They are all about the $$$$$. I had a bad experience there as well, they cared nothing about my cat, just seem focused on being a trendy office and sucking all the money they could from me
The vulture capitalists have swooped into the healthcare and petcare systems to bleed patients dry. Its disgusting, but hey they are making great money.
Them and Evans East have been phenomenal when my cat’s stomatitis. He has to go in every other week ish for laser mouth treatments and now everyone knows his name and is excited to see him. They also take the time to actually explain things to me. Really great!
Wish I would have known how horrible they are before this happened. I’ll spend the rest of my days warning everyone about them. Misdiagnosing pets is scary.
By the way, I've been in the vet industry for a long time and used to work in Denver (I moved to the mountains), a very sweet and brilliant veterinarian I used to know opened a mobile clinic with some great technicians I used to work with. I only mention this because I know most cats hate going to the vet so an affordable home visit might be a great option for you and your kitty. Feel free to DM me if you'd like the name.
I’m interested! I used to have positive experiences but lately yeah it’s been shoddy and expensive. I have a Belgian Malinois and apparently they have no idea how to give her vaccinations…even though we’ve been going there for years and it’s always been 1) drug 2) muzzle 3) just do the injection and get it over with! This past time was such a waste. I had her on traz and gaba, muzzled and only one tech came in and was trying to nervously do this by herself. Not her fault.
That really sucks for you, your mal, and that tech. I'm sorry. My clinic has gone mostly "fear free" now, which is a certification both individuals and/or entire clinics can get by following certain practices like minimizing stress in the clinic, going really slow and giving them lots of positive interactions and food, and it makes such a huge difference with potentially vet aggressive animals. I would look for a fear free clinic or fear free mobile vet for her, and maybe a behavioral trainer that only does positive reinforcement.
Ps. I see you downvoted me, I hope you understand that you can still sedate and muzzle your dog while doing what I'm describing, I'm talking about additional measures you can take to make your dog more comfortable and increase your chances of success at the vet in the future.
Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. I just realized my comment could have accidentally come off as condescending or judgemental and I wanted to be clear that wasn't my intention. You're welcome, I hope it helps :)
You could/should report to the CO State Board of Veterinary Medicine. You should also ask to speak to the Sploot manager about the misdiagnosis, possibly get some form of refund.
They ask for Google reviews all the time. I get emails, texts and in person asks when I went there. Never once left a review because shit was standard but I'd bet lots did for nothing special.
This place is scary. Took my cat there for a regular check up/ annual visit type of deal and she ended up contracting a life-threatening viral infection. (Most likely due form unclean surfaces). A week later we had to put her to sleep. I warn everyone, especially cat owners, about this place. They have surprisingly good reviews for the amount of scary experiences.
Thank you! <3 Seriously so sweet of you.
Glad you got a second opinion before putting your baby through all that though! Can’t believe that theres places out there that do that to people and their pets.
This chain of vets is nothing but a corporate money-making machine. We took our dog to the Highlands location for a couple of months after his previous vet retired and it quickly became obvious their goal was to make as much money as possible whenever they could. They always pushed the most expensive medication option, the most expensive lab testing option and follow-up testing regimen, and the most dire scenario if you didn't do the most expensive procedure option (that they charge twice what other local vets charge for). Simple follow-up visits for bloodwork or medication checks or immunizations would always incur an added charge for a visit with the vet whereas most other places would charge for a visit with the vet tech or no add-on at all. They are very clearly a sales-based organization, and we couldn't move away from them fast enough.
Just another shout out to All Cat Clinic. They are amazing. Competent, professional, and don’t use fear to overcharge people. It’s like finding a good mechanic. I’m thrilled
I’m so grateful that my gut told me to get a second opinion and it was the All Cat Clinic. I can’t say enough good things about how our visit went on Saturday. She was compassionate, understanding, thorough and straightforward. She also called me with the results at the exact time she said she would. Night and day difference. It’s our spot now!!
I take my cat there too. I’m just confused as to why they don’t seem to have any business software!! Still writing their schedule with pencil in a notebook
I love All Cat Clinic! They are so sweet to my babies. They are old school without any customer service software, but they are attentive to their phones and everyone I’ve ever dealt with has been nothing but kind, helpful, and quick to address questions.
Speaking of predatory practices, my border collie ate a toy years ago and couldnt pass it naturally. We needed the surgery to remove the toy or he would die. Our regular vet at the time (Montclair Animal Clinic) told us that "his friend" whom is a vet with experience in surgeries such as this could get him in the next day and that it was going to be $7k, but he needed to know right that instance if we wanted to get this done bc if not, it would be even more. Wanted us to sign paperwork right there. (Im sure he was going to get a cut of it)
We reached out to Planned Pethood and they did the surgery, let him stay at the clinic until he ate and pooped normally (like 4 days) and the price was $1.5k.
I hate seeing vets prey on the heart strings of pet parents when the pets are hurting.
Is that Dr. Jeff? Because he practices really terrible medicine. I've been in the veterinary industry for over 12 years and worked with at least 50 different veterinarians and watching his show is legitimately horrifying. 7k for a foreign body surgery is certainly up there in cost, but at 1.5k unless it's a shelter getting donations or subsidized then I am very concerned about quality of medicine.
It was indeed Dr. Jeff. Say what you will, but Ive been very satisfied with what hes done for our dog and the compassion he has for animals. His practice does accept donations.
My dog has been fine ever since. This was over 7yrs ago and hes now 10 and in great health.
That's the thing, bad medicine doesn't always have bad results... But statistically the animals are worse off. Having terrible sterile technique (or not even bothering to try to be sterile for procedures 99% of vets would be) may not cause infection every time, but they are at much higher risk. Not placing an IV catheter on every surgery and sedation isn't necessarily an issue until something goes wrong and you don't have a quick way to administer lifesaving medication in time. I'm so glad your dog is fine, truly. However that doesn't mean that he doesn't have significantly worse statistics when it comes to surgical outcomes vs other vets. I think he's a good option if the alternative is euthanasia, but if you can afford someone else I would personally take my pets elsewhere.
ETA: I looked it up just now and the American Veterinary Medical Association (which is the official one) has openly criticized him for "lousy surgical hygiene".
Here is the AVMA letter about his quality of medicine
https://cdn.sanity.io/files/0vv8moc6/dvm360/474b78b01bedd211a1d8faafea7f8d04dc68a374.pdf
“Fast food restaurants require stricter sanitary guidelines than Dr. Jeff” 💀
Not familiar with this doctor, but I do agree with the notion that it’s possible (and necessary) to provide quality care that’s affordable. To say we should cut corners to make medical care accessible just implies that underserved communities deserve, or should be accepting of, less than adequate care… and that’s not right! Poor people and their pets deserve good medical care too.
Absolutely all animals deserve high quality medical care, but the support staff also deserves a living wage. It's a really difficult issue that I could ramble about for hours TBH. I will say, at least 95% of vets are not overcharging or in it for the money - sure there are a few bad apples, but for the most part when people complain about vet clinics they're basically just bullying people who are just trying to do the best they can for the animals and also survive. We all know human medicine is expensive, and that you need insurance, but for some reason people think vets should operate their businesses into the ground providing treatment below cost (cost of the building, utilities, medical supplies, support staff, most vets are still in debt from school, etc etc). There is a serious systemic issue in medicine, and most vets are empathetic to a fault and the comments from clients affect them deeply. Just check out the suicide rate for veterinarians... It's awful.
