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 llamas!
Ask Now is a free service from the Health Sciences Libraries of UC Davis. We can help you locate print and electronic information about human and animal health.
Small Animals
Small animal services cover most domestic pets such as cats, dogs, rats, birds, etc. After hours visits start at $190 for general emergencies (dogs and cats) and 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. Regardless of the policy, many exotic pet owners have been allowed to be present in the exam.
Micro-chipping is $45 plus an office visit as of 4/2011.
The center accepts injured wild birds and will rehabilitate them if that is possible.
The Veterinary Blood Bank exists within the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and are always looking for canine blood donors. More information cab be found at: http://www.facebook.com/UCDavisVeterinaryBloodBank and http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/transfusion/default.cfm
Large Animals
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.
History
Sue from the Child Development Class of 1972 recollects:
When I was a Junior, the Vet Hospital was finished. It stood way out in the field with nothing around it. One of my friends organized a group of people who liked animals and we became the "Vet Maids". We were kind of like Candy Stripers, except we worked with animals. We made our own outfits and we even had official name tags that we pinned on. I still have mine.
Anyway, the first challenge was to get out there. It was a long ride. I remember riding by the cows and was really glad that I hadn't lived in Tercero.
We did many things as Vet Maids including: helping the Vets and students with physicals, walking the animals, and doing water therapy with the dogs. Our most frequent job was to give tours of the hospital. It was a lot of fun and the visitors were very impressed with the hospital. One of the biggest surprises for all of us was when we would go into the small animal wards. You never knew what you might find. The hospital took care of animals from the zoo in Sacramento, so you might see all different kinds of monkeys, birds, and other small animals ( along with the cats and dogs). I volunteered at the hospital at least twice a week for two years.
My experience has special meaning for me now because my daughter will soon be starting her last year of Vet School. That Vet Hospital which was way out in the "boonies" is now a huge complex of buildings.
See our Veterinary Hospitals page for other vet services within Davis.
Murals!
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
- 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
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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
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Yeah, blue hair, that's it. —grumpyoldgeek
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Haha! There's employees there with colored hair. When my friends dog needed brain surgery, one of the techs had rainbow colored hair - Scott
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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
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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
2009-12-11 10:49:22 A month and a half ago Dr. Sinclair saw my pet rat on an emergency notice. My poor girl's leg was swollen up. Dr. Sinclair was patient and extremely kind when she explained what was wrong with Psyche. She told me every possible outcome in detail (such as taking a biopsy after amputating the leg) and her chances of extending her life. Psyche was only taken from me to do the radiograph so that is understandable. The outcome for my little girl ended up being euthanasia. I wanted a camera to get some last minute photos but no one could get one to me so Dr. Sinclair offered use of the VMTH's client camera and took seven pictures of Psyche and some with her and me. I was very appreciative of this kind gesture. If you have a rodent I highly advice taking them to Dr. Sinclair. She owns rats herself and it is obvious she knows what she's doing. —KiA
2010-02-02 22:42:09 I am very disappointed in the VMTH. I assumed that attention to detail would be high here, but it is not. I brought my cat into emergency because he was blocked. Before they'd look at him they took my credit card, meanwhile my cat is crying out in pain. After awhile they took him away and I couldn't go with, but they said if he was stable they'd bring him right back. 45 minutes later the doctor comes to talk to me, and he was stable the whole time, but they left me alone there the whole time and didn't tell me what was going on. Then before they would treat him, they made me sign an estimate of $1500. If it hadn't been a Sunday, I could have had the same help, faster at Acorn for about $300. At discharge they gave me a lengthy summary full of information, which was great, but more than half of the time they referred to a cat named Domino. Well, I was told that he was there the same time as my cat Dante, and they were both orange tabys, and so they got the names confused when writing the report. I'm a scientist and the number one rule I teach my UNDERGRADS is that if you label a