TrueCare for pets

On Saturday 07/20/24, I rushed to true care for pets after my 8month old Bengal fell awkwardly off the counter and hurt his leg which I later discovered was fractured. The whole experience from end-to-end wit this animal hospital was not only disappointing, but potentially negligent. They took my kitty right back and dosed him which was great because he was in a ton of pain. I was promptly ushered to provide a $1200 deposit. After 8hrs, I was told he has a spiral fracture on his tibia and needs a surgical consult. Why no surgical consult on the spot since this is the same place they’re asking me to come on Tuesday you ask? So they can charge an additional fee for another consult. They also provided a surgical estimate of $8500-$10,000! I was sent home with my kitten and emailed a receipt which was quickly followed by a text demanding another $711 for the service (we’re at ~$1900 now). I was actually waiting on a new card to arrive in the mail and figured I’d start putting it towards the sign-up bonus and said I would pay Monday. They said they needed the payment now and I explained that my $1200 deposit plus the fact that there was no communication around additional costs/procedures being applied to his care had bought be the weekend and she accepted with an apology (fyi, I paid Monday as promised). Where we really started to run into issues was with the casting. I noticed right away the cast did not seem very sturdy. It was completely open and exposed at the top and anyone who is familiar with bengals would know, they’ll fight to the death to get out of something they don’t like. By the next morning (Sunday), it was barely hanging on his leg and by the afternoon, he had completely removed it. I called and explained what happened and that I was coming back to have it re-cast which they said was fine. While en route, the front desk person called back and asked if I could simply contain him until the surgical consult on Tuesday? I asked how she could even ask me that and if it was not medically necessary for a kitten with a fractured leg to be splinted. She responded by saying “this is just a yes or no answer.” I responded with the answer is yes as I went out and bought a crate for him first thing but that was beside the point as I’m focused on providing him with the best and most responsible care and said I was still coming in. Upon my arrival, they brought me back to a room and asked me to sign for the charges I would be incurring - ~$300 for sedation and to re splint. I was beyond taken back. This resulted in a fairly direct exchange that I’m authorizing care but would not be paying them to correct their mistake. Because I mentioned a possible law suit if any additional injury came of this, they sent in the 28yr old vet to give me a talking to about how best to approach these matters. He said he was 100% certain the splint was applied correctly. I mentioned that he must have been there to confirm and he said all their staff is well trained but no he wasn’t there. He said he would forward along my grievance to management and they would review the situation and I would not have to pay - for now. My kitty was sent home with me in a significantly more secure splinting which he was unable to get out of. That said, I did my research and found another vet clinic that does solely surgeries and it turns out, these vet hospitals try to make up all of their overhead with surgical procedures by charging outrageous sums which most pet parents who love their animals and need surgery without delay, will agree to blindly. I found the surgical only location that keeps their overhead as minimal as possible so they can focus on patient care without taking advantage of freaked out pet owners, of which, the estimate went from $10k for the surgery alone, not including follow-ups, additional X-rays and physical therapy, to a flat, all-inclusive fee for the repair and aftercare of $4200. I have pet insurance with max rebate of $5k so I went from having to be out of pocket about $7k all said and done, to under a grand! Avoid!!!

Some of these negative reviews are wild and my heart goes out to those who lost their pets, but my experience with the staff at TrueCare was only positive. My dog Ellie loves Dr. Norfeldt and he helped us through a difficult time when her nose suddenly broke out in blood blisters. Dr. Norfeldt was super responsive and after a biopsy found her the right medication (steroids) to fix her issue. Thank goodness the results weren’t cancerous. Highly recommend TrueCare, they were very helpful and friendly.

I can't even express myself how I feel so lucky to have place like this where I can drive to anytime. I had to take my cat with kidney disease and she had to hospitalized for 3 days. They were watching her all day and all night and kept me updated every few hours with text messages at night and phone calls in day time if needed. And they sent me pictures too! All the staff and doctors were so caring and helped with everything they could. She got better and came home after 3 days and doing much better. Thank you so much. You guys are the best!!

All of the doctors, technicians and front desk staff were incredibly nice, helpful and knowledgeable. It took quite a while, but they were able to do X-rays, find our puppy's intestinal blockage and perform emergency surgery to remove it. I really appreciated the text updates and pictures of our dog when we weren't able to be with him. The only downside was that it was extremely expensive. Thank you TrueCare for helping save our puppy!

Very clean place, very nice stuff. They were updating us with our dog pictures and about his health. Refunded part of the amount. Ill highly recommend. Vet and nurses were super nice and caring. Same for stuff in the reception. 5 star from Gucchi :)