[jogator1]

One of the reasons I love reading this website is to "hear" all of the experiences/input/recommendations regarding area businesses. I would like to share a tremendous experience we just had with Dr. David Almstrom, DVM of Meredith Animal Hospital. I am from FL and spend a lot of time in Meredith including the month of July. I usually don't bring my dogs leaving them with family in FL. Well I have an 11 yo standard poodle, Gator, with a history of cancer and hip dysplasia. In June he was diagnosed with mega esophagus and aspiration pneumonia. He was hospitalized for 3 days and required a lot of attention from our vet in FL. The vet estimated the cost would be $400 but when I picked him up I was given an $1800 bill without a whole lot of explanation. I was told the vet left and would call me tomorrow to explain the bill.
Well I guess Gator wasn't over the pneumonia and was deathly ill Fri morning unable to move and barely breathing. I didn't have a vet in the area so I looked on this website for suggestions. I called the vets from the posts but they all suggested taking the dog to Concord until I called Meredith Animal Hospital. They said I could bring the dog in and the vet would be there at 9:00.
I brought him in and Dr. Almstrom said he's barely living "What do you want to do?" I told him to proceed with his care, I wasn't interested in anything else. He had a 105 fever and very poor blood labs. Dr. Almstrom said he needed to be hospitalized for the weekend and it would cost about $450. He called me 6:00 every morning and 11:00 every night to give updates. He explained everything going on and treated my dog better than a Dr. would have treated me. He personally nursed my dog back to health hand feeding him and spending the night with him. His hospital is in his basement. This guy is incredibly nice and amazingly knowledgable. I highly recommend him to anyone.
As a bonus he gave my 7 yo old son (who loves basements) a tour of his hospital. He has an operating room that looks like a general hospital.
If that wasn't enough I get the bill. The bill reads $1,067. I think to myself that it was more than I expected but he stayed an extra 2 days requiring more attention than initially thought. It was still cheaper than what I paid a month earlier in FL. I pull out my credit card and Dr.Almstrom says I'm going to take $367 off the bill because I wouldn't charge anyone more than I would expect to pay. He actually still apologized for it being more than he first thought.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to tell everyone about Dr. Almstrom at Meredith Animal Hospital.