tube wrong, you can't go back the next day and be sure you know what sample is what, you have to throw out that data. They aren't dealing with samples, they are dealing with loved ones and at their level should not be making such serious mistakes. They also repeatedly gave me the wrong needles for SQ fluids and caused my poor cat a great deal of stress having to sit still with a needle in him for 25-30 minutes at a time. They couldn't understand that a 22 gauge needle wasn't going to work well, or that an 18 gauge needle with a 5 micron filter was going to help either. All I can say is, get copies of your animals records and look for inconsitancies. I also found out looking at the records that they placed his catheter incorrectly and it had to be removed prematurely or else risk damaging the bladder. The trade off was that it made him more likely to block again. Thankfully he didn't, but no thanks to the people on his case. Go to Woodland if you can for emergencies. —alannaaf
2010-04-29 17:56:10 Just took my cat in for a check up. It was her first visit to the vet and she was NOT happy about it. I barely waited five minutes before the vet assistant took us to a room. After answering a question or two, she went off to get the vet med student. He arrived very quickly and was receptive to all of my concerns (mainly that my cat does not like strange men!). He asked me a laundry list of questions and addressed any concerns I had with my cat's health at that time. When he examined my cat he was gentile, calm, and went as quickly as possible. After the initial exam, the assistant and med student left for a short period of time and came back with the doctor, Dr. Hahn. She was just as kind, clear, and calm as everyone else. While they did suggest getting her micro-chipped and buying heart worm medication, they offered to show me the prices of the different medication options and did not persist after I declined the micro-chip. I think the entire exam was an hour and a half at most. They checked her eyes, gave her a full exam, weighed her, and gave her two vaccinations. It cost me $116 for the exam AND the heart worm meds(don't let the $190 estimate for "after-hours visits" in the body paragraph of this page scare you!). They made this stressful first visit easy on my cat and on me! I highly recommend taking full advantage of having this great service in Davis. —MeganH
2010-05-30 18:01:27 This place and Dr. Barbero saved my dog's life. My 4 year old standard poodle had an internal stomach perforation (it wasn't looking good for him) - they were honest and upfront (50% that he'd even survive the surgery). Well, thank God he did. They took beautiful care of him. I was able to see him the next day and the intern who brought him in was so nice and sweet. The surgeon (Dr. Barbero) came out and talked to us about him and sat down with my Dad and I and explained exactly what had happened and answered every single question we had. They kept us informed literally every few hours and we were able to call anytime and get an update. When we brought Bode back to get his staples removed 10 days later, everyone there was excited to see him and remembered him by name =). They talked about what a great dog he was and how they really liked him. How can you even top that experience? We even got the bill, it was half of what we thought it would be, no markups on medications or supplies. Thank you! —ElizabethKelly
2010-07-28 08:08:28 Honestly, I had a pretty bad experience here with my rabbit. I was referred by my regular vet from San Francisco. We got there by 10 or 11 am. The med student took all of our info and then our rabbit. We were not allowed in the room for the exam. We waited for a few hours (yes HOURS) for them to let us know what was going on. I knew the issue was very serious, otherwise my regular vet would have treated her. We then waited for a specialist and x-rays and blood work.
When we finally got our rabbit back at 7 pm (yes, we were there for 8 hours or more) her eye was protruding out of the socket. It looked as if it had been over manipulated. My rabbit went into the exam room with a swelling on the side of her face, with pain but her eye was not being pushed out of her head when I brought her in. Basically, they wanted to do a surgery with a success rate of below 25%. Since I opted not to do the surgery because of the very low chance of survival, they proscribed an eye medication because her eyeball was now lacerated (note, eye was not lacerated when I arrived). No pain medication was administered, even when I said we had a 2 hour drive back home (hindsight I was have insisted pain meds be administered). By the time we got back home my rabbit was in severe pain. We took her to the emergency vet to be euthanized at 6 am.
If you screwed up and over-manipulated her eye. Own up to it. I couldn't see the extend of her eye problem until we got her home.
I knew her condition was most likely terminal but the quality of care she received was very poor. Rabbits are extremely sensitive to pain. They can even die from pain alone (leads to shock, to GI stasis, etc.). For the vets to have my rabbit all day and not give her any food or pain medications when she was obviously suffering is horrible. This happened almost a year ago.
