cost. Their fees have been gradually increasing over the years and on average their invoices have always been about $200 higher than when I got quotes from other clinics in the area. I wish I would have taken the one star reviews here more seriously before I ever came to this clinic. Edited to add: The owner responded with information that is not accurate. To start, I do not have a husband and have never been married. I am not sure if she maybe has me confused with someone else here. Second, I did address my health situation with their staff multiple times over the course of several years and expressed my concerns regarding medications for my pets that were unnecessary. I was not once rude or aggressive with this topic. The scheduling concern the owner mentioned was not the scheduling issues (multiple over the years) that I was referring to. When I scheduled a cardiac appointment for my cat nearly a month in advance, I was told by the vet about a single medication that could be used but wasn’t required. I informed them that I’d prefer to avoid medication if possible, especially since my cat is very well behaved. The day before the appointment I was contacted by front desk staff stating that my cat would need to be given gabapentin. Again this was the day before the appointment that I was notified of this after I had said I was not comfortable with this medication being used. The staff member did not offer me any other options and indicated that gabapentin was required for a cardiac workup as “standard procedure.” Again, I was not notified of this until the day before the appointment. When I asked to speak with my vet about it, I was told my vet wasn’t available/wasn’t in the office. So instead I asked to speak with the manager who was immediately rude to me and invalidated my concerns. For obvious reasons this caused me extreme distress. The manager continuously interrupted me at which point I will absolutely admit that I did respond aggressively, but I was never once “disrespectful” prior to this final interaction with this clinic. Also, informed consent about medications would require the clinic to be knowledgeable bout the risks associated including akathisia, anhedonia, protracted withdrawal, neurotoxicity, medication-induced neurological dysfunction, PSSD and BIND.

Alyssa and Doctor Dan are amazing. I have used several vets around the Des Moines metro as I’ve moved over the years. This is hands down the very best. The facilities, care, pricing, and bedside manner can’t be beat. If I could give more than 5 stars, I would.

Kind, compassionate, and professional.

Dont bother taking a duck to their office. They dint have the equipment to help them. They say they do, but they will just refer you elsewhere.