Bridger Veterinary Specialists, Bozeman MT

I originally would have given them one star, but the second vet we spoke to was at least kind, compassionate, and spent time with us to explain what was happenings to our baby. The following will be long and detailed- I’m still awaiting a call from their head vet to discuss the “care” our dog received.

I had a very sick dog- lab work showing something was significantly wrong. My vet referred me to the specialists at Bridger for a specialized ultrasound and was told that they could get me in the next day at 9.

We live in Livingston, so I took time off work, and showed up at 8: 53am with my girl- a 7 yo beautiful white and grey pitbull with her hot pink collar and leash. She is kind-tempered and sweet- calm. We walk up to the door (mind you it’s our first time ever being here) and there is a woman who I assumed was a staff member standing there. We exchanged odd looks with each other, as I wondered if she would open the door for me, but did not- so I opened the other door and the first thing she says to me is, “Weren’t you going to muzzle him? ” I responded “no” and looked perplexed and I’m sure appalled (as I was highly offended) and then she says, “Well isn’t this ****? ” And I said, “No, this is Bindi” and all she responded was, “Oh…. ”

After that “warm welcome” the other receptionist was lovely, and the nurse that helped me was lovely. I explained everything that I knew, but my vet had sent over her charts, so the nurse referred to those often. She took Bindi with her to get vital signs

Dr. Shinn then came in, and after introducing herself proceeded to tell me how busy she was and that she had no time to examine my dog right then, but the vet coming in at 10 could, so if I wanted to run errands and take Bindi…. (It was approximately 9: 30 by this time and I live in Livingston). She also told me that my appointment wasn’t a real appointment that they “fit me in” so she had no time with all the other animals that were there. After I asked how long the ultrasound would take and understanding it was going to be a longer process I asked if Bindi could just stay? She said that would be fine. Then proceeded to acknowledge the nurse had just asked me what was going on, but said tell me what is going on- as I tried best to answer I had to prompt her to look at her charts as I didn’t know everything. As we were wrapping up she said, “well, that’ll be 600…” and I said “600 what? ” And she said, “dollars, so we will need you to leave a deposit before you go. ” And I said, “you have my dog- do people often ditch their dogs so they don’t have to pay? ” And she said that no, but often people say they can’t afford to pay it- so they require a deposit” she started to get up like we were done, and I explained that I still had one more thing I needed to speak to her about- so she sat back down and I explained her rude staff member. I also explained that I planned to respectfully speak to her directly before I left because in my job I constantly have to field complaints about other people, so that wasn’t my goal to do that to her, but also thought as her supervisor she should know. At one point, I said, “I’m offended that that is the way I was welcomed to a new place with a very sick dog who is likely dying” and Dr. Shinn said, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say - your dog isn’t dying. Well Dr. Shinn- we have an appointment to have her put to sleep today because of the 9 cm tumor on her spleen that was found by your other dr. So I’m certainly glad I didn’t put much hope in your “limb”

After all this, she said to not worry about the deposit- like that really had anything to do with anything, and was trying to get me to leave without speaking to her receptionist. I did speak to her, I was direct yet respectful and she was apologetic.

Dr. Daws was the vet that we dealt with for the remainder of our time. She was exceptional! She was kind, spent time answering all our questions, and was thoughtful and thorough. Thank you for helping us with making a really impossible decision.

Great experience - they gave me honest, realistic input on the care I should give my dog and were very friendly.

The Level of care you gave Huckleberry was amazing! THANK YOU for saving his life! EVERYTHING about this facility was top notch; Diagnosis, Surgery Aftercare!

You can tell the staff really cares about your furry family members. We traveled 9 hours from North Dakota to get our fsoter dog a fighting chance. Bear had been dumped and hit by a car. His break was old and his pelvis was shattered in 6 places. Everyone we talked to made it sound like Bear's leg was a lost cause. But Bridger Veterinary Specialists gave us hope and they didn't let us down. Despite the seriousness of the break, Dr. Wheeler was about to piece Bear's pelvis back together. He even called us directly to explain who the surgery went. It was wonderful to receive high quality care from the team of specialists who are there during your pet's greatest hours of need.

My dachshund who has IVDD was showing signs of loosing back leg mobility. They saw him right away and got him on a treatment plan. I am grateful to the wonderful, helpful, and kinda team!

Professional, accurate, kind and gracious, a solid experience having never been there before I felt very well taken care of with a knowledgeable vet tech and vet, I was so glad I walked in and they squeezed me in without an appointment and with a new patient dog. The vet was well spoken, thorough and obviously talented and experienced, we got the exact care we needed here and exactly when we needed it. Thank you.

We had a great experience. Everyone was very helpful and Dr. Carlston was incredibly knowledgeable and offered expertise and a reasonable approach. I appreciate that everyone was kind and thoughtful.

After my dog had a seizure unexpectedly, the only place I knew would be safe and top notch care was BVS. Each person I had contact with throughout her treatment was courteous, kind and generous with their support. Clear communication by each team member meant they had a clear treatment plan and were giving the best care in crisis and beyond. Thank you.