Reasons why I would not return: -I couldn't be present for the exam (not a deal breaker, but a factor) -possible mishandling of my bun with the protruding eye -no pain meds administered -no follow up call
2010-08-30 09:53:14 I'll get straight to the point: if your companion animal needs a dental extraction, only come here if you want the wrong teeth extracted. Yes, the WRONG TEETH. Even with an $800 CT scan and documentation from our regular vet. —AsmaMaryamMohseni
2010-09-19 13:32:43 I took a rabbit that I adopted here on an emergency. It turns out he had liver torsion and it already bled alot. We had to have him euthanized since his chances of survival in surgery was very low. Dr. Stockman was very nice and kept us updated on his condition before and did a necropsy on him. He also called us so we could come and see him before he was gone. I recommend him for rabbits because of the good care he gave my other rabbit before and the care he put into this one. —ElaineJeu
'2010-11-17 10:48:20' As a student at UCD, I brought my two ferrets here. I had an extremely fantastic experience. The receptionists were funny and joked around. It was a good way to break the obvious tension I contained. They gave clear instructions on what I was suppose to do as a first time patient.
I was seen by both Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Koski. Dr. Sinclair had a student aide with her. Both doctors specialize in exotics. They are very kind doctors who are both passionate about what they do. They showed much enthusiasm and interest in my ferrets. I also think its the fact ferrets cause that reaction in everybody. haha. You can't not smile when you have a fuzzy or two around. Anyway, I'm sorry that 'AnsateJones' and 'JessicaFeeney' had a bad time here. In contrast to their guinea pig and rabbit visit, I was allowed in the examination room w/ my ferrets. I was asked the usual routine questions about my pets' wellness and past history. They even volunteered ordering premium ferret food for me if I couldn't buy any myself. The stores in California do sell good brands, but are limited to others. The brand the doctors suggested is a top quality ferret food and I approve of their choice. I'm glad they're so attuned to the little things like that.
Both doctors were extremely gentle and knew the correct way to restrain ferrets. One of my ferrets felt so comfortable that he decided to use the bathroom, not to mistake this for stress poop.(stress poop looks different than normal ones). Both doctors handled my ferrets, but Dr. Sinclair did the initial examination. Time to time, she let her student aide participate in double checking her exam. I.E. listening to heartbeats and checking ears, etc.... Its good practice for the aide. During the exam, the doctors went over the effects of the distemper vaccination. They also asked to watch the ferrets for 30 minutes after they received their shots to see if there were any negative reactions. No reactions occurred, so my ferrets got a clean bill of health and we were able to go. I'm glad they took those extra precautions to watch the ferrets. Usually vets send patients home and have the owners watch out for negative reactions.
I do admit VMTH is expensive, but at least they were thorough with their examination. It was $60 per ferret for a physical exam. My previous ferret vet was $40 for the first ferret and $35 for the second. So at the VMTH, physical exam for two ferrets plus 2 distemper vaccinations came out to be around $195. Blood work done for these little guys is $200 each, so a total of $400. I waited a month to do the blood work just because as a student, my wallet isn't exactly overflowing with money.