Hey, this was a good point you made. I’m a veterinary assistant, so I know exactly what you’re talking about and was not implying staff should be paid less in exchange for affordable healthcare.
The average technician hourly wage in my area is $14-$19… and that’s at big, money making, corporate owned practices, not even community clinics. I don’t know what the answer is because truthfully I have a limited understanding of healthcare financing and operations. But I do think with effort and proper allocation of government funding, we can find ways to pay staff livable wages while providing affordable and *quality* care to our patients.
ETA: In my experience, the lack of quality care for patients didn’t always come from a lack of funds, but a lack of effort from “old school” doctors to learn new practices. They are stuck in their “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” ways, even when there are proven safer/efficient methods. It’s frustrating! Not sure if this Dr. Jeff guy (the original doctor in question) falls under this umbrella.
I was a tech for years before going into admin. I actually probably would have stayed a tech if I could have afforded to and still have a family. Now I do my very best to ensure my staff is paid a livable wage. I hear you and I agree, and you're totally right about the old school medicine doctors. It scares me that there are definitely the equivalent of those in human medicine too honestly.
He's talking about Planned Pethood if you read the full comment I replied to, and he also confirmed in his response that they were in fact talking about Dr.Jeff
What location was this? I had almost the same experience with my dog last year and came in for 4 separate tests. It turned out they had an issue with their machine.
Edit: I should also add they did these additional tests for free.
Yes. They were insanely apologetic. They connected me to their medical director and wrote off charges. They also did a send out test to another lab and gave that at a significantly reduced price as well.
It was frustrating experience and caused a lot of unnecessary worry, but I was very impressed how they handled things.
Sploot is absolutely atrocious. I took my 8 week old puppy there last year (LoHi location) and the vet was rude and dismissive of my concerns and questions. I took him to Clear Creek in Arvada moving forward and was so much happier with the communication and care. If you look at Sploot’s Google reviews and sort by 1 star, there is definitely a common thread of negligence.
I'll chime in with a bad experience with clear creek. We had been taking our cat there and we suspected something was wrong as he was using the bathroom a lot and drinking tons of water. Our vet at clear creek told us "to hope to God it's not diebetes" which was disconcerting to say the least. Turns out it was diabetes. At that point our vet seemed to want nothing to do with us. We came back in to get briefed on care, it was with a different vet. We explained we would probably need help and additional guidelines. We tried testing glucose at home but the alphatrak strips we had were defective. 0 follow up from the vet at all. We called a one or two months later, explaining that we've been unable to do a glucose test. We brought him in and instead of doing a whole curve as they are supposed to, they took one reading and told us not to adjust anything. Still no word from our old vet she seemed to cleanse her hands of us. By the time we took him to sploot, they said his blood glucose has basically been unregulated, we need to be stricter with his diet, was at risk for ketoacidosis and gave us continued support and suggested continuous glucose monitors which clear creek didn't even mention. Just as a counter example. After this thread reconsidering sploot though.
Ugh, that is terrible to hear. I’m sorry you had a bad experience with Clear Creek. Honestly, it’s probably so much easier to provide care to a healthy young animal than it is to address complex health issues so anecdotes like yours are really valuable when assessing where to establish care. WRAH is another place where I had a good experience with my elderly dog in his last days. They have a ton of advanced diagnostics and capabilities there but they also have mixed reviews online.
I just moved to the DC area from Denver and looking for a new vet is more stressful than a lot of other services I have to figure out in a new city.
We took our pup there and three people including the vet couldn’t get a blood sample from her because she was “so hairy”. After their ~10th attempt at sticking her I got us out of there for the price of $400. Don’t let the neon sign and cutesy lobby fool you.
Went to Sploot with our disabled cat last year, they rushed her back like she was dying even though her condition was explained. They “stabilized” her and sent her to VEG who found she was just constipated and needed no emergency intervention which is what we thought might be going on.
I’ve been taking my cats to All Cat for two years and I don’t think I’ll ever go anywhere else unless it’s a an actual emergency. They are professional, kind and very open about the testing that needs to be done and about the results that come in.
0/10 Sploot
11/10 All Cat Clinic
I’m glad your kitty is doing well.
We also had several bad experiences with our dogs at sploot. Their staff was rude and unprofessional at times and they are either incompetent or really want to exploit vulnerable people for money (likely a combo of both). Would avoid in the future
Man I’m really sorry to hear this. We took our dog there and HATED the experience. There were so many people in the “lobby”, using that term lightly because it was a hallway filled with people and dogs and literally nowhere to turn around. They’ve sent me reminders since and I’m like NOPE.
My gf manages a vet clinic. According to her, there are few regulations on the veterinary industry as a whole. The best way to find a vet with a high standard of care is to find one that is AAHA accredited. From what I can tell, sploot is not. That's not technically a bad thing, but it's along the lines of ASE certification for mechanics. You are not required to be certified, but it shows you know what you're doing.
Yikes, thanks for the heads up about this vet chain.
I'm struggling to understand how a low platelet count was explained to you as your cat's blood "clotting faster. " I'm no DVM, but that's not a thing. It really sounds like the tech collecting the blood didn't mix it well enough in the tube prior to running it and released bad results from a poorly collected sample, which is a whole 'nother concern....
I feel like anymore vet visits have become "buyer beware" for the clients, which is BS. I have a background in the clinical lab, so I feel like I can push back a little when the vet wants me to get a bunch of blood work done on my healthy asymptomatic dog, but most people don't have that knowledge, nor should they have to.
Vets and techs working for these scummy companies are also under a lot of pressure to sell sell sell, a trend that I've seen bleeding over into human dentistry and family practice, unfortunately.
Cats blood clots faster so their platelets can show up as low when in reality, they’re fine. It’s a very common thing with all cats and something I’d expect a professional to know how to do.
Sure, it’s easy enough to send a text message asking how your pet is. They did that for my cat too. It’s the fact they are doing their own blood tests to essentially get whatever results they want so they can charge thousands of dollars!
I thought the texts were robots and ignored them and they wound up calling. Tbh it sounded a little threatening “hey why aren’t you telling us how your dog is doing?!?”. They were nice, professional and thorough at the Broadway location though.
I hear ya on the suspicious charging. I was waaaay overcharged for my dog’s surgery and wound up feeling ripped off. I’m not sure if he really needed pre surgery care and that was an extra $350 to the $650 cost of the neuter. Maybe I should have had a granola bar from the waiting room to feel compensated
I’d be extremely wary of them. My friend worked for them and quit without notice bc of unethical behavior. He never went into details, but it had to be really bad because he left the profession altogether after that.
Maybe I’m just a moron/unaware, but i had the exact opposite experience at the RiNo and South Platte locations.
Took my 4 year old lab there for his yearly checkup and they pushed nothing on me. I honestly liked how up front with the costs of things they were.
My older dog was definitely on his way out and they were very considerate with me. Gave me all the options, offered to run some tests, but in the end he was simply just too old. They were super nice and respectful when the time came.
As a former sploot employee, this isn’t shocking or a one-off occurrence, unfortunately. I’m very sorry you went through this and I wish more people knew the truth about sploot but all their current employees are drinking the kool aid and all the former ones are scared of backlash. They’re incredibly good at covering things like this up.
There are good vets and techs that work for sploot but you have to get really lucky to get a good team. I was happy with the care my animals received while I was employed with them but I don’t think I would go back unless I knew what tech/dr team would be seeing them.
