Santa Cruz Veterinary Hospital — Attraction in Santa Cruz

Please take extreme caution when considering bringing your animal into care at this clinic. As an owner of 4 animals, my wife and I found ourselves at the mercy of the horrible care of Santa Cruz Veterinary Hospital when we switched from Companion and the difference of the attention and care we received quickly became a glaring problem for our animals care.

Anyone who owns an animal, let alone multiple can expect they will certainly pay a pretty penny at times. Their dental procedures are 2 cents a pretty penny to say the least. But this hospital denied for months that my precious Maltese (Stuart Little) had lost oxygen briefly during a dental surgery which ultimately caused him to have seizure like symptoms, still to this day. When I finally confronted in person after having a full blood panel done to get to the bottom of it, they FINALLY admitted what happened during anesthesia.

On top of that, empty promises of conversations with cardiologists, or communication from any doctor for that matter, which can take days depending on if your doctor decides to show up to work??? They will often promise a follow up “tomorrow” but trust me, YOU will have to follow up with THEM!

As insult to injury, we had received THREE different opinions about our senior dog Lola’s tumor and her candidacy for surgery to remove it. One of those opinions being much more personal when we were disgusted by the advice we received “why didn’t you do something sooner?” For reference, their exam fee is THREE TIMES the price of any other local clinic. Starting to see the math here?

We were so disgusted to the point in which we went to Valley Humane Society, a nonprofit organization in Pleasanton (1-hr distance) because we felt that an organization that is founded on compassion was much more suitable for a trustable opinion on our dog, rather than a quick cash grab for an expensive procedure which could ultimately leave our dog in worse condition than before, as experienced with our other dog’s dental surgery a year prior.

After the sad and sudden passing of our beloved due to said cancer, we called SCVH to cancel our upcoming appointment, and we received no return call to confirm this and when we reached out (as I mentioned is typical if you’re a patient there) the receptionist was dismissive, rude and even hung up on my wife who was absolutely appalled by the conversation and response from a clinic that is supposed to respect both the animals in their care and their owners. This is by far the most stale, cold, and bitter service I’ve experienced ANYWHERE.

My final straw was this week when we had our dog Xena rushed into an xray due to complications with heart and breathing. They sedated her so much that when she returned home she was incontinent and barely able to move for over 24 hrs and completely traumatized by her experience there. They also cut her toe nails down to the quicks without ever asking us. To anyone reading this looking for a vet option in Santa Cruz County, please heed my warning - you are better suited driving a little further for respectable, compassionate and caring treatment. Trust me. Just do your research before going here based on...

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!!! To make a long story short, I am totally devastated and heartbroken that my kitty Brandy of 17 years is passed due to incompetent Vet Dr Della Tone and manager Aimee !!! I have been a client of Dr Horne for over 20 years and have spent upwards of $ 50K on my pets care and medicines during the coarse of the years. His staff claims that he has since "Semi-retired", so I was due for an annual checkup and refills . Dr Della Tone did the checkup and I expressed concerns about a skin condition. She had my cats chart which lists all the conditions she had, which included GI tract problems. She prescribed Clindimycin antibiotic capsules for skin infection which cost $70 for 28 pills, she took 3 pills and that is what set her over the edge, vomiting diarrhea, lethargy and couldn't even walk, eat or drink. I tried to return the pills to Aimee and asked her to credit my account for other meds I was purchasing at the time and she totally refused, after being a client for 20 years and spending over $50k at this business.But she charged me another $22 for probiotics and $42. for Denamarin and $27. for shampoo for skin condition, all of which I never had a chance to use since she had to be put to sleep the next day. I was floored. I told Dr Della Tone about that and she said she would get back with me but no one ever did. So as a result of the violent reaction the antibiotics had on my beloved kitty Brandy, I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life to end her life due to the damage that was done to her by prescribing the incorrect form of medication. Apparently, from what I found out after the fact, if a cat has gastrointestinal issues, they could have provided her with a iv shot instead of pills that would hurt their GI tract. Total incompetency on the whole staff and vets at Companion Animal Hospital. This place is more concerned about making money than caring for your animals health and well being. Stay away from this place for you pets health and safety. There are many other options...

The doctor is great and compassionate. However, the service at the front desk has a lot of room for improvement. I tried to order the ear gel of the prescribed medicines from an online compounding pharmacy. I placed the order on Wed., followed up with the clinic and the pharmacy every single business day (multiple calls and email exchanges) to make sure the authorization request was faxed over and was received by the clinic. After the pharmacy resent the fax several times , by Fri. finally the pharmacy and I both verified that the request was received and would be presented to the doctor. I was told it would be authorized by Sat. A weekend later, on Mon., no authorization was forthcoming. I called the clinic and was told (again) they never received the request! It was not until the end of Mon. that finally the authorization was sent to the pharmacy. The compounding took one day. And the medicines won't be shipped until Wed. So from Wed. to Wed, it's incredibly unnecessarily frustrating that I had to spend so much time just to make sure that the request was received by the clinic. While sitting and agonizing, I'm running out of the medicine that my pet has to take twice a day consistently. How could something so simple be made so complicated?? Why is that I have to spend a whole week chasing the always-missing authorization request? And now I have to shell out an extra $20 on expedited shipping to make sure my kitty doesn't skip a dose. This is...