Vca Veterinary Specialists Of Northern Colorado

Fantastic hospital. From the front desk folks to the docs, they were always warm and nurturing. Dr. Green is a top notch surgeon! May be more expensive but if your pet needs some high level care, this is the place to go. Read Less

My best friend, Jenny dog, was in terrible pain. I had taken her the day before to a local Vet. He said put her down (which was reasonable really) but I said NO. He would not give me a stronger pain killer to get her though the weekend. The next night (Friday night) I rushed her to VCA. They did give me a whole "plan of action" which I realized wasn't possible, she was an very sick old woman. Once they realized I wanted hospice care they set me up to take her home (with stronger pain med I could inject) Unfortunately by Sunday she couldn't fight anymore so my daughter and I took her back to be put to sleep. THIS IS WHERE VCA REALLY SHINED. Jenny was treated with kindness & respect from when we came in the door and even after she was at rest. We had a private room, and everyone, including the doctor did not rush us a bit- not before not after. I've taken other people's fur kids to be put to sleep- believe me this was the best experience by far, even though my heart was, and still is breaking. Read Less

My dog was bitten by my other dog at the beginning of march. We came in, had some stitches done, and my regular vet was appalled at the job that was done! And to pay so much! Ridiculous! My dog still has a split in his ear that didn't heal back together! 400 dollars for nothing! I wish I could share a picture of the job that was done. Read Less

My 11 year old dog saw Dr Komitor after weeks of treatment for his uncontrollable pain. I work at a different pet emergency hospital in Fort Collins, and my docs did an in depth exam including ultrasound, head to toe radiographs, multiple blood works, acupuncture, physical therapy and multiple drug trials. At the end of three weeks Rocky was still in agonizing pain and had developed neurological deficits. I thought my next option was going to be euthanasia because he wasn't comfortable enough to pursue more diagnostics. My docs and I decided to get a neurologists consult. I set up an appointment with Dr Komitor at VCA. She did an in depth exam in the room, and She was able to isolate the exact place where his pain was originating from. She warned us that he may scream out because she was trying to isolate his pain so that she could "neuro localize" his problem. She was never rough with him. Dr Komitor finished her exam and was able to then speak to me about her concerns. Unfortunately she told me she thought he had a tumor in his spine near his brainstem. Her team provided me with an estimate to do an MRI within a few minutes. After reviewing it as a family we decided to go ahead, and her team fit us in that same day. I was a nervous wreck hoping she was wrong about the tumor. A few hours later, and a couple cocktails, I received her call. She said she was in the MRI room looking at the images popping up. . . she said she was sorry but she did in fact see a tumor pressing on his spinal cord and reaching towards his brain. My world crumbled. This dog had been my little soul mate since I was 15. I returned to the hospital as they were recovering him from anesthesia. After he was in his kennel I went back to visit. Komitor went over his MRI images and he had a nasty tumor that was pressing on his spinal cord and also trying to occlude his airway. He had been having rough sounding breathing, but nothing came up on Xrays a week before. It was growing super fast. Komitor went above and beyond trying to get us into the oncologist even sooner than our appointment. She recommended a personal friend who happened to be an oncologist and communicated with her on our behalf. It was decided that it was best for us to go to csu, so we kept our appointment. I was so thankful and touched by the personal touch she had on our case. We then spoke about SURGERY! The surgery would be to grab a sample of the tumor to get an official diagnosis. This would decide how to treat it. She took him to surgery the next day. We wouldn't know results for a week. She changed his pain meds and they worked! We still had to be very careful with him, but he was so much more comfortable. The rest of our story continues at the CSU teaching hospital with another surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. That's a story in itself. They were amazing and generous as well. My bank account is wiped out, but my little buddy is still here and happy against ALL odds. It was all worth it. Thank you Dr Komitor, Dr Green and Dr Barrera for everything your guys did for Rocky. None of this was cheap. But it's healthcare, this stuff is never cheap. If it is then you prob should look at why it's so cheap. These same procedures in a human hospital would be substantially more. The only difference is that people have insurance. I understand the anger and frustration of seeing a price tag on saving your best friends life, I do. I see this pain everyday in ER medicine. It kills me every time I see a family deal with this decision. Just please don't attack your vets. Please look up your typical vets salary. I bet many of you prob make more or not that much less. This money goes to the equipment (like and MRI), the specially trained staff to be able to give you and your pet the best care possible. Sorry soapbox again. Read Less