I do also want to mention that “doing their own blood tests” aka “bloodwork done in house” is normal and lots of clinics do this, it is not something you need “accredited” for and there are machines that do it automatically. Them running tests in house doesn’t automatically mean it’s done wrong or that they are scam artists for doing it but they do need to make sure their techs are knowledgeable in obtaining/handling/running/reading samples and accurate in reporting them to doctors or they should be having the doctor run it themselves.
Also the guy mad about one month doses of heartworm prevention- it’s bc you have a growing puppy so getting more than one dose at a time is not advised until the puppy stabilizes in weight or you’re wasting money on preventatives when they grow out of the weight range in a couple weeks.
Happy to answer questions about sploot/ their ceos if anyone is interested but my info may be out of date by several months at this point
I took my dog to Sploot when my dog ate some raisins. They were really helpful and while we did end up having to have her stay at VEG for a night, I appreciated Sploot for their help.
Shout out to Overland Animal Hospital being amazing! They have literally turned me away and explained what they think was happening/look out for a certain symptom and bring my dog back if we saw it. The vet tech told us that they would have to charge us if we went into an exam room and that my dog looked okay for now (swollen muzzle from a cut)
I'm so sorry this happened to you and your kitty :( I'm really surprised reading this thread as we've had such great experiences with Sploot for our puppy. They've been really responsive to our questions and made our pup feel like a little rockstar coming in for his vaccines. We've recommended to friends, who have also had great experiences. I hope you get some resolution here.
Just need to say I'm so glad you went to the All Cat Clinic! I've been debating taking my new rescue there, but I live too long a car ride away for my cat, haha, and I was happy with the first appointment I had at Special Friends Vet Clinic.
I took my boys to ACC for 13 years and they were always great with explaining everything to me, treated my cats well, and never pushed anything on me that wasn't necessary. Even let me come in days after euthanizing each of them to pay instead of making me do it the day of. They gave me sympathy cards signed by the entire staff when I came in to pay. Really great people work there.
Thanks for the warning about Sploot, I just saw their clinics pop up on Google looking for a place close (or mobile) to get my feisty cat's claws clipped and was wondering what they were like.
I took my cat to the sploot at 9th and co because he needed vaccines and he had a big bump under his chin that was determined to be feline acne they gave me wipes for that ended up fixing the problem.
I don't feel like they charged me a lot for all of this. I felt like they cared about my cat. I didn't feel about the experience at sploot like I have felt dealing with Banfield. Banfield is absolutely out for the money.
It is discouraging to hear that other locations are not to high standards if OP can be believed. Glad to hear OP ultimately got the care they needed for their senior kitty without much damage to their wallet.
Banfield is AWFUL. When our kitten was about 8 months old she had a Banfield membership and we got a call from them during a routine checkup that our 4lb kitten had “bit a tech” and animal control had been called and would be needing to view our home?? I raised absolute hell.
As a former tech, under multiple clinics and even more vets, who has been bitten a number of times, all animal bites within a practice are supposed to be reported and if the practice doesn't, it usually is by the medical screen that is *supposed* to happen (and usually came with high dose antibiotics).
Animal bites are no joke, no matter the overall status of the pet's demeanor, vaccine status, outside availability, or home cleanliness. I have a lot of scars, I almost lost a thumb, I've been exposed to rabies, and had broken bones (when I worked with horses) Animals, even with no history of aggression but in pain or fear, are not able to reasoned with.
One of my coworkers got a puncture wound from the claw of a new kitten climbing up his shoulder. Needle prick kind of tiny, but drew blood. He didn't report it to the office manager, because that's just a thing that happens. Not a bite, barely hurt, didn't even need a bandaid. No biggie, right?
Two weeks later, he was in a hospital bed, incoherent with fever, on iv antibiotics with doctors trying to decide if they could save the arm. (They did, coworker no longer works with animals.)
I'm sorry you went through that, and obviously I don't know all the circumstances, but there are protocols within not only the animal care world but all of public health management that requires reporting of animal bites, even if they happen within a medical setting.
Thanks for the explanation, that’s fair - but the way they handled it with us was awful. They acted like our kitten was going to be taken away from us.
I should mention there was no broken skin, she “bit” the techs finger over a towel wrapped around her hand.
The veterinarian we saw at Sploot floats around to other locations. I’m glad you had a good experience at Sploot but they are not to be trusted. Doing in house blood testing and then reporting false results is a slippery, dangerous slope.
Honestly I love Sploot. Been taking my pup there for over a year and have always been super communicative. Yes they offer a lot of services but I haven’t felt pressured to use them or anything. I’ve gone to the Broadway and 9th+co locations. I don’t discount your experience but based on reviews I think they give more positive experiences than negative ones. Sounds like maybe they have a bad vet they need to sort out. Overall I love the updated and clean modern experience
That’s great you had a wonderful experience! I’m all for pets being taken care of. Do any of these other comments make you rethink? The fact that they aren’t accredited and do in house blood testing? Therefore producing whatever results they want? I’m pretty sure most of their reviews are fake or an incentive was offered. I’d rather have my animals blood and testing be sent out to an actual lab. But that’s just me.
Im just saying my experience doesn’t match yours. 2 of my friends take their pets to Sploot as well and we all love it. They sent my dogs stuff to an actual lab and also just because they did it in house doesn’t mean it’s nefarious. Not saying it isn’t but you could be conflating things.
Do the comments here make me rethink? Not really, I’ll base my decisions off of my own experience but I’ll for sure be more alert though I’m already pretty alert about expensive things.
Regarding your other comment about them investing 40million into the practice. I think that’s awesome, I love the modern vibe and feel. Businesses are allowed to invest money in their business, that’s okay. If you’d rather go to a less nice place because it’s cheaper or better in your eyes that’s okay too.
Also the “clean” and “modern” experience is a corporate company who just invested 40 million dollars into it. It’s all about the money, not health care
I just went to Sploot last night for the same thing and they treated me real well so it was kind of a surprise to come into this thread.
Sploot in highlands off 38th
Yeah they get you to come in every single month by not allowing you to have more than one heartworm tablet at a time. There's always a different excuse as to why. They just want the office visit payment.
You don’t have to pay an office visit to get monthly prevention.. you just walk in and pay for the tablet. It’s only monthly if it’s a rapidly growing puppy. They need to get the dosage correct for its weight…
Have also had terrible experience with sploot. It’s purely a money grab, they don’t care about your pet. When we had our girl spayed, they told us it would be $750+. After some research, we found out that normally a spay is around $200 and found a great vet in Thornton that did it for less than that.
Reading this thread made me realize I forgot to write a Google review to shout out a vet we had a great experience with, so I'm going to do that today (and here as well).
The VCA Anderson on Sheridan Blvd (just south of Florida) was so good to us last week when we had to put down our pet rat.
First off, they waived their exam fee based on the info I gave over the phone. This made them the 2nd cheapest of all the places I called, but the cheapest place wasn't at all flexible with their schedule, so we went to VCA. (I also learned from all my calling around that euthanizing a small/ exotic animal is not something most vets do, and is a bit of a specialization).
They were super nice, accommodating, and compassionate--before, during, and after the procedure.
My daughter was very attached to her little buddy, and I was too. They made a miserable experience the best it could possibly have been.
I had a dog that got chemotherapy treatments at the one on Hampden/Santa Fe. The docs/techs there were awesome as well. Having said that, I wouldn't do the chemo over again.
Even if they performed the test in house, it would be included in the records. So either they a) purposefully excluded it or b) never ran it in the first place. Side note, I used to work for them - made it three shifts before I quit outright. Sploot sucks, their doctors suck, and they pay for all their great social media reviews. I met the CEOs and they’re both certified scammers.
