Vista Veterinary Specialists Sacramento, California

I needed an ultra sound and because they aren't seeing my pet currently they wanted me to pay $150 for a exam and then $500 on top of that for the ultrasound. All I need is an ultrasound, I already have a vet that has been seeing my dog. These places charging $500-$600 for an ultrasound are flat out ripping people off.

Dr Fetner was awesome. The Staff were all great and took great care of my pup and me.. Only thing is they are very pricey.

won’t take in your animal unless they meet “critical criteria” basically they wait until your pet is dead until they can bring you in

Called for an emergency appointment because my cat isn’t eating, was placed on an indefinite hold. Called back and was told they had availability, but because my cat sounded “so sick” I should go somewhere that could take better care of him. Unprofessional and incompetent and clearly they know it.

They helped me over the phone after my dog ingested something not great. Very helpful and repsonsive!

I just tried to get my cat to be seen. Vista was referred to me. I was told they are 24 hour emergency. Apparently, they are not. My cat is dying before my eyes and I can't seem to find one emergency care to see her, including this place. Thanks for nothing and making my cat suffer in probably excruciating pain, Vista. So much for compassion. I couldn't find even a 24 hour emergency vet to see her after trying for three days. We finally decided to let her pass at home; since, by this point, she was too weak. She died in my arms this morning. Don't advertise 24 hour emergency care if it isn't.

Terrible service & very Rude told me they would only take my dog if she was dying, I wouldn’t recommend this place

Dr. Chen, Dr. Kato, and everyone else who works there are so kind and helpful. I understand that there are many pets that are in need of emergency too. So at times the waiting, or the appointment is long. I'm so thankful and grateful that Dr. Chen did her best to help our important family member name, Bam Bam. I cannot thank you enough for everything. Bam Bam always excited to see Dr. Chen (≧▽≦)

Had to take one of our dogs in for an emergency after hours. This is such a great a great place with an awesome, amazing staff. I wish I could give more stars....I'm not exaggerating. I couldn't have been more happier with the service and care they provided to our family for our dog. Great technicians, great Dr, nice clean facility, reasonable prices, and excellent care and service.

Today I had a really big scare that involved my dog Mia. She had an allergic reaction to something unknown and this was the first time I've ever had to rush her to an emergency vet. I called beforehand to see if I could come and the receptionist on the phone was so incredibly sweet and helpful. I got the okay and rushed down. I expected a wait and a high bill but I'd do anything for my babies. They're literally what help me get by in my every day life. They ended up giving her a couple of shots to reduce the swelling and were so great at updating me. While I had to wait in my car, I was still able to use their restroom and they even provided me with snacks and a water. I was beyond grateful. Anyway, I think the total wait time was around 2 1/2 hours. Really not that bad for an emergency vet. The total was $211 and I as so happy and surprised. I know some emergency vets are $300 starting. I have pet insurance but am still in my waiting period. Dr. Bernel? I'm not sure if I spelled that right, but he was so helpful and insightful on what might have caused my dog's reaction. He was also very patient and took his time to explain to me aftercare etc. Overall, this is a wonderful place full of compassion and hard workers. To the bad reviews out there, let me just say that being familiar with this industry - it has one of the highest suicide rates out there and they work so hard. It's sometimes a very thankless job with high stress and emotion. I can't imagine anyone from this hospital would decline to talk about issues that may have surrounded your case of any misgivings from your visit. Thank you again Vista. It was a stressful day for me but I know you guys see it every day. Take care!

This place needs to be shut down. A puppy owners of mine and a co-breeder friend of mine took their pup who was vomiting with lose stools to them on an ER basis. They in theory, did a snap parvo test that they said came up positive ( in a fully vaccinated 7 month old dog) 4k down too hospitalize. This didnt sound right to us, the breeders... Based on symptoms ( and lack of parvo symptoms) We urged the owner to take the pup to one of our vets for a second opinion but the office scared her so bad, that if she took him anywhere else, he would die. She left him there over night. We asked her too have them do an xray to make sure there is no obstruction and to let us know exactly what they were administering to add to 4k? Antibiotics, IV fluids.....No answer. Next morning they call her and tell her he is declining, needs a feeding tube to be kept alive. And more money... This dog was 100% fine a few days ago. We (both me and they other breeder have extensive dog knowledge) and when we called to get more info was told they would give us none. So we all asked to see the dog, which they told us we couldn't... They wouldn't even bring the dog to the car toy see how he was really doing. So we all went and demanded the dog to be released to be taken somewhere else if we coild not see he came out sick, not feeling good obviously... But tail waging. Not on deaths door. So.... For the 4k...per itemized receipt and confirmarion with pushing from the front office.... Pup did NOT receive antibiotics ( if he had parvo, this should have been administered). Only sub q fluids. No IV fluids. Some anti neasea meds and was monitored... No xray. No test to re confirm parvo when he was onviously not responding to TX... We took the pup to our vet in Rocklin ( our trusted vet) guess what..... NO PARVO... If the dog stayed with vista, he would be dead in their care.... And our poor pup owner would have not been even allowed to say good bye. And would have still been out the $$ for their "care". Dog is being xrayed and ultrasounded for obstruction which is what is expected to be the cause due to symptoms.... With IV fluids and antibiotics to treat any gut infection... Pretty sure vista was just trying to get money and more than likely have the dumbest people in thw world working there. Since there was a wrong diagnosis and very wrong care administered, I will be pushing my pup owner into demanding a full refund.... And for the record. The front desk people are cold and uncaring. Avoid at all costs!!!!

