Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital

The new Oncology/Genetics Center

Location

UC Davis Vet Med campus (between West Health Science Drive & La Rue Rd.)

Closest parking is in Visitor Parking Lot 50

Hours

Emergency Service is available 24-7

Small Animal Clinic: Mon-Fri 8am-noon, 1pm-5pm

Large Animal Clinic: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm

Field Service: Mon-Fri 7:30am-5pm

Phone

Small Animal Clinic (530)752-1393; Emergency (530)752-0186

Large Animal Clinic (530)752-0290; Emergency (530)752-5438

Field Service (530)752-0292; Emergency (530)752-5438

Website

vmth.ucdavis.edu

The Vet Med Teaching Hospital is a research facility and shares UC Davis' mission of public service to the State of California. The hospital offers a full range of services whether your creature is great or small, large or exotic, and they're essentially open 24hrs/day, 365 days a year [appointments during regular hours preferred]. As a teaching hospital, many procedures may be performed by veterinary students under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian. Oftentimes, a private practice vet will refer clients to the VMTH for a second opinion or more in-depth treatment. This is also the only place on campus where you can see lamas!

Patient entrance to VMTH (Small Animal side)

Small animal services cover most domestic pets such as cats, dogs, rats, birds, etc. After hours visits start at $120 for general emergencies (dogs and cats) and $190 for specialty services (exotics/birds, neurology, dentistry, ophthalmology, etc.) to walk in the door (exam fee only); dog spaying/neutering is $100 (except for giant breeds) and is done on Wednesday/Thursday with a Tuesday intake [August 2006]. If you bring in an exotic pet (i.e. not a cat or dog) it is general policy at the VMTH for the veterinarian to perform the physical exam in a separate treatment area without the owner present.

Large animals services cover sea lions, tigers, bears and livestock. Field service is available for horses, but no other livestock. The VMTH operates a volunteer large animal rescue team composed of hospital faculty, staff and residents. Scenarios in which the LART may be called include air evacuation, overturned trailer extrications and trapped/stranded animals.

See a related article in Davis Life Magazine

• Ask Now is a service from the Health Sciences Libraries of UC Davis. We can help you locate print and electronic information about human and animal health. This service is free!

See our Veterinary Hospitals page for other vet services within Davis.

Some nice murals in the main VMTH entrance

Comments:

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2005-11-05 21:26:14   does field service mean they will come to you for vet needs? —MichelleAccurso

2005-11-06 09:25:49   I'm hardly the authority, but I'd assume Field Service means if you have a cow or horse which is sick that they can come and see it without having to —SteveDavison

2005-11-06 11:06:36   ha ha ha, i had to fix that link Steve, nice pocture, funny thing is my dog is about that size! —MichelleAccurso

2005-12-06 09:12:31   Yep, they have a Field Service. They're not very timely, though, as it took them almost an HOUR to drive across the street to the UC Davis Equestrian Center to help a horse with a broken leg... —StaceyGalbreath

2005-12-09 04:31:13   field service takes a while (especially if called on emergency) because they have to drive from their homes and the doctor and vet student have to meet up at the VMTH before heading over. They only see horses, no other livestock. —MegHobbs

2006-04-10 15:37:20   I can't thank the vet hospital enough. When my cat was very sick, they not only took excellent care of him and fixed the problem, but also worked with us to keep costs low and arrange payment (we were college students at the time). The doctor was willing to explore alternative arrangements to using expensive diagnostic tools (scans, extensive bloodwork, etc) in lieu of effective but less expensive options. I could not have been more impressed, and though those were some scary times in the waiting room, the vets made sure we knew what was going on, and made sure all of our questions were answered. They were also REALLY sweet to the animals. He was so comfortable with them, he let them insert a catheter without needed to be sedated...and if you have EVER tried to do something that uncomfortable to a cat before, you know that isn't easy. I can't say enough how wonderful they were. —AmandaCaudle

2006-08-21 12:03:13   i will never go here again. they have a horrible policy where they don't allow owners to be present for the exams; i found this out AT THE APPOINTMENT. the vet, dr. malka, is lacking in both demeanor and knowlege. he suggested ASTROTURF as guinea pig bedding! they then whisked my animals away to an unspecified location and left me sitting in a perfectly good exam room because it was a "teaching hospital." they left me in there ALONE, too, i might add. i asked several times to be present and was denied. they took them away knowing how uncomfortable i was about it. this was not some wonky procedure, this was a STANDARD PHYSICAL EXAM (when i asked them what they were going to do, because i was thrown by the astroturf suggestion, they refused to give me details).