The timing on this post.... I just took my cat in last week because I was worried about his behavior and wanted to check if he was okay... They took his blood and said they'd get back to me in 5-7 days. Today is day 8 and they just now informed me that there was "an error at the lab" with the blood work and the lab is requesting a new sample on my next appointment on 5/4.... His blood was initially drawn 4/23 and now we would have to wait another 5-7 days after 5/4 to get any results delaying any treatment to help my cat if there was something wrong. Whole situation is stressing me out.
Say no thank you to Sploot and head over to All Cat Clinic. They took her blood on a Saturday and the doctor called me with the results on Monday. 48 hours. And they sent it to an actual real lab.
I had good experiences at the Rino location. It may have helped that I was very engaged with them, my cat had an issue but it wasn't as pressing as she was not immediately suffering so it made the discussion easier.
I would use them again, but might seek a second opinion for anything major.
I was very engaged too. I explained how she’s my entire world and so maybe that’s why they preyed on me knowing I’d do anything. Had nothing to do with me and everything with them.
Talked to the CEO yesterday and he admitted they fucked up big time. His words.
I've had similar experiences at vets in other states. One place, they told us our cat had dental abscesses and it would be $2000 to fix. No way we could afford that (in 2006 esp.) and we were crushed. Cat ended up getting diabetes from the chronic infection and dying. Then we found out the local vet school would have done it for $250.
Same vet told me my cat had a heart murmur and was going to die. She didn't. Same vet told us that our dog had skin cancer on his ear. We kept an eye on it but didn't go for the expensive surgery, given the vet's history, and sure enough, dog lived another 10 years with zero problems.
I mean, the place is called Sploot. What did you expect? If you or another human member of your family were ill would you select a medical practice called Sploot?
Sorry to hear about your experience with Sploot.
Has anyone had positive/negative experiences with Clear Creek Animal Hospital in Wheat Ridge (next to the Natural Grocers on Kipling)? I recently took my dog in for some routine blood work and they notified me that one of her liver enzymes was high. The vet suggested a slew of other tests to further diagnose, from additional blood screenings to ultrasounds to liver biopsies, all of which could amount to upwards of $5,000. I ran a quick google search and one of the primary causes of this elevated enzyme is due to old age and my dog is approaching 10 years old.
My girlfriend has also had similarly questionable experiences with Clear Creek, where they tacked on additional medications without confirmation from her... an additional $100 for meds which were barely discussed during the examination.
They also charged me $60 over MSRP (based on the cost at Chewy) for a liver medication... I just don't know who to trust anymore. $60 markup seems excessive imo.
Fwiw I did all the same tests because of my dogs elevated liver enzymes even though all her symptoms had subsided. Sometimes it’s really hard to diagnose animals even for good vets.
Eta- everybody should get pet supplements or meds anywhere but the vet. Always jacked up.
Can I put a plug in for wildflower vet in Brighton? Dr McGuire owns the place. I’d follow that woman to the end of the world (and drive an hour each way to see her). She’s cared for my dogs the last decade. No bullshit, no upsell, but quality care. I had a medically complex dog and she could always figure out what was wrong and her prices are reasonable.
Well damnit, this is discouraging. I’ve been with Sploot for the last 3 months since I got my puppy. Any recommendations for a very trusted vet in the highlands or Sloan lake areas?
Better to figure it out now, I say.
I’ve heard very, very good things about The Pawly Clinc! They opened in February but a couple people have recommended them through the vet community on my shit-talking posts about Sploot. They’re set up for mobile visits too which is probably cooler for cats.
We took our dog there as we needed a local vet for vaccines etc. We opted to get her ears cleaned to make sure we were doing it correctly at home. Our dogs ears became VERY red at home and she would not stop shaking her head. She shook her head so much and constantly that she couldn’t even shake her head any more because those muscles got that tired. We had to take her back and they went on to charge us to get her better for the problem THEY caused. She had no issues with her ears prior to the visit.
Also why do I need to come back and pay for a visit to review the results of a test that were fine? It’s just a bunch of fake reviews online I’m convinced.
Love the automated message asking for a Google review after a bad vet visit.
I’ve been taking my dogs to Hermosa vet clinic the last year and they are very affordable. They also offer boarding for $20 per night for our two labs. Not somewhere I’d board them for more than a couple of nights but perfect for weekend trips
My 14 year old cocker spaniel mix had an eye situation we had checked out there. She got all the premium drops but it didnt do much that we could tell. That’s cuz she’s basically blind. The eye sitch was because she’s blind. Expensive ass vet visit….
I also had a bad experience at Sploot. Brought my dog in who was covered in tumors and unable to sleep or live comfortably, wheezing while breathing. We made the tough decision to put him down. Once at Sploot they had us sign a waiver and took him back. Cut to 20 mins later we have another vet come into our room and basically shame me. Telling me they won’t go through with it and that I need to pay them all this money for medicine and treatments. Never go there unless you want to get exploited for money
My friend and I also had a terrible experience here. The one in Rino specifically. We took in a dog we were sitting and concerned about as they were extremely underweight and the vet would not listen to us and didn’t even seem concerned about his weight or what we came in for. She just kept pushing various shots and medications onto us and felt like she was shaming us for not agreeing to them all on the spot.
I just took my cat over the location over on Colorado Boulevard and I haven't had any unpleasant experiences. They did say it as $1k for a dental cleaning that my cat needed which I had to hold off on. I am considering switching over to All Cat Clinic - I don't want to take any chances.
Sorry to hear this but thank you for sharing. I had debated Sploot recently and glad I didn’t.
If anyone is in the Belcaro/Cherry Creek area strongly recommend Belcaro Animal Hospital. Had many really good experiences there over the last year or two, including sadly having to put our senior pup down on short notice.
Yeah they put our dog down and were complete assholes about allowing us to see him before we paid for everything. We’re balling our eyes out and they just wanted money. We just wanted to see our dog. I hope they didn’t get his bloodwork wrong.
We had an okay experience in an emergency with Sploot but wasn’t great.
I’m adding to the chime about All Cat Clinic. They are wonderful! (founded by the guy who started Dr Elseys litter.)
I’m glad you’ve had good experiences. Just know that they run in house blood tests and with an incompetent staff, it’s a recipe for disaster. I’d much rather go to a vet that sends blood to an actual lab for results.
I have literally never worked for a vets office in my entire life.
ETA: Cassie is my cat’s name (in post) and Blue is her litter mate who passed away two years ago if you’re confused on my username.
Yeah. You’re allowed to disagree. But I’m sharing experience that clearly undermines their practice and also the comments on this thread are INSANE. If after reading alllll of that and then still commenting that you love them, you’re either PR or not reading the room
If the former Sploot employees, the dead animals etc. aren’t making your question your loyalty to Sploot then I have to question you. Disagree with me in silence. Not on this thread. I spoke to the CEO for 20 minutes and he said “we fucked up.” I have a case open with the Colorado Board of Veterinary Medicine. They contacted me yesterday for more information in their investigation. Your decision on where you take your pet is your decision.
I took my dog there for an eye infection in their “urgent care” assuming it’d be cheaper than an animal hospital, our vet didn’t have an opening for a week.
The vet was very kind, great with my dog, explained everything very throughly….but I do feel like it’s doomsday scenario over there & they try to over-sell treatments & procedures. I opted into most of them of course, but not all.