Absolutely lovely experience here… the staff was kind, compassionate and loving to my 10 week old kitten. They listen to you and actually acknowledge your concerns and do their best to make you feel comfortable. I would 100% recommend their emergency services, I would definitely go here again, although I hope I don’t have to. Thank you, Vista!

We have gone to this facility to help our dogs . Helping ease our decision to do best for our Dogs in pain Then even sent us a card to help ease our pain of losing our dogs such hard thing to do

A few weekends ago ,late at night ,my super senior cat was in a crisis. Unfortunately, “Buddy” thru an aortic clot to his hind legs. He was in great distress. Due to his age and underlying health I made the decision to humanely euthanize him. I was such a wreck, I do not remember the doctor’s name.She was extremely patient and kind.The staff was very professional and allowed me to be with Buddy .I really appreciated that.I was so worried due to Covid I would not get to be with my boy. Today ,I received a wonderful sympathy card . Thank you! I attached a picture of buddy in his young feisty years. Blessings to you all!

I have only good things to say about Vista. They were so kind to us. Marlana managed to fit us in, when all of the other specialty vets we called were so booked out. We had a CT scan for our sweet cat Jax, who had been having a great amount of difficulty breathing. The internal medicine vet contacted us right after the CT to give us our options and let us know what was happening with Jax. We had tried every option to that point and he had gotten worse and worse very quickly. We found out he had a cancerous mass growing that was covering his nasal passages from the back. It was inoperable and we didn't want to put him through any further trauma, so we had him euthanized while he was still under. We never thought we wouldn't come home with our baby yesterday, but everyone at Vista was so kind and caring and compassionate to us. Everything was the best experience we could have hoped for with such horrible circumstances. Thank you Vista, for helping us find out what was actually going on with our baby. Full 5 stars.

WORST VET HOSPITAL EVER!!!! I have an 8 month old puppy that was throwing up. He wasn't eating for 2 days. He wasn't as active as usual. I tried calling my 2 usual vets that I take them in emergency, however they couldn't get me an appointment until the following week, but they recommended I go to Vista because it was close. I took my puppy to Vista. As soon as I arrived, they came out and asked me about his condition. I explained that he was having a tummy upset and that he wasn't eating. They asked me if he had all of his vaccines. I said yes, he had all but the rabies. They proceeded to tell me that there have been several cases lately where fully vaccinated dogs were coming in with parvo. They said they wanted to charge me to take a parvo test before doing any type of examination to rule it out. I agreed that was fine. They took a SNAP test sample from his mouth and stool. Then 30 minutes later, they came to me and said he tested positive for parvo. The vet requested that I leave a $4100 deposit to leave him in their care for 3 days. I requested that they retest with Elisa since the SNAP tests sometimes come back false positive, and I also asked them to x-ray as he may just have a blockage, but they didn’t do what I asked. They said he had parvo and ran with it. I told them I wanted a 2nd opinion and they told me I was risking him dying as his health could decline rapidly before I get him into another facility. The next morning, I had a voicemail from the night doctor stating that Loki was stable and doing great (not better, not worse), but that his blood work came back and showed that he had normal levels of white blood cells and electrolytes, but he was having a small amount of diarrhea and some regurgitation. I was under the impression he was doing well but not even 6 hours later, the day doctor called me and stated that Loki was rapidly declining, and that he will need to stay in their care, and they wanted me to provide a $1500/day payment in order to keep him comfortable. At this point, I requested to see Loki in person. Upon arrival, I called and asked to see him. The receptionist refused to allow me to see him unless I was there to pick him up, which would require me to sign a medical waiver stating that I was taking him against their advice. I told them to go ahead and prepare the discharge paperwork so that I could see him and if needed, I would take him somewhere else. When they finally brought him out, he was still dumpy and seemed more depressed than when I first brought him, but he stood on his own and wagged his tail which told me he wasn’t as bad off as they made it seem. The paperwork summary they provided showed that they only had him on Sub Q fluids and hadn’t been giving him treatment for 24 hours that a dog with parvo should get, which is why he was getting worse. I ended up taking him to MarQueen Veterinary Emergency Center where they gave him an Elisa test for parvo. The test came back negative. They x-rayed him. Couldn’t find anything foreign. Then the following morning they did a sonogram and found that he was infested with round worm and had an inflamed intestine. They are currently treating him, and he is doing well. He is expected to be home this evening, or tomorrow morning. I am completely disgusted with this vet. They are obviously money hungry and don’t care about animals. I was willing to pay for anything to make sure he was ok, and they took advantage of that, yet they wouldn’t retest or x-ray like I asked. They were pushing parvo down my throat from the moment I arrived. And bullying me into keeping him there in thoughts that he would die if I removed him from their care. I would NEVER recommend anyone take their pets to Vista Veterinary Specialists. I’ve read several other reviews where they’ve taken advantage of clients and they are just inhumane and inconsiderate. The staff is rude and uncaring. I will never take my kids there again.