fifteen minutes later the assistant came back in and confessed that they couldn't tell them apart. i asked if she wanted me to come back and id them for her; she said "no, it's a little crazy back there." i said "crazy? you brought my guinea pigs into a "crazy" environment to do an exam on them?" she stiffly replied, "we know what we're doing." when i refused to help them unless i was present, she said she was going to go get the doctor. after ten more minutes i started roaming the halls looking for my guinea pigs— as luck would have it they weren't far away, but i had to guess and knock. the intern wouldn't let me enter the room, but i could see that same girl who couldn't tell them apart, DOING THE EXAM, while dr. malka watched her! so she just went ahead and did the exam not being able to tell them apart. when i demanded they be returned to me, the doctor looked at me and said "oh, did you want to come in and watch?" i couldn't even believe it. luckily i was able to pull them out of there and get the fees waived, but i am avoiding this place from now on and i'd suggest you do the same. i've been to a lot of vet places but this was the scariest. —AnsateJones

• I'm surprised to hear such a negative experience. I've used the VMTH for a few emergencies and have always had as positive an experience as possible. I don't recall ever being told that I couldn't be present for the initial exam... it never even came into question! —AlphaDog
  

• Have you considered the fact that they may not have wanted you around because it sounds like you were freaking out?! Seriously, a lot of times owners are really upset and therefore not helpful and creating more stress for the doctors and animals. Who cares if they can tell them apart during the exam? They'll take their notes and add the names later. It really doesn't matter. And who did you think would do the exam? The sudent, duh, under clinician supervision. Its a teaching hospital, so what did you want them to do, not examine your pets? YOU should not have been wandering around the hospital anyway. Sound to me like you just needed to chill out and let them do their jobs, since they do know what they are doing. —AllisonEriksen

• I'll assume your irrational vehemence against someone with a valid complaint is due to the fact that you work there, Allison. Lo and behold! I was a vet tech for many years and have worked in quite a few hospitals and animal facilities. I'm not some ignorant rube. I wasn't even freaking out until they came back in, said they were having problems, then never came back and never told me where my animals WERE or if they had resolved any of the problems. I shouldn't have been wandering around the hospital because someone should have explained where I could go if I had an issue. You can't just sit concerned clients in a room after snatching their pets due to some unknown policy (that apparently even people that work there have no clue about!), and expect them to roll over and take it. That is crazy. Finally, I think it definitely matters which animal is which, especially in this case— one of them had been recently sick and one of them wasn't. You think record snafus don't happen, especially if you have to wait until later to fill in names? You haven't been in the field long enough. Two months at Angell Boston was enough to teach me that. If you don't think it matters which animal is which, remind me to never take mine to you. —AnsateJones
  

• Assume all you like, my employment is not an issue here. But feel free to use that. These are professionals who know what they are doing, and if they don't want you in the room with them, why should they tell you where it is? Whatever. I'm done here.
  

• That's what bugs me the most, Allison. You keep coming back to "these are professionals who know what they are doing." Bull! Just because someone has a vet degree does not mean they are 100% competent, and it does not mean they are even adequately competent to treat or recommend treatment for every species. I tried to ask him what he was going to look for, because I know what he should look for, and he was intentionally vague. He said that he would look at the same stuff that he would look at for a dog or cat. Well geez, why have specialists at all then? I could just take them to the Cat Clinic! You cannot implicitly trust some stranger based on their degree. People goof. People don't know everything. You cannot assume that every vet you take your animals to is going to is going to be capable of making proper decisions, or even treating them correctly. The vibe I'm getting from you (and as an employee I'm sorry to say you are certainly a representative of the place) is that "owners are stupid, they don't know anything, they should just leave the poor vets alone, the vets know everything, they never make mistakes, and the owner-pet relationship is not important in the diagnostic procedure. " I have to say the last one is absolutely not true, and it saddens me that anyone would honestly believe it enough to be okay with someone being denied access to a physical, noninvasive exam. Not only that, but to be an absolute brat to a concerned owner. -AnsateJones
  

• For clarification, she didn't just leave for no reason and start knocking on doors — after she waited in the room for a while for word of whether they resolved the couldn't-tell-the-pigs-apart problem, she called me for advice on her cell phone. I asked one of my co-workers who is a guinea pig enthusiast (and whose wife is a vet tech), and he was absolutely appauled by the situation and strongly recommended getting the guinea pigs out of the appointment immediately. I agreed and relayed the advice on to AnsateJones, and this is why she left the room to try to find out what was going on. —PenguiN42
  