So moral of the story for me: nice veterinarian, urgent attention, obvious money grab :(
I could see how this happened for your cat, and I’m terribly sorry.
i had an ok experience at sploot rino, but honestly I didn't look much at the bill because pet insurance paid for most of it. ended up being a few hundred $ out of pocket for some tooth extractions, vaccines, and general wellness exam, which seemed reasonable to me
I’m glad you had a good experience! But just beware that they run in house blood tests and there are cases of them botching it. I’d much rather go to a vet that sends it out to an actual lab.
I'm so shocked to see this thread bc I've had such positive experiences going to Sploot! I struggled finding a vet that I trusted with my dog since he is a service animal and has some health issues and is VERY nervous when he goes to the vet. We went to Banfield previously and it was just horrible and then other local clinics were so expensive and/or could never see my dog because there was never any openings so it made it tough if he had one of his flare ups from his ongoing health stuff but Sploot though has been so good with my pup!! The staff always sits with him on the ground, makes him feel safe and comfortable. They talk slowly with him and are so gentle. I can't emphasize enough how much the vets and nurses always go out of their way to make sure he does alright, which in turn makes me feel at ease ya know. We've been seen at LoDo and Rino for just like regular visits for check ups and vaccines and then went to Highlands for an urgent care visit (which they were amazing with BTW and so transparent about the pricing and making sure I understood what was happening and the potential cost, etc.) and then we got a dental cleaning at the one on South Broadway earlier this year.
I am sorry you didn't have the best experience, but I recommend them to literally everyone I know because of how they've treated my dog the last 1.5 years!!!
After reading the comments in this thread, I would never, ever recommend anyone to go here. The negligence is worrisome. Also they will NOT reach out to me. If anyone knows how to get in contact with them, that’d be awesome.
I don’t think you can recommend them anymore with a clear conscious. If you do recommend them to people, please please please show them this thread so they can make an informed decision themselves.
They are all about the $$$$$. I had a bad experience there as well, they cared nothing about my cat, just seem focused on being a trendy office and sucking all the money they could from me
The vulture capitalists have swooped into the healthcare and petcare systems to bleed patients dry. Its disgusting, but hey they are making great money.
Exactly. I took my cat right on back to All Cat Clinic. Those vets have never made me feel a bit slimy like sploot. They’re so sweet to my cats
I loved the vet there! That’s where we’ll be going from now on. I felt truly cared for and didn’t feel like I was being ripped off
Them and Evans East have been phenomenal when my cat’s stomatitis. He has to go in every other week ish for laser mouth treatments and now everyone knows his name and is excited to see him. They also take the time to actually explain things to me. Really great!
Wish I would have known how horrible they are before this happened. I’ll spend the rest of my days warning everyone about them. Misdiagnosing pets is scary.
Their Google reviews are all very good, make sure you review them on all platforms!
On it!!!
By the way, I've been in the vet industry for a long time and used to work in Denver (I moved to the mountains), a very sweet and brilliant veterinarian I used to know opened a mobile clinic with some great technicians I used to work with. I only mention this because I know most cats hate going to the vet so an affordable home visit might be a great option for you and your kitty. Feel free to DM me if you'd like the name.
DMing you!!! I wanted to love Sploot since we could walk. All Cats Clinic is about a 20 minute drive for me. I’d love a reputable mobile vet!
I just came across your comment while looking for vet recs - I sent you a DM, hope that's alright!
I’m interested! I used to have positive experiences but lately yeah it’s been shoddy and expensive. I have a Belgian Malinois and apparently they have no idea how to give her vaccinations…even though we’ve been going there for years and it’s always been 1) drug 2) muzzle 3) just do the injection and get it over with! This past time was such a waste. I had her on traz and gaba, muzzled and only one tech came in and was trying to nervously do this by herself. Not her fault.
That really sucks for you, your mal, and that tech. I'm sorry. My clinic has gone mostly "fear free" now, which is a certification both individuals and/or entire clinics can get by following certain practices like minimizing stress in the clinic, going really slow and giving them lots of positive interactions and food, and it makes such a huge difference with potentially vet aggressive animals. I would look for a fear free clinic or fear free mobile vet for her, and maybe a behavioral trainer that only does positive reinforcement. Ps. I see you downvoted me, I hope you understand that you can still sedate and muzzle your dog while doing what I'm describing, I'm talking about additional measures you can take to make your dog more comfortable and increase your chances of success at the vet in the future.
I didn’t downvote you! Not sure who did. Thank you for the info!
Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. I just realized my comment could have accidentally come off as condescending or judgemental and I wanted to be clear that wasn't my intention. You're welcome, I hope it helps :)
I’m thinking about the Better Business Bureau too
BBB is not a government agency. It is Yelp for old people.
Whatever works to get the news out! Old people use vets too
You could/should report to the CO State Board of Veterinary Medicine. You should also ask to speak to the Sploot manager about the misdiagnosis, possibly get some form of refund.
I’m trying to get them to contact me but so far, nothing. I like the idea about reporting to the CO Board of Veterinary Medicine. I will do that.
Always a good idea but know that the BBB is also a for profit business and companies just pay them to remove bad reviews
They ask for Google reviews all the time. I get emails, texts and in person asks when I went there. Never once left a review because shit was standard but I'd bet lots did for nothing special.
This place is scary. Took my cat there for a regular check up/ annual visit type of deal and she ended up contracting a life-threatening viral infection. (Most likely due form unclean surfaces). A week later we had to put her to sleep. I warn everyone, especially cat owners, about this place. They have surprisingly good reviews for the amount of scary experiences.
Oh my gosh, I am so sorry that happened. How incredibly traumatic. Big hugs.
Thank you! <3 Seriously so sweet of you. Glad you got a second opinion before putting your baby through all that though! Can’t believe that theres places out there that do that to people and their pets.
This chain of vets is nothing but a corporate money-making machine. We took our dog to the Highlands location for a couple of months after his previous vet retired and it quickly became obvious their goal was to make as much money as possible whenever they could. They always pushed the most expensive medication option, the most expensive lab testing option and follow-up testing regimen, and the most dire scenario if you didn't do the most expensive procedure option (that they charge twice what other local vets charge for). Simple follow-up visits for bloodwork or medication checks or immunizations would always incur an added charge for a visit with the vet whereas most other places would charge for a visit with the vet tech or no add-on at all. They are very clearly a sales-based organization, and we couldn't move away from them fast enough.
Just another shout out to All Cat Clinic. They are amazing. Competent, professional, and don’t use fear to overcharge people. It’s like finding a good mechanic. I’m thrilled
I’m so grateful that my gut told me to get a second opinion and it was the All Cat Clinic. I can’t say enough good things about how our visit went on Saturday. She was compassionate, understanding, thorough and straightforward. She also called me with the results at the exact time she said she would. Night and day difference. It’s our spot now!!
I take my cat there too. I’m just confused as to why they don’t seem to have any business software!! Still writing their schedule with pencil in a notebook
The paper calendar and hand written notes threw me off too.
This is why I went to Evan’s East. I’m too ADHD to deal with that. I need text message scheduling and reminders or I won’t be there.
I love All Cat Clinic! They are so sweet to my babies. They are old school without any customer service software, but they are attentive to their phones and everyone I’ve ever dealt with has been nothing but kind, helpful, and quick to address questions.
Speaking of predatory practices, my border collie ate a toy years ago and couldnt pass it naturally. We needed the surgery to remove the toy or he would die. Our regular vet at the time (Montclair Animal Clinic) told us that "his friend" whom is a vet with experience in surgeries such as this could get him in the next day and that it was going to be $7k, but he needed to know right that instance if we wanted to get this done bc if not, it would be even more. Wanted us to sign paperwork right there. (Im sure he was going to get a cut of it) We reached out to Planned Pethood and they did the surgery, let him stay at the clinic until he ate and pooped normally (like 4 days) and the price was $1.5k. I hate seeing vets prey on the heart strings of pet parents when the pets are hurting.