10/17/2021: Zero Stars. Taking your pet here is synonymous to a death sentence if you don’t have ~$4,000-$7,000 in your pocket available for a DEPOSIT immediately. We took our working dog, K9 Zuti, to this ER for symptoms of vomiting blood and passing blood in his stool. They wanted $6,600 deposit to treat him without first running diagnostic tests. We tried like crazy to get the funds together but were unable to do so. The office staff suggested that we euthanize K9 Zuti. The doctor said, “He is trying to die.” They said he was rapidly declining and hemorrhaging. We finally looked this hospital up online and started reading the other reviews written by people who had similar experiences. We decided to do what the others did and stated that we wanted him discharged to get a second opinion. They implied that he would die if they discharged him now; they also said we would have to carry him out because he couldn’t walk. They made us sign an AMA (against medical advice). Lo and behold, just like the other reviews mentioned, he was able to walk out on his own and although he was still sick, there were no signs of active bleeding or vomiting. We drove him to a vet about a mile away, VCA MUELLER in Sacramento. They were so kind and compassionate!! They were waiting for us outside with a stretcher when we arrived! I recommend reading my review of their facility on their Facebook & Google website, as well as all of the other reviews.

Friday Oct 15th was a horrible day for me as my elderly fur baby was ready to cross the rainbow bridge. To my dismay my regular Vet was too busy to deal with me and my old boy after calling all day to try and get fit into the schedule of a ER vet office I was very frustrated. I googled Vets near me and found Vista. From the first phone call they were kind and attentive to my sensitive situation. I was able to take my boy in right away and we were treated very well and kind. Vista made this horrible time easier for me and doggy. They were very kind, understanding and just nice as heck. After the pain of recently having to put down 2 dogs that I had for 12 years I don't know if ill every get another dog but if I do I will be bringing them to Vista for their vet care. The kindness everyone in this office showed me will stick with me forever. Thank you Vista for helping my Rocky cross the rainbow bridge after a long happy life. It was the saddest day I had in a long time but you all made it easier.

I came to Vista with my Newfoundland puppy. I am thankful for the treatment at this hospital. Even tho the waiting time was long. The doctor I spoke with was very profesional and helpful. I went to Banfield Pet Hospital before and I had a terrible experience there. I am thankful I found this clinic. They seem to care much more about pets and helping them.

My dog Layla and I were greeted in the parking lot by the friendly vet technicians and I felt very comfortable as they walked my dog in for her appointment. I was kept up-to-date on what was going on and was returned a healthy happy dog! I would definitely return! Thank you!

Our dog peacefully passed away last night. It was so unexpected by the hospital and us. The staff were wonderful the following day and help us tremendously. We are so grateful.

Rip off. They had no clue what was wrong with my cat. Wanted to make me leave a 5500.00 deposit??? Really. Nurse care level 3 was to be 800 + to 1168. Talk about trying to gouge people. And the vet asst was very cold and smart mouth. Never go there

Very uncaring over the phone. My gut feeling was to go somewhere else

Our 7 month old puppy started coughing, couldn't keep anything down. This then progressed to shaking. He became very dehydrated and weak fast. It was after hours at his vet's office and their voicemail recommend emergency's to Vista Vet's emergency team. The team was extremely helpful in getting him hydrated and helping us figure out what caused this. They did an excellent job explaining the various tests they recommended, which tests they thought were the most important first based on what they suspected was going on, and explaining what they supected was going on and why! Dr. Bernal was kind and helpful. He worked tirelessly with our puppy- calling us at 10:30 pm and then follow up with us at 8:00 am the next morning. The nursing staff was helpful too from explaining the wait time, the intake process, and then talking through first steps to diagnose- I felt like a mess but they were calm and compassonate. When our puppy left it was obviously how much they love and are passionate about their work. We walked away with a stable puppy, answers, and good treatment plan. It was a scary moment, but we felt supported and knew our puppy was in good hands.