First and foremost, I am a crazy dog mom. Not having any human children of my own, Frankee, my five year old Jack Russell terrier, is my only child. Unfortunately we have had two interactions with the VCA Vet hospital within the past six months. During our first visit, the vet (can't remembe her name, sorry) provided Frankee with a very thorough exam. Although, we were unable to fix his problem that evening, the vet guided us on the proper course for his treatment, which was to consult an eye doctor. That eye doctor was able to diagnose and begin treatment for Frankee the next day. About 10 days ago, Frankee started to not act like himself. At the guidance of our primary vet, we took Frankee to VCA for evaluation. In this short time, Frankee's status deteriorated rather quickly. My once crazy and vibrant terrier could barely hold his head up and was unable to stand for long unassisted. We met with Dr. Komitor who suggested we get an mri, csf tap, and labs. The staff kept me informed throughout the procedures. Once Dr. Komitor reviewed the mri, she informed us Frankee has a condition called gme, an inflammatory neurologic condition that was affecting his brain and spinal cord. Dr. Komitor has wonderful bedside manner, she got down to our level and kept us informed every step of the way. The staff allowed me to visit my dog in his crate that first night in the hospital. Leaving Frankee that night was one of the hardest things I've had to do, but I was comfortable knowing that the staff would care for him like he was their own. I was able to take the frank home the following evening and allowed to bring him back for his final dose of chemo the next morning. The first few days were emotionally exhausting while I watched Frankee make slow progress. I had a couple of medication issus and the staff always returned my call and we're able to provide guidance. Today was our first follow up appointment. Dr. Komitor, as well as myself, are very pleased with frankee's progress. He is walking without issue, his neck pain is resolved, his pupil (the good one) is responding; all reassuring signs that he is making progress. Which is good for both of us since I am not ready to lose him yet. We will have to continue chemo treatments and routine monitoring for the rest of frankee's life, but I am happy to know we will have the support of the VCA staff. I want to personally thank Dr. Komitor, Brittney, and the rest of the VCA staff for giving my little guy a chance at life. We are forever grateful for your expertise and compassion! Read Less

I took my very mauled cat in and while the staff was very caring, their process and practice with regard to the "estimate" I thought was very disconnected and felt like I was buying a car. My poor cat was on the table in critical condition and they're tossing different estimates at me while I was in a crisis and not thinking clearly. And I had to arrange for financing in the hour i was there. I couldn't even have a day to figure out how to come up with $2000 for an 8 hour stay. I ended up having to put him down strictly because of cost. Very sad.Read Less

Brought my dog in as a referral from a vet that I truly trust. He's a 5 yr. old BC who is a top notch athlete in great physical shape in spite of having a couple of previous surgeries 4 years ago (before I adopted him). He's experienced on & off lameness on his right rear. My regular vet gives him chiro, laser & acupuncture on a regular basis. His orthopedic vet recommended I see Dr. Komitor for a neuro consult and an MRI. Dr. Komitor was highly distracted when she saw my dog. An intern on a neuro rotation took his medical history and made us wait close to 2 hours before Komitor came in to exam my dog. Upon a very aggressive and forceful physical exam, she was able to illicit a pain response from my dog. I think any dog would have cried out with how heavy handed she manipulated his spine. She looked at his x-rays for about 2 minutes tops. Told me within the course of a 20 minute conversation about degenerative disc disease and how the dog is fine until they aren't - a canned response seeing as she said it twice. I think they are more about the money because they did a very unnecessary procedure (spinal tap). Collected the spinal fluid even though it was contaminated with blood and still sent it out to CSU for testing and then charged me for it. They sedated my dog and did an MRI - $2800 later, still waiting for "results" back - but her initial assessment was he was "non-surgical". She sounded almost disappointed she wasn't going to be able to cut my dog open. In my opinion, the right course would have been to do the least invasive thing - really study the x-rays that the ortho vet sent over and to do an ultra-sound on the soft tissue. But VCA has a big ol' MRI machine they need to pay for - so they did that instead. I get that VCA is a big corporation with lots of bills to pay and it is is a business in which their goal is profits. But at what price? The price was my dog underwent some pretty invasive, expensive and unnecessary procedures. I still don't have a definitive diagnosis because I'm waiting to hear back from the other vets who are reading the MRI. In the meantime, my poor dog is uncomfortable because who ever shaved him used a really hot blade, so in addition to the puncture wounds on his skull from where they drew spinal fluid to the 2 spots on his legs for IV/catheters, his chest has 1st degree burns. I think there are a lot of other places where one can find Board Certified specialists who can do a better job of listening to the human who lives with the dog 24 hours a day instead of making huge (and wrong) assumptions, projecting how "their dog had this that and the other" or guessing that it is a disease and sharing that guess because they see "a lot" of these kinds of issues. I'm torn because I know my dog needs rehab but I really have no desire to go back to this hospital because I do not trust they will do the right thing by him and me. Read Less