When I came in for blood work a month later, Dr. Stockman talked to me about what they planned to do. He even called me the day before the appointment to provide a heads up on that he wanted my ferrets to be sedated in order to get blood drawn from them. I'm not entirely sure if other animals get sedated for the same procedure or if its just ferrets because they're exotic pets. I brought some ferrovite(ferret treat that is paste-like) so the vets could use in case they needed to redirect my ferret's attention. Dr. Stockman immediately said they didn't need it. He said they used ferrotone(liquid version of ferrovite), but thats much more messy than ferrovite and I really didn't want to come back to dirty/sticky ferrets. After convincing him to take the 'vite', he looked reluctant..If I wanted to use ferrotone, I would have brought my own. And I feel that ferrovite is easier and cleaner to deal with... I'm still not sure if he used it... Anyway, he was extremely serious in contrast to the smiling and happy Drs. Sinclair and Koski. It was a relief to see Dr. Koski show up a few minutes later. There was way to much tension coming from Dr. Stockman... Dr. Koski immediately was smiling and wanted to coo at the ferrets to see how they were doing. Dr. Stockman held no interested other than be all business. I can't tell if he was trying to be strictly professional or just a stick in the mud.... He did also go over payment ($400) and verified if that was alright with me. By time I came back to pick up my ferrets, he "thinks" they could possible have heart worm. The ferrets went in for blood work, yet he isn't definite whether or not they have heart worm? There is no way they could have it. They never leave the house and mosquitoes never get into my apartment because you have to go through double doors just to get to my front door. Plus the ferrets live in the back part of the apartment. On top of that Dr. Stockman never fully explained the treatment. He said there was a risk from the treatment, but never explained the effects and how detrimental those effects are.
Overall, I would come back here. I would definitely recommend Dr. Koski and Dr. Sinclair for ferrets and exotics. Dr. Stockman, not so much. I had a very great and happy experience here. The doctors know what they are doing and try to do their best to work with both the animals and owners.
2011-03-29 14:01:48 I brought in my Brazilian Rainbow Boa to see the vet here. I really love my snakes and was terrified that my baby had a Respiratory infections from the stress of moving him from Santa Cruz to Davis. We saw both Dr. Guzman and Sokoloff and they were so kind and warm. My snake had a little bit of a wheeze and did not eat the last time I offered him food. They said that he seemed perfectly healthy to them but they could do blood work, a throat culture, and an ultrasound to see if there was something more serious.
They were extremely honest about the fact that even if there was something wrong it might be too early to pick it up with the tests. In the end they recommended that we wait a week and see. It turned out that he was completely fine he was just having trouble shedding the skin in his nostrils. I increased the humidity and he has not had a problem since but I will be forever grateful to the vets that saw him and were so kind to me.
I always take my snakes to the vet med and have had good experiences every time I have been there, but I would recommend bringing a book and canceling your plans for the day. I have been there as long as 6 hours waiting on tests. —DanielleC
2011-04-30 20:02:55 My bunnies had their yearly exam recently. Dr. Sinclair and another vet (whose name I cannot remember) were very good to my bunnies. Even my skittish boy was very calm while Dr. Sinclair handled him. I'll be back next year for their exam again. —ElaineJeu
2011-06-01 11:00:53 No idea who the doctor was that came to the front desk to pick up my lil' injured-via-cat blue jay chick was, but he had an excellent bedside manner. —Angel.York
Are you sure it was a blue jay and not a Western Scrub-Jay? —WilliamLewis
2016-03-26 16:55:02 An extraordinary experience, far surpassing any expectation I had when I brought my sick cat Jennifer in for an oncology consult. I met with Dr. Fabrice Fosset and vet student Cassandra Shoup, who were so gentle and compassionate with my cat, and so very articulate and thorough in their examination and explanation and recommendations. Over a period of four hours, an extensive exam was performed, they looked at the x-rays and read the test results I brought with me from a local vet, they consulted with faculty clinician Dr. Steven Epstein, and a printout of the findings, recommendations, instructions, and the two medications were given to me. The private rooms are warm and quiet, very stress-free for the animal and human. The waiting rooms are wonderful - very large, quiet, with lots of magazines and coffee/tea/hot water available 24/7. The staff is very friendly and supportive. My cat was diagnosed with advanced malignant cancer, and our family chose no further tests or surgery. Their summarizing report is thorough and so very, very kind. "Thank you for entrusting us with Jennifer's care. We are so sorry that we did not have better news for you today. We hope that your remaining time with Jennifer is precious, and know that we are here for you if you have any questions in the future. Please feel free to contact us or bring her in; our hospital is open 24/7." I wish I had brought my cat here for all care - vaccinations, checkups, etc. Just recently UCD Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital was announced as #1 in the world. Well deserved. Thank you, Dr. Fosset, Ms. Shoup, and Dr. Epstein. —DLatt
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