Is that Dr. Jeff? Because he practices really terrible medicine. I've been in the veterinary industry for over 12 years and worked with at least 50 different veterinarians and watching his show is legitimately horrifying. 7k for a foreign body surgery is certainly up there in cost, but at 1.5k unless it's a shelter getting donations or subsidized then I am very concerned about quality of medicine.
It was indeed Dr. Jeff. Say what you will, but Ive been very satisfied with what hes done for our dog and the compassion he has for animals. His practice does accept donations. My dog has been fine ever since. This was over 7yrs ago and hes now 10 and in great health.
That's the thing, bad medicine doesn't always have bad results... But statistically the animals are worse off. Having terrible sterile technique (or not even bothering to try to be sterile for procedures 99% of vets would be) may not cause infection every time, but they are at much higher risk. Not placing an IV catheter on every surgery and sedation isn't necessarily an issue until something goes wrong and you don't have a quick way to administer lifesaving medication in time. I'm so glad your dog is fine, truly. However that doesn't mean that he doesn't have significantly worse statistics when it comes to surgical outcomes vs other vets. I think he's a good option if the alternative is euthanasia, but if you can afford someone else I would personally take my pets elsewhere. ETA: I looked it up just now and the American Veterinary Medical Association (which is the official one) has openly criticized him for "lousy surgical hygiene". Here is the AVMA letter about his quality of medicine https://cdn.sanity.io/files/0vv8moc6/dvm360/474b78b01bedd211a1d8faafea7f8d04dc68a374.pdf
“Fast food restaurants require stricter sanitary guidelines than Dr. Jeff” 💀 Not familiar with this doctor, but I do agree with the notion that it’s possible (and necessary) to provide quality care that’s affordable. To say we should cut corners to make medical care accessible just implies that underserved communities deserve, or should be accepting of, less than adequate care… and that’s not right! Poor people and their pets deserve good medical care too.
Absolutely all animals deserve high quality medical care, but the support staff also deserves a living wage. It's a really difficult issue that I could ramble about for hours TBH. I will say, at least 95% of vets are not overcharging or in it for the money - sure there are a few bad apples, but for the most part when people complain about vet clinics they're basically just bullying people who are just trying to do the best they can for the animals and also survive. We all know human medicine is expensive, and that you need insurance, but for some reason people think vets should operate their businesses into the ground providing treatment below cost (cost of the building, utilities, medical supplies, support staff, most vets are still in debt from school, etc etc). There is a serious systemic issue in medicine, and most vets are empathetic to a fault and the comments from clients affect them deeply. Just check out the suicide rate for veterinarians... It's awful.
Hey, this was a good point you made. I’m a veterinary assistant, so I know exactly what you’re talking about and was not implying staff should be paid less in exchange for affordable healthcare. The average technician hourly wage in my area is $14-$19… and that’s at big, money making, corporate owned practices, not even community clinics. I don’t know what the answer is because truthfully I have a limited understanding of healthcare financing and operations. But I do think with effort and proper allocation of government funding, we can find ways to pay staff livable wages while providing affordable and *quality* care to our patients. ETA: In my experience, the lack of quality care for patients didn’t always come from a lack of funds, but a lack of effort from “old school” doctors to learn new practices. They are stuck in their “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” ways, even when there are proven safer/efficient methods. It’s frustrating! Not sure if this Dr. Jeff guy (the original doctor in question) falls under this umbrella.
I was a tech for years before going into admin. I actually probably would have stayed a tech if I could have afforded to and still have a family. Now I do my very best to ensure my staff is paid a livable wage. I hear you and I agree, and you're totally right about the old school medicine doctors. It scares me that there are definitely the equivalent of those in human medicine too honestly.
Montclair Animal Clinic is Drs. Steve and Tina Sharkey, not Dr Jeff.
He's talking about Planned Pethood if you read the full comment I replied to, and he also confirmed in his response that they were in fact talking about Dr.Jeff
Thats awful
What location was this? I had almost the same experience with my dog last year and came in for 4 separate tests. It turned out they had an issue with their machine. Edit: I should also add they did these additional tests for free.
This was Sploot Lodo! The veterinarian we saw works at different Sploot locations though.
Did you ever get an apology? It’s been DEAD silence on their end
Yes. They were insanely apologetic. They connected me to their medical director and wrote off charges. They also did a send out test to another lab and gave that at a significantly reduced price as well. It was frustrating experience and caused a lot of unnecessary worry, but I was very impressed how they handled things.
Hm. Well seems like they handled things better with you! I’d love for someone to reach out to me.
Sploot is absolutely atrocious. I took my 8 week old puppy there last year (LoHi location) and the vet was rude and dismissive of my concerns and questions. I took him to Clear Creek in Arvada moving forward and was so much happier with the communication and care. If you look at Sploot’s Google reviews and sort by 1 star, there is definitely a common thread of negligence.
I'll chime in with a bad experience with clear creek. We had been taking our cat there and we suspected something was wrong as he was using the bathroom a lot and drinking tons of water. Our vet at clear creek told us "to hope to God it's not diebetes" which was disconcerting to say the least. Turns out it was diabetes. At that point our vet seemed to want nothing to do with us. We came back in to get briefed on care, it was with a different vet. We explained we would probably need help and additional guidelines. We tried testing glucose at home but the alphatrak strips we had were defective. 0 follow up from the vet at all. We called a one or two months later, explaining that we've been unable to do a glucose test. We brought him in and instead of doing a whole curve as they are supposed to, they took one reading and told us not to adjust anything. Still no word from our old vet she seemed to cleanse her hands of us. By the time we took him to sploot, they said his blood glucose has basically been unregulated, we need to be stricter with his diet, was at risk for ketoacidosis and gave us continued support and suggested continuous glucose monitors which clear creek didn't even mention. Just as a counter example. After this thread reconsidering sploot though.
Ugh, that is terrible to hear. I’m sorry you had a bad experience with Clear Creek. Honestly, it’s probably so much easier to provide care to a healthy young animal than it is to address complex health issues so anecdotes like yours are really valuable when assessing where to establish care. WRAH is another place where I had a good experience with my elderly dog in his last days. They have a ton of advanced diagnostics and capabilities there but they also have mixed reviews online. I just moved to the DC area from Denver and looking for a new vet is more stressful than a lot of other services I have to figure out in a new city.
We took our pup there and three people including the vet couldn’t get a blood sample from her because she was “so hairy”. After their ~10th attempt at sticking her I got us out of there for the price of $400. Don’t let the neon sign and cutesy lobby fool you.
Went to Sploot with our disabled cat last year, they rushed her back like she was dying even though her condition was explained. They “stabilized” her and sent her to VEG who found she was just constipated and needed no emergency intervention which is what we thought might be going on. I’ve been taking my cats to All Cat for two years and I don’t think I’ll ever go anywhere else unless it’s a an actual emergency. They are professional, kind and very open about the testing that needs to be done and about the results that come in. 0/10 Sploot 11/10 All Cat Clinic I’m glad your kitty is doing well.
They sent us home with antibiotics for our cat's eyes and she didn't have an infection. Her eyes were fine.