This is hard to write since I had to have my dog put to sleep at CSU Vet Hospital just days after visiting this clinic. He was examined by Dr. Komitor for neurological problems. He was muzzled and literally thrown on the table. She put so much pressure on his abdomen examining him, (he was crying out and terrified) I have little doubt she is what caused an undiagnosed tumor to rupture and require an Urgent Care visit to CSU Vet Clinic. He was diagnosed with bleeding from the tumor into his abdomen. We are so desparately sad that he is gone AND that my visit to VCA probably caused the rupture of the tumor. He was doing fine before we went in to VCA. He was suppose to get a CTA scan the following week at CSU Vet Clinic to assess him for surgery but died 3 days after Dr Komitor's BRUTAL exam. My dog was treated with such brutality I feel terrible I put him thru that. Also, the ultra sound they did in their office was such a poor quality, the CSU vets had to do it over. Granted my poor pup, Riley, would probably have not made it for very long with cancer, it BREAKS MY HEART that he was put through such pain, fear and unkindness by Dr. Komitor and his life ended so abruptly. I have never reviewed anyone before, but this was so devasting to us, I felt an obligation to my sweet dog to post this. Riley...you were our light and love now and forever..... Read Less

I brought my dog in for a really bad cut on her leg which required stitches to hold the blood vessels back in. I spoke to a man on the phone and told him I don't have a lot of money to spend up front and he explained how they would help with that. So we get her there and into a room, where the vet assistant kept grabbing her wound looking for the wound that I was trying to show her only she wouldn't listen to me. They took off her bandages and left her bleeding all over the floor. So I had a paper towel under her arm trying to make it stop, and she came back in, yelled at me for my dog bleeding in the hospital floor, and very roughly put a bandage back on. My dog has never tried to hurt anyone and she was literally trying to eat this lady while she did this and on top of that I have never heard my dog cry like that before. I left really upset for the way they treated her.I left paying over $200 for absolutely no help. They wanted $1000 for stitches all up front. I finally found a vet who flat out told me "I don't know who would charge $1000 for a laceration but we aren't going to that and you're dog sounds like she really needs help so just get her to me and we will figure out the money after." This place was amazing. And just to compare, I watched this vet take off and put back on a bandage and my dog didn't even flinch. They charged me $500 which I was able to do and treated my dog as if she were theres. She loved these people. VCA is a horrible place that is only out for the money. They will treat your animal very poorly and demand way too much money for it. I told all of this to the vet that helped her and they just seemed to get really mad that they did that on top of wanting $1000. When you compare the two, VCA is a joke that needs to be shutdown. Read Less

My first and only experience to date with this clinic was an emergency visit which resulted in us having to put our companion to sleep. The professionalism and compassion that we were shown, not by just the doctor, but the entire staff, was second to none. Everyone went out of there way to help in any way that they could. I have never been in another vet clinic that I would rate nearly as high as VCA and I would recommend them to anyone. Read Less

We of course had to go late on a Friday night. The girls at the desk were very friendly and helpful. The vet ran a few tests and ultimately we had to put down our dog after 13 years. The staff was more than caring and treated us great. They did everything they could and let us all kinds of questions. They were patient and kind. They have a great team and we wouldn't hesitate to take another pet there.Read Less

Ever time I come here the staff take such good care of my furbabies and me too! It get's a little loud, but overall the staff is competent and loves my pets almost as much as I do. Dr. Rifkin and Dr. Fleishman have been so great to us and our diabetic kitties! Read Less