El Camino Veterinary Hospital

Reviews 3

RI

River Faille

The emergency vet Dr. Chen failed to notice a mass in my 2 year old cats abdomen when I brought him in due to lack of appetite, and prescribed my cat suffering from a liver failure antibiotics for a mouth infection (which I suspected was the cause but I took him to a veterinarian because I am not one.) He essentially prescribed my cat poison that killed him. Granted he was 2 and not obese, so lipidosis was a fluke. I did express concern over his lethargy and failure to eat as well as vomiting and called when he continued to vomit, they said his appetite should come back after the antibiotics and I trusted them. Having a feeling that El Camino may not be a very good vet, I took him to Midtown animal hospital a few days later (as soon as I could get an appointment) when the antibiotics were making him vomit worse. Midtown noticed a massive liver immediately and then confirmed this on an X-ray then referred me to VCA referral emergency hospital in Rancho Cordova, because they dont do intensive care there, and told me about CARE credit because their services are very expensive (but worth it.) So I am struggling to get my cat seen by the real emergency veterinary service now to find out if it is in any way treatable. My cat is now yellow with jaundice and in hospital. Meanwhile, it is force feeding to keep him from going downhill too painfully and pain meds and many costly diagnostics. Dont waste your money here on subpar veterinary services - go somewhere that the vets are not negligent and just trying to sell you something that may or may not help then get you out the door instead of this horrible place. Dr. Chen is negligent and does not care about your pet. Update: My beloved cat died, $5000 in debt later of what would have been a very treatable disease if caught earlier by a competent vet. I wasted $150 on incompetent diagnosis and would consider suing them in small claims court if I were not moving out of state next week. They did not offer to reimburse me for their misdiagnosis and negligence. They are the one vet that did not send a sympathy card of the 3 we went to in this ordeal too. Not that any amount of money can ever replace my Vlad cat. I cry myself to sleep at night and kick myself every day for going there because it had good reviews, was close and was the only emergency vet I knew about at the time. We lost precious days that might have made a difference by being steered wrong here and believing that he "would be fine after antibiotics." and that the throwing up was "no big deal" and would soon stop. That would probably work most of the time, but if you are a veterinarian, you should rule out anything catastrophic with a simple blood test and not prescribe an antibiotic with a side effect of nausea without anti-emetics and appetite stimulants to a cat that wont eat, from what other vets I took my cat to subsequently when trying to save him have said. Of course I wanted to believe that he didnt need any of that. That cat meant a lot to me, and laid by my side every day when I was recovering from a miscarriage and found out I can never have children. Dont lose your beloved pet by trusting incompetent vets who do not know what to feel for in the abdomen and tell you blood tests arent necessary when your pet is sick. Of course you want to believe that your pet is okay and to trust a vet, but Id rather pay for real diagnostics than go somewhere that will guess and lie, pretending to know what they are doing. Go to a real emergency vet! (VCA or Davis.) I will definitely be filing a complaint.

A

A Private User

I took my 8 week old puppy to El Camino Veterinary Hospital last night after he was diagnosed with Parvovirus at another clinic. They were absolutely wonderful, kind individuals who genuinely cared about my puppy. Parvo being exteremly deadly and contagious, I knew that my bill was going to be very large, however, to save my puppies life, money was not priority for me. They gave me an estimate of $1647.00 for 48 hours of care including exam and overnight care. Expensive, I know, but I wanted him to be watched all night long to ensure best chances of survival. They told me that they would call me if there was any sudden change for the worse and that the Dr. would call when she was off her shift at 8am. She called me at 7:30am and updated me then Dr. Morgan called at 9am to update me at the beginning of his shift! Dr. Morgan gave me the amazing news that my little angel was ready to come home today around 11am!!! It is amazing that such a young puppy (with a very strong Positive for Parvo) would be well enough to go home already. It just proves to me that they are great at what they do. They also could have lied and told me he needed to stay the extra day I had paid for, but instead I get back 500+ of my payment for saving my puppies life! I would definitely take my puppy back to this Clinic. I couldnt have asked for better service! I agree that money should not be an object when it comes to saving an animals life! I was willing to go to extreme measures to care for my lil boy! ***UPDATE*** My puppy is home! and I was charged only 612 dollars to save his life! Not bad if you ask me. They were so great, I cant even explain how grateful I am for those doctors! But they cant get ALL the credit...my lil boy is a fighter! I would definitely recommend El Camino Veterinary Hospital

UL

Ulia M.

This hospital has a very welcoming staff, they are always polite and helpful. I can always call them and ask a question whenever I have any concerns without actually coming in. Dr. Morgan is very experienced and he has on many occasions saved me money because I happen to be an overreacting person. He recommends the necessary treatment without pushing the extra expenses by telling me about the options I can do myself at home. I also happened to get Dr. Perry once, who listened to my rambling with no complaints, was very caring and professional. Dr. Perry also had helpful suggestion for dental care, which is never an issue until its too late, so the advice was definitely a big plus. The vet techs are supportive, enjoy the company of your pet and love what they do, they always handle my cats with love and care. People tend to overlook the techs but trust me they do a lot of work and spend the most time with your pets! My cats have been here for over a year and so far so good! Ive asked a ton of questions every time I came in about shots, type/brand of food, litter, deworming, spaying etc. Ive also visited them when they used to do emergency visits, back in the day. Im not going to lie, there are cheaper vet offices out there, but really not by that much. They also offer a free follow up appointment, which is definitely worth mentioning. You can schedule an appointment for free up to 10 days or so later as long as it is for the same issue, to re-examine and check the progress.