VCA Natomas Animal Medical Center — Attraction in Sacramento

Updated review:

We brought our two dogs here and were happy with their services. The actual veterinarians seem competent from a layman's perspective. The problem I had with this place is that I spent way too long there for no apparent reason on multiple occasions. Whatever their internal processes are, they are not oriented to service pet owners in a timely manner.

I have sat there for an hour past my appointment time waiting to see the vet in the past. Most recently today, I stood just inside the door for at least 5 minutes before staff up front even notified the vet in back that I was there while my dog was oozing blood from her neck from a gaping ruptured cyst. I don't think anyone even acknowledged that I was there until after that five minutes. There were only two other pets and owners in the lobby at the time. They were gracious enough to squeeze my pet in the same day for her issue, but once there it felt like the people who were working there all day didn't care if I had to stay there all day, too.

Once I saw the vet, Dr. Zheng, who was pleasant, she said they had to clean up my dog's wound and coat and prescribe some antibiotics. Sounded like a good plan. I asked how long that would take, and she said hopefully about 30 or 45 minutes. I asked if I could pick up my dog when it was done, and she said yes. I had to put down a deposit, however, so I went up front where I was rung up for half of the total. I said, "can I just pay for all of it now?" because I know how slow it can be to check out of this place and I didn't want to do it twice. The person checking me out said, the amount she was charging was the whole thing, which it wasn't.

Fast forward and hour or more. I had received a call that my dog was ready to be picked up, so I headed back. I walked in again, and this time was spoken to promptly and reception notified the back over the intercom that I had returned for my pet and could someone please bring her the file so she could close me out. Soon thereafter, she was playing with another dog in the lobby and I had not been checked out and nobody had brought my dog to the front. After waiting for almost ten minutes, I walked out of there without my dog and said I would be back to pick her up. I ran another errand and returned. This time they had my dog's file up front (I don't know who used their legs to bring it up there or how it got to the back after I paid the first half), checked me out after I paid (again), and brought my dog out front. I don't think I am unreasonable in expecting that to happen the first time I went to pick up my dog after they called to say she was ready.

I will not be returning. Too many repeat customer service issues. Things come up, especially in medical service industries, so I can understand having an off day, but this is the norm here.

I have heard good things about nearby Veterinary Medical Center from another pet owner dissatisfied with VCA Natomas Animal Medical Center's customer service and will try them...

Today was my second appointment with VCA Natomas ever. I’ve been to two other vets in the area for my pets so I’m using those to compare to the VCA. The first reason I ended up going to VCA was because of a bunny I rescued and apparently they have one of the only bunny vets nearby. I waited for that appointment, which was $120 just for the exam, nevermind the fact that what the receptionist told me the price was, was different than what I was actually charged day of. It was only off by like $7 but still… seemed sketchy.

I ended up leaving that place spending $300 on some Revolution plus a week of antibiotics for the bunny. I thought that might be reasonable since bunnies are considered “exotic” pets for some reason. Mind you, I have absolutely no experience with bunnies and so I went into this appointment excited to ask some questions and I was okay spending $120 for an exam because I had genuine concerns I wanted answers to. I got maybe five minutes with the vet total! I had to basically beg the assistant to let me ask a question! Even then I had to wait an extra 20 mins in the room for a response! It’s absolutely messed up that they give you no time to discuss anything about your pets with the actual vet. He seemed like he was in a rush and I was just another number in the queue that he had to hurry through. Also, the vet “answered” one of my questions completely wrong! His answer was the complete opposite of what I read on the VCA’S WEBSITE ITSELF! Crazy! Now I feel as if I spent $120 for confusing advice and I can’t even trust it.

Fast forward to today’s appointment with one of my cats. I rescued this cat recently from Front Street and they gave me a courtesy appointment with VCA to check on her eye. The only reason I went back was because the appointment was supposed to be free. After some explanation and confusing, the exam was free but they tried charging me $200 for medications for NAUSEA! ROBBERY! I waited an HOUR to be charged $200! Come on people, when are we going to say enough is enough. You can make me wait an hour, you can give me 2 mins of vet advice in that hour AND you can try charging me $200?! At least make some of it make sense. I didn’t even say it was that big of a problem, I’m just wanting advice but instead I get slapped with a $200 bill!

Crazy… the other vet in the parking lot charges $60 for an exam, VCA charges $86. Save your money, go somewhere else. I have yet to find a vet that I love but this place absolutely is not worth it.

Edit: My bunny did NOT get the care he needed from this vet hospital. Thanks to the lack of care/time to give my bunny a thorough exam, his issues were left untreated until they were too far gone. I paid for an emergency vet visit somewhere else and he died there and that vet told me that he needed care sooner. I would never trust my pets to get proper care at VCA Natomas ever again. This has cost my bunny his life and my heart is...

This review is for Michelle Rivera specifically.

My cat arrived at VCA a measly 4.75 lbs, and Michelle suggested that she likely had FIP. Thank you for letting us know and pointing us to the right direction on where to locate medication for her. We were able to start her treatment outside of VCA the same day.

Upon arrival to pick up my cat, VCA asked that I sign a waiver ignoring their suggested treatment before they would release her to us. Michelle brought us into a room and hinted that choosing not to do treatment, which included a $8000 ER visit, was animal neglect and that she had a right to report us for animal abuse. When my husband asked her questions regarding the alternative treatment for FIP, and that the symptoms she mentioned sounded like they could potentially resolve themselves with the medication, Michelle cited that she went to veterinary school, and he didn’t. The many years she spent there clearly did not inform her about the ongoing trials at UC Davis for FIP treatment because otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so misinformed about the treatment my cat so desperately needed to resolve her anemia, jaundice, et al that, to no one’s surprise, points to FIP.

Harrowingly enough, Michelle also said that her liquids were very low and didn’t even bother to try and give her an IV drip because she was ready to help assist me to euthanize my cat.

I’m happy to report that to Michelle’s “she’s going to need a miracle”, my cat has survived FIP injection treatments for 84 days and 84 days of observation. Per Dr. Niels Pedersen, DVM PhD my cat is permanently and fully cured of FIP after 84 days of observation with no relapse. There was not a moment where I had unshakable hope that my cat would make it through, and as I exhibited this towards Michelle, I could sense that she was indignant that we would consider anything outside of her recommendation. The hilarity of it is that there were some cat moms on Facebook that actually recommended Michelle to us as a supportive, FIP-aware vet. Hard to believe after the way she reacted towards us.

Michelle, I deeply hope that you are open to studying up on FIP research outside of work and can consider that maybe not everything is taught in vet school. Maybe new information and studies may arise outside of the narrow scope of your textbooks.

To quote Dr. Niels Pedersen, DVM PhD:

“More and more veterinarians now assisting owners in the treatment. I remain disappointed, however, that some veterinarians have not heard about effective treatments for FIP, believe that published reports on the treatment were bogus, or that sourcing drugs from unapproved markets is so egregious that they cannot even assist with the treatment once purchased by an owner. I commend those veterinarians that accept the reality of the treatment and work with owners and their cats with FIP.”

Picture of my cat fully recovered, 168 days after Michelle suggested...