• an update on the situation (I'm a co-owner of the pigs involved): I just spoke to a woman who spoke with AnsateJones yesterday, and she now says that there's no specific policy about not letting owners be present during exams, but the doctors do have discretion to decide whether or not they can be present. However, she also said that it was highly unusual that the owner would not only not be present, but would have been left in an empty exam room and denied the ability to even go back to reception to ask a question. She wasn't sure why the situation ended up like that, but was going to speak to the doctor to try to figure out what went on, and call me back later this afternoon. I should also add that at the time, there was no prior warning that the exam would be handled this way, the doctor claimed it was policy, and he offered no other explanation. This was at best a highly unprofessional, if not unethical, way of handling the situation. —PenguiN42
  

• The woman I talked to who is apparently an administrator told me it was policy. I asked her specifically, twice for clarification, and she said it was policy. I made no assumptions. I asked. I don't know why she is changing her story now, but I find the reaction here to my recounting of what happened to me quite rude and defensive. If what you're saying is true, then most people don't get my experience, so I don't really think you can say I'm overreacting, or that "most people don't do such-and-such." And I like how you mention that I must have seemed over-anxious to them... I was actually pretty relaxed until the vet recommended ASTROTURF, which goes against every fiber of my training and experience. I'm supposed to let him whisk away my babies after that? Give me a break! Not to mention that putting that spin on it tries to blame me for the entire situation when really it just makes the vet hospital look like they do some sort of hasty profiling of owners and then pick and choose who gets to actually be in the room with their animals during a routine exam. Gee, maybe it was because I had blue hair, maybe they just assumed I must be irresponsible! Sounds like a place I'd want to avoid. Your rationalizations don't make the situation smell any better. -AnsateJones
  

• Yeah, blue hair, that's it. —grumpyoldgeek
  

• Haha! There's employees there with colored hair. When my friends dog needed brain surgery, one of the techs had rainbow colored hair - Scott
  

• That was the one throwaway sentence in the whole thing and you guys latched right onto it. That said, rainbow colored hair sounds cool. -AJ
  

2006-08-23 18:28:38   followup: i have talked with dr. hawkins, who runs the exotics division, and she said it was general policy. i am reverting the wiki. you can call her if you like, but she is so rude and dismissive she brought me to tears, and from what i can tell she does not give a damn about your experience at vmth or the misbehavior of the veterinarians. good luck if you ever have a problem here, but don't say i didn't warn you. —AnsateJones

2006-08-31 10:34:40   It's always unfortunate to hear about bad experiences at a hospital. Hopefully anyone who has such an experience is able to discuss it with the parties involved, since (in my experience) it usually comes down to an issue of miscommunication. A Note was added recently to the main section of this page about the exotics service's physical exam policy that seemed a bit too targeted; it was really more of a comment than general info (it focused on one service, named one person, did not provide background info on what a physical exam is, ...) — normally the top section of the page is for general information, and anyone who is interested in specific experiences can read the numerous comments, which cover that particular issue extensively. —DennisBallance

2007-01-24 22:15:05   I would like to comment that I understand that the person seeing Dr. Malka felt they were not well treated but I think this posting does a disservice to the Small Animal Clinic to leave the posting with countering that Dr. Malka treated me very well and respectfully during the recent visit with our family pet. I am not a member of the hospital nor had I ever met the Dr. before today. It is legitmate to complain about lack of communication during a visit but I wanted everyone to know I did not mind the exam occuring without my presence and the Dr. appeared to be very helpful and respectful in his discussions of the exam results. Thanks. —LynnePaulson

2007-05-29 21:59:52   I have had many visits to VetMed and while it is not the full service type place you might find in the private practice, I have had the best care of my pets imaginable. I am an experienced pet lover and have seen that my animals were in good care at the hospital. They are teaching and they don't necessarily all have great bedside manners. They also might scare you with the costs and suggest going somewhere cheaper. If you can swing it, just pay the money. It is well worth the price because your pet will come out well cared for and happy. My cat is never freaked out there; I hear that they keep the dogs and cats seperate which is sure to be a help, but also these are people who really, really LOVE animals. Like me, that doesn't mean they are very friendly to people, but see how they interact with your animal. Isn't that the client anyway? —DavisGirl

2007-08-19 22:23:11   Vet students, remember that you get a stipend each year. Use it! —atwong

