Review of Virginia Veterinarian Dr. Anne Carr of Blackstone Animal Clinic

Dr. Anne Carr graduated from the VA Tech Veterinary School in 1990. I met her in the late 90s while she was working at Appomattox Animal Hospital. I almost always had my pets seen by Dr. Burger, but there were several occasions when Dr. Carr was the only option. Every time she saw my pets there was friction.

The first time Dr. Carr saw a pet of mine was when my second group of cats was fixed. Picking up my cats that Dr. Carr helped fixed, I was beyond angry that my bill was higher than the previous visit. Out of this group of five cats, Dr. Carr cleaned one cat's ears and charged a ridiculous amount. It isn't like this was an emergency situation where the cat needed life-threatening treatment. She was doing unasked for services to run up my bill. I had to argue with the receptionist to have the charge removed, which was no easy task. Dr. Carr never came out and spoke to me about what happened. No apology. What Dr. Carr did was completely unprofessional.

About a year later, Dr. Carr saw one of my cats for a gunshot wound. The bullet had gone in one back leg and out the other. I first took him first to Amherst Animal Hospital, which was a disaster (see the review). Following their advice, the cat had been returned to the yard, but soon started dragging one of those back legs causing it to become infected. I then took him to Appomattox Animal Hospital and Dr. Carr was the only vet working that day. She said the cat had the highest fever that she'd ever seen in a cat. The choice was to put in drains or to put him down. She opted for euthanasia, as the procedure was costly and had no guarantee of resolving the infection. What should have been a calm discussion on treatment with the course of action left up to the owner was actually a very argumentative disagreement. She really pushed home her belief that the cat should be put down. But ultimately, I insisted that she put in the drains. A less assertive person probably wouldn't have stood up to her. It took a lot of time and care, but the cat pulled through and didn't resume dragging that leg either.

About a year later in 1999, we had another confrontation with Dr. Carr. A cat that we adopted from the Lynchburg Humane Society a year previous became ill and later tested positive for feline leukemia. Positive cats can live normal healthy lives and never show symptoms of feline leukemia. However, this cat was very ill and wasn't getting better. Once a cat is that sick from feline leukemia, it won't recover. I didn't want the cat to suffer so I had my mom take her back to Dr. Carr to be put down. I gave my mom very strict instructions not to return home with this cat. Being the first time she had taken an animal to be put down, I was concerned she would chicken out. And my mom did return with the cat. But it was because Dr. Carr had refused to put down the cat! She told my mom that she wanted to give the cat a chance to get better. At this point Dr. Carr had been a vet for nine years. It makes no sense that an experienced veterinarian would send home a terminally ill cat to die. Hearing my mom repeat what Dr. Carr said, there was a clear sarcastic undertone as if to say we'd performed near miracles before and will do so again. The "miracles" we did before this had involved medicine and medical procedures. There was nothing that could be done for this cat whose organs were shutting down. And it was too late in the day to take her anywhere else. She died a slow, agonizing, painful death because of Dr. Carr.

Early in 2003, my last feline leukemia positive cat needed to be euthanized. When I called to make the appointment, I was screaming internally when told that Dr. Carr was the only available vet. Not wanting to go anywhere else, I took the appointment. I figured it'd been a few years and she would probably be better. Once at the office, I told Dr. Carr that I wanted a leukemia test on the cat, and regardless of the outcome, I still wanted him put down. But I knew the test would be positive. Either way he was older, missing most teeth, clearly unhappy, and it was time for him to go. This was the first time I'd taken a pet to be put down and I was totally unprepared for Dr. Carr's dramatics and tongue-lashing. First she made me hold the cat, even though there was no need for an exam and blood tests aren't done in the owner's presence. I very much felt she was trying to bring forth some connection or emotion so I'd change my mind. Then she started in on me that what I was describing was not feline leukemia symptoms. She verbally chewed me out. Angry, I told her that I knew a bit more about it than most because of the few cats that I'd had with feline leukemia due to the one I adopted spreading it. After a lot of arguing, I told her that there was no changing my mind, the cat would be put down, and I'd return in a couple hours for his body (this was previously arranged when the appointment was made due to needing to run errands). We argued for so long that my mom, who expected the push back against euthanasia and had refused to go in and opted for waiting outside, was concerned. I'll never forget when I got the call on my cell from one of the receptionists that the cat did test positive. I was right, and she had needlessly made it harder putting my cat down. Dr. Carr never acknowledged her mistake nor apologized for treating me so badly.

Later in 2003, Dr. Anne Carr opened her own veterinary office called Blackstone Animal Clinic located in Blackstone, VA. I wonder if she is still charging for unasked for services? And sending ill pets home to die slowly? Or encouraging putting down hard to treat cases? She could be a good veterinarian, but she lacks people skills and struggles with euthanasia. These shortcomings affect patient care and as such I do not recommend her.