Herm Arthur DVM

It’s with great regret that I have to give this extremely poor review of Morton Animal Hospital. Dr. Herm is a great man, but his practice is not run professionally — which causes them to make life ending mistakes. The office is a mess and the rooms are not clean. I blame him and Mel for the death of my cat Stevie. Stevie was in and out of his office several times and was misdiagnosed. Every time I called, they gave me a different story — never one that made any sense or answered any of my questions about what was going on with my cat. 4 weeks ago, my cat spent the day at Morton Animal Hospital to undergo testing. I was told that he had a UTI and early mild liver failure. I was told to put him on new food and go home. Saturday my cat spiked a 106 degree fever so I took him back in. I was told he needed medication to drop the fever and then upon further examination, the doctor found a large tumor in Stevie’s bladder. Apparently he’d been living with advance stage bladder cancer for some time and was in severe pain and suffering greatly. I had to put Stevie to sleep on the spot. Had he been diagnosed properly, and given proper care the several times I had him in previously, his suffering would have never gotten this bad. To add insult to injury, I went to pick up his pawprint keepsake today and Mel said «it didn’t come out right». I was very upset and asked her to do another, she gave me extreme attitude and came back with an even worse attempt at a pawprint. She then tried to charge me for it. She lectured me on how every cat has a different print, like I was some sort of idiot. I told her I would not pay for it and she began to get very angry with me. She went behind the counter and began using the F word about me to Dr. Herm — and loud enough for all to hear. I asked to speak to Dr. Herm but she said no. Dr. Herm made no attempt to speak to me, and let Mel continue to yell at me. In the end I took my deceased cat with me and left traumatized. I called Eastside Animal Hospital (where Stevie was groomed) and then took him there this morning to be cremated. The ladies down there were in tears over Stevie’s passing, very different from the rudeness and hostility I received from Mel at Morton Animal Hospital. The ladies at Eastside gave me back a beautiful clay stone print of Stevie’s paws. I would NEVER EVER recommend this practice to anyone under any circumstances. There are plenty of other great vets in the area for you to take your 4-​legged babies. Sorry Dr. Herm — but this had to be written. I hate to end it like this, but it’s clear that you do not care about me or my animals by the way you let Mel accost me and my father today.
My second review of Morton Animal Hospital is on behalf of our dog Auggie. Everyone knows Auggie, he lived with me until 2011 and then went to live with Jake and Jenny Lamb in 2012. Auggie was scheduled to have surgery on his ear today at Morton Animal Hospital. He is in a lot of pain and needed to have part of his ear removed. He was all prepped and ready to go — no food or water past midnight last night. We paid $ 500 up front for the surgery but Mel said I had to pay in FULL before the surgery — which is something we were not comfortable doing without an itemized bill. In the end I gave her another $ 100 and sent Auggie back to Dr. Herm. Come to find out, this «pay up front» was HER policy just for me, (lucky me) since she was upset with me over what went down with Stevie. Dr. Herm asked her to make an exception, she said no. Ask yourself, why should she be upset with ME, shouldn’t it be the other way around? And don’t you have my credit card and social security number on file — have I EVER not paid my bill? As we are sorting out the details of Stevie, she gets pissed, leaves the front desk, comes back, and then asks for my credit card back. I’m thinking, ok she’s come to her senses about making me pay in full. NOPE! She says «we» decided not to perform surgery on your dog today. You can call the University of Illinois Vet and take him there. My father demanded to talk to Dr. Herm, she refused to go get him — although I know he was behind the wall listening. Dr. Herm chose to do nothing as Mel told me that «they» (she) decided Dr. Herm could not do the surgery. She then started cussing and using the «F» word in regards to me for all to hear. I said, how can you be so cruel to our dog? He needs this surgery! She proceeds to tell us that if the cat they are working on this morning dies, it will be OUR fault for distracting them! I said «God help us all if YOU, Mel, are doing surgery on a cat, because you are a secretary». Probably not the nicest thing I could have said but given the circumstances… Anyway, my dad and I were in shock, we grabbed my dead cat, the $ 500, my credit card, and Auggie and walked out. We went immediately to Eastside Animal Hospital and they made an emergency appointment for Auggie. Needless to say — we won’t be taking any of our animals back to Morton Anim