• Actually, if I recall correctly, it's paid for in advance (part of their tuition). If they don't use it, they get the money back at the end of the year. If you do use it up and then even acrue extra in bills, they will hound you to pay up or they will actually threaten to delay you getting your degree. A lot of vet students are hunted down in May/June. >.> -ES
  

2008-01-02 09:51:15   I used VMTH field services when I first got to Davis (from New England). Both of my horses had an allergic reaction and their eyes swelled shut. Dr. Sharon Spier and two students came out to treat my horses. I called in an "emergency" (I didn't make an appointment ahead of time) and they showed up in about an hour to an hour and a half (I though it seemed reasonable). They were wonderful. Very caring and informative! I also ended up taking one of my horses to the clinic because he had an indolent corneal ulcer. My only complaint was that to make an appointment with opthalmology, I had to wait at least 1-2 weeks! I met with Dr. Eaton one two occasions. He was very professional and informative. Overall, my experiences with UC Davis have been wonderful! Highly recommended! —jglovicz

2008-02-03 16:40:59   The stipend is not included as part of the vet student's tuition (by the way the student loans for the 4 years is way over $100,000.00 - close to $150k). The discount is just that - a discount. After the discounts have met a certain amount, you just don't get the discount anymore until the following year. I hope that more people will put positive things on here about their visits to the VMTH with their animals. It is a very busy place, but you do have all the experts in the field working together for you. —KatHa

2008-04-14 17:04:50   The bad comments probably come from emotional people. Just like the towing companies on here. Of course no one will put anything good...they tow your car. And theres nothing wrong with being emotional about it. I would be too. But sometimes its hard for any employee anywhere to get along or get through to an overly emotional person in a rational way. I've been there several times and had perfectly acceptable experiences. Go Chrissy! —patrick82

2008-12-11 09:01:49   So, honestly, this hospital is very knowledgable about cats and dogs. When my regular doctor at the cat clinic was having trouble diagnosing my kitty, I took him here, and they figured it out within a day. Turns out he had a rare skin disease, and guess what? The treatment has been working great ever since and my cat is doing just great. And that makes me very happy because he is my best friend. If you want your cat or dog to have the most current treatments and the best care, then I think this hospital is a wonderful resource! HOWEVER, I have a blue-tongued skink (lizard), and he hadn't been doing so well for about a month, but I had had him for 7 years, and he had always been healthy and happy. Anyways, I took him in, and told the doctor what was going on, as well as the fact that I felt he had an infection, and the doctor offered x-rays and bloodwork, which is extremely expensive. All the while, he was NOT sympathetic. The exotic animal vet Dr. Stockman is knowledgeable I'm sure, but I felt like he was only concerned about the money he could milk me for, and not my pet. He also made me feel like it was my fault my lizard was sick, when I have been caring for reptiles my entire life! I know how to handle reptiles. Plus, when I showed indecision about whether or not x-rays were necessary, he was not very sympathetic at all. He could hardly even offer me a prognosis, which makes me mad because at least I'd want to know if it would be worthwhile to spend the money on the poor thing at all. I just felt like overall he didn't care about how I felt about my sick lizard or about how my sick lizard felt either. I would have asked for another doctor were it not for the fact that he is the specialist for exotic animals. I don't recommend his services unless it's absolutely necessary. —Miller

2008-12-30 17:17:28   I previously left a comment about Dr. Stockman that I look back upon and I think that I was a little harsh. When we had done everything that could be done for my sick lizard, and he had to be put down, I feel like he was much more sympathetic than previously. The staff even sent me a little plaque with my lizard's feetprints and all the doctor and tech condolences on it. Looking back upon the experience, I WOULD recommend Dr. Stockman, even though I spoke a little harshly about him before. This hospital is the best option for getting your pet the best care, although it is expensive. —Miller

2009-07-14 13:33:40   Dr. Sinclair recently saw my ferret. She's extremely knowledgeable and the best ferret vet that I've met. I was a little hesitant to try a ferret vet here as this page says that exotics are usually examined in a different room, but she did everything in the exam room while I was present. At the end of the day, when my very old ferret needed to be euthanized, she respected my wishes to be present for that as well. About a week later, I received a nice little plaque with my ferret's pawprints, as well as a sympathy card. I've worked in the veterinary field in the past and I'm very impressed with the little extras that this hospital pays attention to, especially with the high volume of clients that they have — It would be easy to just render services and ring people up and call it a day. I'm very glad to have met Dr. Sinclair, and I highly recommend her as a ferret vet. —MichellePalmer