Olympia Veterinary Cancer Center

Dr. Parshley has such a kind and compassionate bedside manner. I took my dog, Shamus, to her when he had lymphoma. She explained everything in great detail and told me «whatever decision that you make at this point, will be the right decision.» That statement has stuck with me since, because she essentially gave me the permission that I needed (and couldn’t give myself) to either treat my beloved friend or to humanely euthanize. I never felt any pressure from her to treat or to do more diagnostics than I was comfortable doing. She offered me all the options so that I could decide. The cancer did eventually take my dear dog’s life, and it literally ripped my heart out, but I will be forever grateful to Dr. Parshley for being on this journey with us and helping where she could.

My cat received 7 months of cancer care by this clinic. The chemo and vaccine treatments he received were helpful in extending his life and putting him in to remission with his advanced stage melanoma. I found Dr. Parshley to be very knowledgeable in her oncology profession.
What I did not find helpful at all was her significant lack of clear communication throughout his care. Towards the end of my cat’s life she deliberately minimized my cat’s prognosis giving me a false sense of hope. On October 20, Dr. Parshley did this by telling me she found 1 or 2 nodules on his liver. However, when I got home I read her full discharge report and it read, «liver has multiple nodules throughout-​progression». I was devastated!!! Because Dr. Parshley was not completely truthful with me in person about what she found I was denied the opportunity to discuss future expectations.
At this time my cat was in declining health, he was starting to become lethargic and he continued to have diarrhea which I had communicated to them on several occasions which was never addressed.
I feel it is so critical to have honest communication between you and your pet’s doctor especially with illnesses like cancer. My beloved cat was welcomed over the Rainbow Bridge on Nov.1, 2014

It’s very unfortunate that Dr. Parshley is the only vet oncologist in Olympia — our experience with her was abysmal. It is definitely worth the time to travel to Tacoma or Seattle for additional opinions and treatment plans.
Our primary vet referred us to Dr. Parshley after diagnosing our French bulldog, Mango, with an aggressive cancerous tumour. And our initial meeting with her was good — she seemed attentive, thoughtful and took the time to explain what we might expect in the coming months. She gave us some verbal thoughts on potential treatment plans and assured my husband and I that she would send us a written treatment plan within 48 hours. We were very worried about our dog and wanted to act as quickly as possible to get her the treatment she needed.
After nearly two weeks of emails and phone calls to get the promised plan from Dr. Parshley (during which time, we put ourselves in the queue to see other vets), she let us know that she thought our dog would need much more extensive imaging, chemotherapy and surgery — which her surgery partner was the only person in the state qualified to perform. In fact, she didn’t seem to remember details of her original examination, forgot that she’d reviewed extensive imaging and seemed confused when we read back to her notes taken during the original meeting. After getting this preliminary report, we consulted two other vets, who strongly encouraged us to get more opinions.
We ended up taking Mango to a different oncologist and surgeon who were straightforward and honest with us — while surgery might make us feel better, it would be nearly impossible to remove 100% of the tumor and it would keep growing. Likewise with chemotherapy, the discomfort of the treatment needed to be weighed against the very short time it was likely to prolong Mango’s life. We ended up making the difficult decision to not treat her cancer aggressively and instead make her life as comfortable and stress free as possible. That was 8 months ago and I am happy to report that Mango is doing well!
We talked with a number of our friends who have encountered Dr. Parshley over the last several years. And to a person, their experience matched ours — she was disorganized, not straightforward and overall seemed more interested in recommending the most expensive possible treatment rather than helping people weigh a number of different factors in making important decisions about important animal members of their family.
We’ve asked our vet to stop referring patients to Dr. Parshley and highly recommend seeking a second or third opinion from other veterinary experts.

We took our boxer, Bosco to see Dr. Lisa Parshley today. Poor Bosco has had 4 weeks of hell since two masses were removed at another vet. Dr. Parshley and her staff were wonderful! The office is so nicely set up for both the animals and people that our dog fell asleep during the exam. The veterinarian oncologist spent so much so much time educating us on our options of care for our Bosco. She consulted the neurologist involved in his care. We feel so much better after visiting Olympia Veterinary Cancer Center. If your pet is in need of an oncologist, we highly recommend Dr. Parshley, even if it is a long drive for you and your pet.

I have been taking my cat to this business for over 3 months. I have found the staff to be extremely caring. Dr. Lisa Parshley knows the latest studies and research. Through the treatments he has received from Dr. Parshley and her staff, his cancer has gone into clinical remission. I’m so glad we have a vet locally that can give chemo treatments.