Natomas Veterinary Hospital — Attraction in Sacramento

In order for myself to come on Google and utilize my time and effort to review a business, there is either one of two things that occurred, the business was absolutely exceptional with amazing service or the business left a foul taste in my mouth. For our family, it was the latter with Natomas Veterinary Hospital. We have been bringing our dog, and more recently our cat that adopted us, for over a year now and it has been a mix of different emotions with trusting them to care for our pets. The staff is generally very friendly, but over the time of bringing our dog in with some health complications she has been suffering from it has become increasingly noticeable that they have more of an interest in financial gain then actually accurately diagnosing.

Let me begin with the first example. When we first got our pup, we purchased the puppy plan to ensure all preventatives were taken care of to ensure her healthy. She began to experience GI issues a few months after and there was never any type of urgency to assist in proper diagnosing, and rather an urgency to have us come in to charge us an "emergency same day visit" that would be outside the plan and with no form of discounting even while on the plan. They would perform stool/lab samples at full price, which wouldn't be an issue if there had actually been some guidance or relief in such. In the end, we just continued to switch and experiment with foods that may benefit her until we finally found one. We have avoided them for the most part since this issue, but since there has been report we decided to bring her in for the most recent issue.

This issue has been ongoing since May after she spent some time at a doggy daycamp. Understandable that she would catch something, even though she is completely vaccinated for everything under the sun to prevent it, however it happens. The issue is that we have had absolutely no answer into what is actually happening with her and we just continue having to bring her in for misguided diagnosing instead of a sense of aggressive treating to get her to feel better. I had taken her to VCA emergency hospital when it first began and they performed x-rays, blood work, gave her medications all to rule out anything serious and be able to diagnose kennel cough. Well, the issue wasn't relieved and she seemed to be declining, so I took her back to VCA and they performed a more extensive imaging of her ear, nose and throat as well, and due to the first visit not being successful in treating they didn't charge the visit cost and only the cost of the ancillary services (x-rays/stronger medication). At this point the issue was temporarily relieved and all seemed well until last month when she began displaying symptoms again. So, we brought her back to Natomas Veterinary Hospital and she was "examined" with the diagnosis again of kennel cough being given. Fast forward to last week, her symptoms have gotten worse and my wife decided to bring her back as we are trying to get some form of answers as to why after weeks she is not having relief. They went on to finally perform x-rays and give an antibiotic, even though they are saying it's viral, in order to try and help. There was no acknowledging of us having to continuously spend hundreds of dollars every time we are bringing her for them to give absolutely no type of treatment plan or relief to the symptoms she is having. This visit cost us $400+ with the x-rays costing $250, which is just as much as VCA emergency hospital. Please explain to me how a primary Veterinarian charges as much as an emergency/specialty hospital? Or how they continue to think it's okay to price gouge people that have to continue to come in for services that should have already been rendered? This place, unfortunately, is a giant let down and will just continue to milk you of money to profit their private business verses actually caring...

15+ Year Customer. AVOID AVOID

I've asked the owners to contact me multiple times thru multiple mediums to resolve a simple issue. They have not.

It's just the simple. They're focused on revenue only. They do not wish to understand your issues and provide various options. What they do focus on is everything they can sell to you even if all your pet history doesn't show a need for it. It's about playing off of emotions and lack of customer education versus understanding the customer needs. It NEVER use to be this way. The prior owner listened and provided options but never over prescriptive just to gain revenue for services that provided very little value.

And I don't care whether the vet is right or the customer is right, the vet/owner should ALWAYS engage their customer when there is a request to do so. Silence, especially on repeated efforts to engage, just shows the smug, greedy, entitled, don't care about you because I have more customers, attitude. Be cautious! Personally, I would look elsewhere. We're out.

We've been a customer here for 15+ years well before the current owners acquired it. We've brought in numerous new customers. However, we can NO LONGER IN GOOD FAITH RECOMMEND this practice as it's grossly changed in management, focus, and customer experience.

1. There was a personal, caring, sincere culture under prior management. Now you barely get a hello. They barely ask questions about your pet other than those they drive additional revenue. Now it's about extracting maximum revenue versus what the patient(s) would prefer. Some prefer full treatment others minimal but they essentially refuse service unless you do full. That was never the way.

2. It's a constant push for unjustified services. I've had two dogs over the 15 years. I brush their teeth once a week with an electric tooth brush. Teeth are whiter than mine. No issue eating anything. No bad dog breath. However, on my last visit and the one before I was pressured to get a dental cleaning and dog gum surgery. I have 15 years of great dental dog health. When I questioned, I was told I should "be brushing dog teeth DAILY!!" When I questioned their justification, they essentially left.

3. The final straw. We have and continue to give our dog heartworm the 1st of every month without fail. It's been not an issue to get a prescription under old management albeit they did advise getting a heartworm test. Never did. Dog did great. Same with the current, who is 9. A few years ago their policy changed to sign a waiver exempting them if you get a prescription without a test. Fair. Risk I am willing to take, including the consequences. Now they suddenly FORCE you to get a test as part of their new policy, which they justify by referring you to a society who's largest financial fundraisers are the pharmaceutical companies. is a non-accredited group, and has zero independent published studies (or any). Other vets will provide a prescription sans test with waiver. It's simply an effort to extract more revenue from the patient versus what's best and right for the patient. I have no issue for those that want to pay for the test - your choice. I am religious on the dispensing the medicine monthly and have 15 years of zero heartworm. By the way, in a 10 year period in LA county, where they keep statistics and is the largest county in the US, there were 604 reported cases, which is minimal. Sacramento doesn't publish those records. Point is my data and LA county's data suggests the risk is ultra-low yet they require a test based on a big pharma society.

I wrote the vet. Asked to speak to the owner. Never responded. They don't care about you just your $. As such, I...

Refused to provide care to my dog who needs TPLO surgery (he’s 1 year old) citing the risk of litigation due to my review of another clinic that did not accommodate me. So not only do they terminate care when a dog is in need of surgery thus delaying his pain and suffering but they retaliate proactively against litigation that doesn’t exist. I had come to them seeking refuge after discrimination and apparently my review of the objective facts of an experience at a location (that is nearby and both people who terminated care are the Medical Directors). The thing is there never was any litigation against the former practice, I moved on and then was proactively denied care because of perceived risk that was never there. I’m just trying to take care of my dog. Things are hard enough as it is without clinics teaming up against people with disabilities. It’s disgraceful, where is compassion, understanding and care? Disabilities make like more difficult to navigate, there is no need to add more barriers. But this is the truth of some clinics. Rather than help animals especially those whose owners need more assistance they go out of their way to dodge bullets that don’t exist. I do not file lawsuits due to discrimination I simply endure it because if I did that would be my full time job. Thankfully I am resilient and found another clinic but it was not without significant distress, suffering and delays in care. Before I was disabled I somehow knew that the right thing to do is to make things easier for those with limitations and I didn’t even know how hard it could be. Now that I know, I find it so disappointing to see the world as it is and how prominent discrimination against people with disabilities...