VCA Alpine Animal Hospital

TAKE YOUR PETS LITERALLY ANYWHERE ELSE. They misdiagnosed my cat on first visit. Told me he had a gash on his paw and was probably chased by something and recommended rabies shot. On second follow up visit i was told “No he has two very bad BURNS on TWO of his feet.” Not only did they misdiagnose the first injury but they completely missed he had 2 injured feet. How? When they had him for nearly 3 hours? Then third visit they tell us it’ll take a half hour and “please don’t leave” we sit in the car for over an hour before calling and they say “no it was always supposed to be an hour.” “Okay well it’s been an hour.” “It could be another hour and a half.” What did you need 2.5 hours for and why tell us it’d be much shorter than that? They also administered pain meds, didn’t tell us, refused to give a printed invoice and insisted on emailing it. By time we received the email the practice was closed and we didn’t know if he could have more pain meds with dinner like normal. Why would you not inform your customers what you’ve given their pet? The receptionist is rude and cut me and my roommate off multiple times, refusing to let us talk and voice our concerns over a living creature and how this clinic treats it’s animals. I was told I’d be receiving a call from the manager today, yet still have heard nothing. This place is money grabbing and doesn’t care for its animals or customers. I’ve paid almost $600 for my cat to be worse off then when he originally went in. Take your pets literally anywhere else. This is just the surface level of the issues I have with this place.

I'm on a wellness plan with them.  .

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We've taken our pets there for probably 28 years now. They're very good with our pets.

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The quality and overall "value" you receive for your pet from facility has steadily gone down hill over the years. I still do recommend Dr. Van (Vanosdoll), who's one of the vets there, but the other vets working at Alpine are suspect at best. Most of Alpine's Client Services staff (by reception) seem borderline clueless, inexperienced or uninterested, except for Charlene, who is quite good. A good example of this is good-luck getting them to file insurance claims on your behalf. Oh sure, they said they did it, but turns out they average about a 98% failure rate in actually doing so. You better do it yourself. Also, regarding their 24 Hour Emergency Services......IMPORTANT.....I would caution bringing your pet to their Emergency Room during weekends as their ER vets staffed there on weekends tend to be young, relatively inexperienced and from my past experiences with them (several times taking my pets to their ER) seems like their main goal is to find out how large of a $bill they can run up for the customer. It's as if they get some kind of extra commission for charges rendered because some of their quotes are so outrageous you just can't believe it.

Very well. The Vet was very thorough in explaining all aspects of my dog's health.

It was a great experience despite the emergency nature of our visit. We called prior to arriving so they knew we were enroute to their office. We were met at the reception desk, and our dog was taken to the hospital and given pain medication immediately. Soon thereafter (within an hour), we were advised of the details of her injury, and given a specific treatment plan. The dog stayed overnight so that the surgery to stitch her paw could be done when the vet wasn't busy doing other procedures during the course of the evening. We picked her up the next morning, and have gone regularly for follow up bandage changes since then. They made the process as easy as could be by cutting up the medications into the correct dosage for a very small dog prior to dispensing, and were very flexible with appointments for bandage changes, as needed. Will follow up with more information once the sutures are removed, but we are confident the results will be positive.

I really enjoy the care of Dr. Van.

They took us back quickly, assessed the situation well enough to reassure us, and were helpful, informative, and professional throughout.

We have been seeing This vet since we moived here from TN in Jan. 2001. We ave very pleased with the service we receive and plan to continue to use them for as long as we live in this area.

From beginning to end, I felt I had the necessary information to make the decisions needed for my cat.

I have been using them for many years. They have always been good.

Very good to Excellent.

Excellent experience. I received a history sheet to be filled out for each dog. They accepted and copied my recent canine vaccination certificates for their file. Veterinary assistant did an initial exam of the dogs--she was very nice and very gentle. The veterinarian then came in a did an overall exam. Nothing was rushed; everything was thorough; everyone was very professional, pleasant, and patient.

I have an extra large breed; so it costs more. I was having a foot looked at, annual checkup, vaccines and a profile. It was a multi-service visit. They do well. They are a 24-hour emergency care. They are rated highly in terms of the AHAA guidelines. I would continue to use them in the future.

We made an appt to put our cat to sleep. They refused to perform the service. At the time the appt was made it was not communicated that they may not provide this service. The decision to put our cat to sleep was extremely difficult and took a lot of time for us to come to this option. The family was very emotional and vulnerable but it was time. The veterinarian decided after ten minutes meeting with us that she was not comfortable providing this service and declined. She convinced us that we should pay for some medical tests and maybe come back on Friday when another Vet would be there and she might be more willing to provide the service. This was not something we considered lightly and to have someone tell us we had not done enough before coming to this decision was insulting and very unprofessional.

We have had good luck with Dr. Van and Dr. Cotton at this office. They listen to your questions and offer good advice and solutions. Dr. Van was particularly good when we had to put down our previous dog and the staff was wonderful to us at that time.

The quality of this facility has steadily gone down hill over the years. I still recommend Dr. Van working there, but the other vets at Alpine are suspect and Alpine's support staff seem inexperienced or uninterested. I would caution bringing your pet to their Emergency Room during weekends as those ER vets staffed there on weekends tend to be young and my observations is that their main goal is to see how large of a $bill they can run up for the customer.

We took our dog to Alpine after hours for emergency treatment for a pit bull attack. The staff was friendly enough but wouldn't let us be near while they worked on our terrified little dog. When we walked in the door, the first thing they wanted was us to sign a consent form (before looking at the dog) to agree to a minimum $500 price. Maybe the price was warranted but that was a first for me. We were really worried about our little dog and it seemed to take a long time to find out if his wounds were life threatening. When we finally did see the vet, she was professional and responsive, as was the vet we saw that night when we took our dog home. I score this vet low for price not because of the actual price I paid (which was probably reasonable) but because of their emphasis on price over service. I score this vet low for responsiveness because of their refusal to let me be with my terrified little dog while they did the evaluation.

I have been taking my pets here for 2 years. They have a very nice office and the doctor and staff are great, the only thing is that once one of the technicians had a bit of a language barrier, but they are great and easy to get into see.

They are great! At the end of my previous dog's life, we had surgeries and trauma, and they were understanding and helped me through everything.

I felt the overall experience was disappointing. Both financially and for the quality of service I received. My dog had eaten our plastic weekly vitamin pill box and taken in about 5 days' worth of vitamins and prescription medicines. The staff did get my dog in to see a vet fairly quickly. However, the vet I saw met with me, and then headed into the back to look up on the Internet the effect of each pill. I should have phoned the animal poison control center because this is basically what I paid the vet to do once I got my dog into Alpine Animal Hospital. In the end, he gave no further instructions to me (I had to ask for them), but did ask if I had any questions. I felt a big push for costly tests and other procedures, which I declined. My dog ended up okay, but I do not feel comfortable bringing my pets here in the future.

I think that this place is good. The only thing I don't like that much about them is that I think that they are a little pricey. However, the staff is very friendly and very knowledgeable, so I will be going back in the future.