North Hills Veterinary Clinic

Reviews 3

JO

Joslyn Henning

My husband and I began using this vet in the spring of this year, as we had just moved to the area from South Reno. I thought it would be helpful to have a vet close to home in case of an emergency situation, as we have two dogs and two cats. Despite the back and forth reviews we decided to give this vet a chance. On October 3rd my husband took in one of our cats, because he had found two lumps on her. Dr. Gonzalez advised that he could not tell us what the lumps were without removing them and doing a biopsy on them. The fear was that they could be cancerous. Exactly one week later (October 10th) our cat had surgery to have TWO lumps removed with Dr. Gonzalez. A week after her surgery my husband was petting her, and found that one of the lumps was still there. After calling the vet, it turned out that they had only removed one of the lumps. The biopsy results for the lump they did remove came back as positive for cancer. The vet told us we could either do surgery again (since we had already paid for it) or be refunded. My husband and I decided we did not want to put her through another surgery (she was still recovering from the first one) and when I called the vet back and told them our decision, the girl at the front who I talked to said we would be refunded 50% of the surgery since only one lump was removed. My husband went in there a few days after this to have our cats sutures removed and to get our refund, at which point they tried to refund us $80 for an almost $800 surgery. I called and told them we had been told the refund would be 50% of the surgery, they said no we were only getting refunded $80 because that is the price of a tumor removal, and they only did one instead of two. Of course this made me very upset. I told them that is not what I had originally been told, and since they had messed up so badly the least they could do was refund us 50% of the surgery. I was told by the girls at the front desk that the vet would have to make that decision. Dr. Gonzalez called my husband later that day and told him "The $80 was fair, but that he spoke with the owning vet and they agreed to refund us 50%." He then proceeded to tell my husband that "We had ruined the relationship between our pets and them by pursuing this so we needed to find a new vet and our pets medical records would be in the mail to us." Several things on the above, using the word "fair" to describe the $80 refund they had originally tried to give us is not the correct word in my opinion. That was them refunding us for work we paid them to do that did not get done they were not doing us any favors but refunding us $80. And it is not like they owned up to this, my husband is the one that discovered they had not done what they were supposed to do, had he not found the tumor they would have gotten away with it. I also was told we would be refunded "50% of the surgery" not "50% of what we paid for the tumor removal portion of the surgery". And for them to say that we ruined that relationship, no they did that when they left a tumor in my pet. I am upset about having to find a new vet, I was never going to trust them with any of my pets again anyways, so it was on the agenda. But for them to make my husband and I out like we were the bad guys at the end of that situation, they put us in a position where we had to make a decision about our pets health that we never should have had to: put her through surgery AGAIN so quickly, or leave her alone and pray this tumor isnt cancer like the other one was. As far as ethics go, this veterinary clinic has none.

CH

Christina Costanzo

This place is the worst for exotic pets..I have a mini pig 8 weeks old who needed to be neutered. On Tuesday I took him in for a well check to schedule his neuter for the following Thursday.. he was healthy and with that said dropped off Thursday morning at 8 as a healthy vibrant 8 week old pigglet.. 1 pm they called saying he did well and ready to be picked up. 3pm I showed to pick him up and all of a sudden he has bronchitis and they need to keep him for an hour to monitor him.. me like a fool agreed.. 5pm we went back to pick him up and the tech wanted to keep him home because hes declining (wont eat and still sleeping) I refused and took him home. I mixed his food and he ravaged it! Now lunges filled with fluid (as pigs will do if unactive for extended hours) unable to walk (he is a vegetable from the neck down) he had not eating after 6pm the day before, he was healthy going in and because their neglect hes fighting for his life. It was suppose to be a rutein procedure. I should have learned my lesson a year ago I had a goat that had a urethra blockage. North valley or chilcoot where my only options. I took the goat to north valley as I didnt think he would.servive the hour drive to chilcoot. North vally told me to bring him in and they would see him right away. We waited in the waiting room for over 45 minutes while the pore goat screamed in pain before they even took a look at him. I could have made the hour drive to see the farm vet.. long story short they suggested euthanasia.. lost the goat and may now loose the pig.. do not trust these people with your animals.. maybe for shots only but nothing mag ore or exotic.

AM

Amy Baker

My family has been going to Dr. Altom for years and now Dr. Baggett also, so when my new SPCA dog injured himself 3 weeks after we adopted him, I chose North Hills because of my familys history, although I knew my dog needed to see an experienced Doctor or orthopedic specialist for his injury. North Hills Veterinary Clinic got us in with almost no notice to see Dr. Baggett and he was able to confirm that Desmond slipped a disc in his lumbar region, which is what I suspected and had been devastated about due to the cost, possibility of surgical treatment and long, difficult recovery. As a single mom and one income household, the costs for treating a back injury were intimidating. Dr. Baggett was able to diagnose Desmond and determine that medical, non-surgical treatment was possible, and did not require expensive radiographs or a myelogram, which was a huge relief. Had I rushed my dog to the emergency hospital, I would have had to pay triple what I paid at North Hills before a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Baggett is a veterinarian who clearly cares about his clients and wants to find the best possible solution, putting the least amount of financial burden on families. I highly recommend North Hills Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Altom and Dr. Baggett have treated nearly a dozen of my familys animals and now I will not consider taking my newest kid anywhere else.