The team at Bridger was amazing - a ton of warmth and empathy for us as our 15 yr old pup had a pretty bad seizure. They communicated amazingly. And for overnight emergency vet care, the costs were reasonable

Our Zeke had ventral slot disc surgery. Dr. Bergman was very thorough. He treated Zeke as if he were a family member, not just a dog. He did a wonderful job with him, and he is recovering well. We have to remind ourselves he had surgery 2 weeks ago and needs to slow down.

These are amazing, caring vets in a true 24 hour facility. When my cat got bit by a dog on a holiday weekend, they were the ONLY office accepting calls. They were so kind and patient and thorough - everything you want from the team caring for your best friend. I can't recommend this facility ENOUGH.stop searching, this is what you're looking for!

I got there at 1030 at night with my sick dog and they wouldn't let me in. She said she'd call me when space became available. I waited outside almost two hours and finally left. Some emergency vet. Jerks

The level of care provided by Dr. Shinn and the rest of the staff was exceptional. She provided expert care in an extremely complicated medical situation while our dog was in critical condition. Our dog would not have survived if not for the staff at BVS going beyond the call of duty.

From the receptionists to the surgeon, the care and compassion was impeccable. My nerves were eased with their reassurance and Bunny came through with flying colors. Communication

The veterinary team my family and I worked with were excellent. Dr. Haugland, Dr. Kamm and Dr. Murtaugh were extremely knowledgeable, caring and compassionate. The vet techs Brandon and Lauren were so empathetic and kind. The reason for my rating is the absolutely atrocious behavior of their overnight vet tech, Nikki. My mom’s dog had some complications after a surgery he had on Thursday, she had brought him in Saturday morning, they admitted him and he was put on fluids with an assortment of medications. My mother and I went to visit him Saturday evening, during the shift change, Nikki made her appearance. The first few minutes were the only ones she acted as if she cared about us or our ailing dog. She became increasingly condescending and kept contradicting herself. She would claim one minute that he wouldn’t make it through the night, then in the next claim that we wouldn’t be able to feed him treats. She also picked him up out of my lap (where he was peacefully sleeping) to demonstrate he couldn’t walk well on his own (which we obviously knew) and then had poked at his belly claiming it was fat and he couldn’t be eating the same as before (when it turned out to be fluid retention). It was unnerving since she initially said he wouldn’t make it, so why would his future diet matter? I asked her to put him back on my lap where he was comfortable all the while my mother was becoming visibly upset and she wouldn’t stop. She continued with her ridiculous behavior claiming he wasn’t on any meds until I asked to specifically see the vet my brother and mom had seen earlier. Dr. Haugland confirmed he was indeed on antibiotics and a pain med. It got to the point where we didn’t feel comfortable leaving the dog in Nikki’s care, she made my skin crawl. It wasn’t until Dr. Haugland and Dr. Kamm (taking over her shift) came in and talked to us for quite a while that our fears and worries about mistreatment by Nikki were allayed. Out of all of the veterinary offices and employees I’ve come across, Nikki is quite possibly the worst human I’ve met at any of them. She didn’t even seem as though she liked animals at all. The one thing I want, if I can’t be the one to care for my dog in his time of need, is to have the person/people that can be kind and caring.

I would give them 20 stars if I could. This is a beautiful facility with wonderful, kind, intelligent people from the reception personnel to the Docs and everyone in between. My dog has many serious problems and has a feeding tube which must be cleaned by a vet tech every other day. On my last visit to my regular vet, I was told she had developed a wound near the e-tube site, that is was badly infected, and I should consider euthanasia; I was more than shocked! I asked the vet if she knew anyone else I should see other than going down to CSU VTH. She suggested BVS and called them with the medical findings and that I would be there immediately. Once I arrived, someone was out in the reception area to take LittleBit. Thank goodness the reception area has comfortable chairs, a television and a relaxing atmosphere. I waited what seemed like hours, but it was only 90 minutes. Then, a tech brought LittleBit to me and showed us into an exam room. The tech asked lots of questions and was very thorough. A few minutes later, Dr. Shinn appeared and explained what had happened to the e-tube area that was causing problems. The best part for me was when I asked Dr. Shinn if she had treated this before and was very happy with her response which was yes she had treated this problem before and had great healing success. But, she mentioned several times that this was going to take some time, so that I would be patient. We had to come to the hospital everyday for the next week for bandage changes and to see how things we going which I was more than happy to do. About a week later, the Dr said we could try every other day which we are doing now. The doc did give us a prescription which was faithfully given as directed. I know things are not completely healed yet, and that we will have to return 3-4 days per week for bandage changes. I am fine with doing that because it is such a nice place, warm, friendly with very high standards. I am comparing BVS to the VTH at UWisconsin, Madison and OSU, Columbus, Ohio, and CSU VTH. It is definitely worth everything to go to BVS.

Extremely friendly and informative Understood my desire to make sure Quinn was going to be ok

They were very professional and kind. They walked through everything with me so that I fully understood exactky what was going on with my dog. The level of care and compassion is amazing. Gave me a full explanation of what is going on with my dog