My dog stayed overnight after a splenictomy. Care was good but drop off was disorganized. Although my surgeon notified them I was dropping off my pet and Vista sent me a preregistration form and confirmed receipt after I completed, when I arrived, they had no record of my dog. It was not reassuring. Then, they lost my pets Rimadyl. They claimed we did not drop off. I'm still waiting for them to find them.

My poor pug needed Emergency Gall Bladder Removal Surgery last Friday. it was shocking and scary. I am so grateful to have found this hospital. I commend the entire staff for their professionalism and best of all their inrcedible compassion. I owe my dogs life and successful surgery to Surgeon Dr. Chen and all the people who work there. They care so much for your fur babies and are an excellent Hospital for emergencies. You can call ANYTIME 24/7 and someone will answer. Thank you Vista Vet!

Between visits for accidental edible ingestion in my dog to having to get end of life services [I want to add these were separate incidences years apart] the Veterinarian (cannot remember her name for the life of me) is so incredibly educational and kind. My dog had late stage cancer and our options were described in detail to us as was his current condition. As heartbreaking as it is to lose a family member, Vista Veterinary genuinely made the process and the heartbreak easier. They have a beautiful dedicated room to end of life services.. Not to mention the heartwarming card with the Rainbow Bridge poem, his paw print and a photo of him sent about a week after. It made me cry from how sweet the gesture is, but also nobody does these kinds of intimate, loving things for another anymore. I will be a lifetime client as long as I'm in the area.

I was referred here this past weekend when every vet in Elk Grove had no appointments available anytime soon and my sweet little Yorkie was having an allergic reaction to something. I was FREAKING out and after calling 6 other vets and getting through to Vista, it was just a good experience from the start. The girl that answered the phone was very nice an let me know they could take us in and advised it might be a long wait but I didn't care at this point. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and once we were there a tech came out immediately and took my baby to triage. The staff was very nice and kept the communication going. I really liked that they had texting and called us to go over each step through the process. We were there probably about 2 hours and then given the bill which to my shock was extremely reasonable as I was ready to fork over some serious money. Seeing some of the reviews that were posted had me skeptical but I didn't have a choice. We were sent home with instructions and told to come back if she got worse. So the next day unfortunately she was still off so we called and headed back and were taken in right away. This time we waited a little bit longer but it was fine. Some meds were prescribed to help with the reaction and the Dr/ Tech's were very thorough and explained everything clearly. Once again, expecting a big bill was pleasantly surprised it was not bad. I do know that if there was something really wrong it would have cost us more. Now my pup is doing great and back to normal. I really appreciated how kind and pleasant all the staff was and for taking care of my baby. I will definitely go back there if needed and recommend anyone else in need. Thank you to the staff at Vista Vet!! You guys are all awesome!!

I had My best friend for 15 years ,he was my life been through all ups and downs with me . No one ever knew me without knowing chopper or chippy as we called him . He always was by my side kept me going through the hardest times in my life . It was hard to see him have to go . Hardest thing I had to do leave my friend that I had Since I was 15 . I miss him . But vista was professional . Made the experience as comfortable as it could be (considering) they showed empathy and help in all ways . I thank you vista I received the card today with messages not just some signatures but actual writings it ensures that my boys last day was at the right place . Thank you for being a great place and all of you are amazing I wish nothing but the best for all of you there ! . -justin F

To everyone at Vista, We are so very pleased with the time our little Chanel spent with you. Of course we would have hoped to have never met you all, but now that we have, we are grateful. From Karema(excuse my spelling) , and the other receptionists, Dr. Owen and Dr. Lee, Jen, and anyone else who cared so lovingly for our Chanel, a profound thank you. It would have been nice to see your faces but we appreciate all of the covid precautions Vista has in place. Jen, it was nice to meet you at Chanel's discharge last Saturday. You helped me a lot when we first spoke on the 25th at 11:45am. You were very encouraging about our situation which in turn made me feel much better about everything. I told my husband how wonderful and helpful to me you were. I didn't feel rushed to hang up even though you were probably very busy caring for other super ill patients. You are an asset to Vista. You are quite personable which is a perfect trait for a very difficult job that you obviously love. Everyone we had contact with, albeit brief, was so so detailed and informative throughout Chanel's stay. The Doctors were awesome at this. Chanel "talked" to us all the way home and ate a healthy amount of wet food upon arrival! She even used the litterbox. She, to us, looks so much better than when we brought her to Vista on Thursday night. Such a relief. Now it's our turn to assist her with recovery. Thank you again for having an opening for Chanel. We will definitely recommend Vista to our friends should they need emergency services. Thank you again. Cordially, Marzett and Cheryl Stakley CoCo and Lily Stakley