I second that...good by pricey by C S. at InsiderPages
I wondered if it was a California thing - everything being more costly here than where I'm from - but while I haven't yet found charges for things I didn't get (hmmm...guess I'd better start looking more carefully), I do feel they want to do every test/procedure possible every time (and they charge for every bit) and I question the need. I certainly want my babies to have whatever they do need. However, over the past 25 years, I've had 15 pets - as many as 7 at one time, and including the two I have now - and they all lived to their late teens. Yet the vet I worked with in my home town didn't do every test/procedure under the sun every time; he did what he thought was the best thing given all the factors, and we went from there. Sometimes he was wrong, but not often.
Also, if you really needed to get your pet in, my former vet's office would try to squeeze you in, and if you were patient, you'd be seen. Not this office; I've tried, and I've been in the lobby waiting for my appointment and heard other people try - it's not just that they're always busy (find me a vet's office that isn't) they don't seem to even have it as a possibility. Maybe if it's a real emergency, (I have no way, thank goodness, of knowing) but seemingly not for anything less. If the idea here is that it keeps them on schedule, all I can say is, I seem to wait as long here for my scheduled appointment as I ever did at my old vet's office.
On the plus side, they do seem to be knowledgeable, and competent, and conscientious. I've met all the vets and have liked them all.The vets call you back, too, even after hours. I've been called to go over test results as late as 7:30pm, and I really appreciate that.
Overall, unless I hear of a really outstanding vet's office locally that charges less, I will probably stick with these folks.
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