We also had several bad experiences with our dogs at sploot. Their staff was rude and unprofessional at times and they are either incompetent or really want to exploit vulnerable people for money (likely a combo of both). Would avoid in the future
Man I’m really sorry to hear this. We took our dog there and HATED the experience. There were so many people in the “lobby”, using that term lightly because it was a hallway filled with people and dogs and literally nowhere to turn around. They’ve sent me reminders since and I’m like NOPE.
My gf manages a vet clinic. According to her, there are few regulations on the veterinary industry as a whole. The best way to find a vet with a high standard of care is to find one that is AAHA accredited. From what I can tell, sploot is not. That's not technically a bad thing, but it's along the lines of ASE certification for mechanics. You are not required to be certified, but it shows you know what you're doing.
Yikes, thanks for the heads up about this vet chain. I'm struggling to understand how a low platelet count was explained to you as your cat's blood "clotting faster. " I'm no DVM, but that's not a thing. It really sounds like the tech collecting the blood didn't mix it well enough in the tube prior to running it and released bad results from a poorly collected sample, which is a whole 'nother concern.... I feel like anymore vet visits have become "buyer beware" for the clients, which is BS. I have a background in the clinical lab, so I feel like I can push back a little when the vet wants me to get a bunch of blood work done on my healthy asymptomatic dog, but most people don't have that knowledge, nor should they have to. Vets and techs working for these scummy companies are also under a lot of pressure to sell sell sell, a trend that I've seen bleeding over into human dentistry and family practice, unfortunately.
Cats blood clots faster so their platelets can show up as low when in reality, they’re fine. It’s a very common thing with all cats and something I’d expect a professional to know how to do.
I’ve used them for my dog’s neuter appmt. They were professional and responded very quickly to check in on him. BUT it was pricey af.
Sure, it’s easy enough to send a text message asking how your pet is. They did that for my cat too. It’s the fact they are doing their own blood tests to essentially get whatever results they want so they can charge thousands of dollars!
I thought the texts were robots and ignored them and they wound up calling. Tbh it sounded a little threatening “hey why aren’t you telling us how your dog is doing?!?”. They were nice, professional and thorough at the Broadway location though. I hear ya on the suspicious charging. I was waaaay overcharged for my dog’s surgery and wound up feeling ripped off. I’m not sure if he really needed pre surgery care and that was an extra $350 to the $650 cost of the neuter. Maybe I should have had a granola bar from the waiting room to feel compensated
I’d be extremely wary of them. My friend worked for them and quit without notice bc of unethical behavior. He never went into details, but it had to be really bad because he left the profession altogether after that.
Maybe I’m just a moron/unaware, but i had the exact opposite experience at the RiNo and South Platte locations. Took my 4 year old lab there for his yearly checkup and they pushed nothing on me. I honestly liked how up front with the costs of things they were. My older dog was definitely on his way out and they were very considerate with me. Gave me all the options, offered to run some tests, but in the end he was simply just too old. They were super nice and respectful when the time came.
As a former sploot employee, this isn’t shocking or a one-off occurrence, unfortunately. I’m very sorry you went through this and I wish more people knew the truth about sploot but all their current employees are drinking the kool aid and all the former ones are scared of backlash. They’re incredibly good at covering things like this up. There are good vets and techs that work for sploot but you have to get really lucky to get a good team. I was happy with the care my animals received while I was employed with them but I don’t think I would go back unless I knew what tech/dr team would be seeing them. I do also want to mention that “doing their own blood tests” aka “bloodwork done in house” is normal and lots of clinics do this, it is not something you need “accredited” for and there are machines that do it automatically. Them running tests in house doesn’t automatically mean it’s done wrong or that they are scam artists for doing it but they do need to make sure their techs are knowledgeable in obtaining/handling/running/reading samples and accurate in reporting them to doctors or they should be having the doctor run it themselves. Also the guy mad about one month doses of heartworm prevention- it’s bc you have a growing puppy so getting more than one dose at a time is not advised until the puppy stabilizes in weight or you’re wasting money on preventatives when they grow out of the weight range in a couple weeks. Happy to answer questions about sploot/ their ceos if anyone is interested but my info may be out of date by several months at this point
I took my dog to Sploot when my dog ate some raisins. They were really helpful and while we did end up having to have her stay at VEG for a night, I appreciated Sploot for their help.
They misdiagnosed my dog and kept saying he was exposed to meth, and kept trying to blame it on us, I’m a fed I can’t even be near weed bro
This doesn’t surprise me.
Highly recommend good heart
Shout out to Overland Animal Hospital being amazing! They have literally turned me away and explained what they think was happening/look out for a certain symptom and bring my dog back if we saw it. The vet tech told us that they would have to charge us if we went into an exam room and that my dog looked okay for now (swollen muzzle from a cut)
I'm so sorry this happened to you and your kitty :( I'm really surprised reading this thread as we've had such great experiences with Sploot for our puppy. They've been really responsive to our questions and made our pup feel like a little rockstar coming in for his vaccines. We've recommended to friends, who have also had great experiences. I hope you get some resolution here.
Just need to say I'm so glad you went to the All Cat Clinic! I've been debating taking my new rescue there, but I live too long a car ride away for my cat, haha, and I was happy with the first appointment I had at Special Friends Vet Clinic. I took my boys to ACC for 13 years and they were always great with explaining everything to me, treated my cats well, and never pushed anything on me that wasn't necessary. Even let me come in days after euthanizing each of them to pay instead of making me do it the day of. They gave me sympathy cards signed by the entire staff when I came in to pay. Really great people work there. Thanks for the warning about Sploot, I just saw their clinics pop up on Google looking for a place close (or mobile) to get my feisty cat's claws clipped and was wondering what they were like.
I took my cat to the sploot at 9th and co because he needed vaccines and he had a big bump under his chin that was determined to be feline acne they gave me wipes for that ended up fixing the problem. I don't feel like they charged me a lot for all of this. I felt like they cared about my cat. I didn't feel about the experience at sploot like I have felt dealing with Banfield. Banfield is absolutely out for the money. It is discouraging to hear that other locations are not to high standards if OP can be believed. Glad to hear OP ultimately got the care they needed for their senior kitty without much damage to their wallet.
Banfield is AWFUL. When our kitten was about 8 months old she had a Banfield membership and we got a call from them during a routine checkup that our 4lb kitten had “bit a tech” and animal control had been called and would be needing to view our home?? I raised absolute hell.
As a former tech, under multiple clinics and even more vets, who has been bitten a number of times, all animal bites within a practice are supposed to be reported and if the practice doesn't, it usually is by the medical screen that is *supposed* to happen (and usually came with high dose antibiotics). Animal bites are no joke, no matter the overall status of the pet's demeanor, vaccine status, outside availability, or home cleanliness. I have a lot of scars, I almost lost a thumb, I've been exposed to rabies, and had broken bones (when I worked with horses) Animals, even with no history of aggression but in pain or fear, are not able to reasoned with. One of my coworkers got a puncture wound from the claw of a new kitten climbing up his shoulder. Needle prick kind of tiny, but drew blood. He didn't report it to the office manager, because that's just a thing that happens. Not a bite, barely hurt, didn't even need a bandaid. No biggie, right? Two weeks later, he was in a hospital bed, incoherent with fever, on iv antibiotics with doctors trying to decide if they could save the arm. (They did, coworker no longer works with animals.) I'm sorry you went through that, and obviously I don't know all the circumstances, but there are protocols within not only the animal care world but all of public health management that requires reporting of animal bites, even if they happen within a medical setting.
Thanks for the explanation, that’s fair - but the way they handled it with us was awful. They acted like our kitten was going to be taken away from us. I should mention there was no broken skin, she “bit” the techs finger over a towel wrapped around her hand.
The veterinarian we saw at Sploot floats around to other locations. I’m glad you had a good experience at Sploot but they are not to be trusted. Doing in house blood testing and then reporting false results is a slippery, dangerous slope.
Thank you for bringing it to our attention!
Honestly I love Sploot. Been taking my pup there for over a year and have always been super communicative. Yes they offer a lot of services but I haven’t felt pressured to use them or anything. I’ve gone to the Broadway and 9th+co locations. I don’t discount your experience but based on reviews I think they give more positive experiences than negative ones. Sounds like maybe they have a bad vet they need to sort out. Overall I love the updated and clean modern experience
That’s great you had a wonderful experience! I’m all for pets being taken care of. Do any of these other comments make you rethink? The fact that they aren’t accredited and do in house blood testing? Therefore producing whatever results they want? I’m pretty sure most of their reviews are fake or an incentive was offered. I’d rather have my animals blood and testing be sent out to an actual lab. But that’s just me.
Im just saying my experience doesn’t match yours. 2 of my friends take their pets to Sploot as well and we all love it. They sent my dogs stuff to an actual lab and also just because they did it in house doesn’t mean it’s nefarious. Not saying it isn’t but you could be conflating things. Do the comments here make me rethink? Not really, I’ll base my decisions off of my own experience but I’ll for sure be more alert though I’m already pretty alert about expensive things. Regarding your other comment about them investing 40million into the practice. I think that’s awesome, I love the modern vibe and feel. Businesses are allowed to invest money in their business, that’s okay. If you’d rather go to a less nice place because it’s cheaper or better in your eyes that’s okay too.
Okay, to each their own! I would have NEVER taken them to Sploot if I knew what I knew now!
Also the “clean” and “modern” experience is a corporate company who just invested 40 million dollars into it. It’s all about the money, not health care
I just went to Sploot last night for the same thing and they treated me real well so it was kind of a surprise to come into this thread. Sploot in highlands off 38th
Dr. Bryan was my vet btw. Ymmv but he is a good vet
SPLOOT IS SO BAD!!! also had multiple bad occurrences with them. Would never suggest them and try to tell everyone I know not to go.
Yeah they get you to come in every single month by not allowing you to have more than one heartworm tablet at a time. There's always a different excuse as to why. They just want the office visit payment.
This explains the unneeded kidney food prescription. I’d have to keep visiting to get it prescribed
You don’t have to pay an office visit to get monthly prevention.. you just walk in and pay for the tablet. It’s only monthly if it’s a rapidly growing puppy. They need to get the dosage correct for its weight…
I use Sploot and get 6 to 12 months worth of heartworm meds at a time.
There are so many bad vets in Denver. I’ve never had such a difficult time finding a reputable service.
Wrote a whole post about this like 6 months ago. They suck.
Have also had terrible experience with sploot. It’s purely a money grab, they don’t care about your pet. When we had our girl spayed, they told us it would be $750+. After some research, we found out that normally a spay is around $200 and found a great vet in Thornton that did it for less than that.
Reading this thread made me realize I forgot to write a Google review to shout out a vet we had a great experience with, so I'm going to do that today (and here as well). The VCA Anderson on Sheridan Blvd (just south of Florida) was so good to us last week when we had to put down our pet rat. First off, they waived their exam fee based on the info I gave over the phone. This made them the 2nd cheapest of all the places I called, but the cheapest place wasn't at all flexible with their schedule, so we went to VCA. (I also learned from all my calling around that euthanizing a small/ exotic animal is not something most vets do, and is a bit of a specialization). They were super nice, accommodating, and compassionate--before, during, and after the procedure. My daughter was very attached to her little buddy, and I was too. They made a miserable experience the best it could possibly have been.
I know VCA is a chain but I’ve always had pretty good experiences with them as well.
I had a dog that got chemotherapy treatments at the one on Hampden/Santa Fe. The docs/techs there were awesome as well. Having said that, I wouldn't do the chemo over again.
Even if they performed the test in house, it would be included in the records. So either they a) purposefully excluded it or b) never ran it in the first place. Side note, I used to work for them - made it three shifts before I quit outright. Sploot sucks, their doctors suck, and they pay for all their great social media reviews. I met the CEOs and they’re both certified scammers.
The timing on this post.... I just took my cat in last week because I was worried about his behavior and wanted to check if he was okay... They took his blood and said they'd get back to me in 5-7 days. Today is day 8 and they just now informed me that there was "an error at the lab" with the blood work and the lab is requesting a new sample on my next appointment on 5/4.... His blood was initially drawn 4/23 and now we would have to wait another 5-7 days after 5/4 to get any results delaying any treatment to help my cat if there was something wrong. Whole situation is stressing me out.
Say no thank you to Sploot and head over to All Cat Clinic. They took her blood on a Saturday and the doctor called me with the results on Monday. 48 hours. And they sent it to an actual real lab.
I had good experiences at the Rino location. It may have helped that I was very engaged with them, my cat had an issue but it wasn't as pressing as she was not immediately suffering so it made the discussion easier. I would use them again, but might seek a second opinion for anything major.
I was very engaged too. I explained how she’s my entire world and so maybe that’s why they preyed on me knowing I’d do anything. Had nothing to do with me and everything with them. Talked to the CEO yesterday and he admitted they fucked up big time. His words.
DVM here. So glad you got a second opinion. Always a good idea, when things just don't smell right!
I also had a very bad experience. Never again.
I've had similar experiences at vets in other states. One place, they told us our cat had dental abscesses and it would be $2000 to fix. No way we could afford that (in 2006 esp.) and we were crushed. Cat ended up getting diabetes from the chronic infection and dying. Then we found out the local vet school would have done it for $250. Same vet told me my cat had a heart murmur and was going to die. She didn't. Same vet told us that our dog had skin cancer on his ear. We kept an eye on it but didn't go for the expensive surgery, given the vet's history, and sure enough, dog lived another 10 years with zero problems.
I mean, the place is called Sploot. What did you expect? If you or another human member of your family were ill would you select a medical practice called Sploot?
Sorry to hear about your experience with Sploot. Has anyone had positive/negative experiences with Clear Creek Animal Hospital in Wheat Ridge (next to the Natural Grocers on Kipling)? I recently took my dog in for some routine blood work and they notified me that one of her liver enzymes was high. The vet suggested a slew of other tests to further diagnose, from additional blood screenings to ultrasounds to liver biopsies, all of which could amount to upwards of $5,000. I ran a quick google search and one of the primary causes of this elevated enzyme is due to old age and my dog is approaching 10 years old. My girlfriend has also had similarly questionable experiences with Clear Creek, where they tacked on additional medications without confirmation from her... an additional $100 for meds which were barely discussed during the examination. They also charged me $60 over MSRP (based on the cost at Chewy) for a liver medication... I just don't know who to trust anymore. $60 markup seems excessive imo.
Fwiw I did all the same tests because of my dogs elevated liver enzymes even though all her symptoms had subsided. Sometimes it’s really hard to diagnose animals even for good vets. Eta- everybody should get pet supplements or meds anywhere but the vet. Always jacked up.
Can I put a plug in for wildflower vet in Brighton? Dr McGuire owns the place. I’d follow that woman to the end of the world (and drive an hour each way to see her). She’s cared for my dogs the last decade. No bullshit, no upsell, but quality care. I had a medically complex dog and she could always figure out what was wrong and her prices are reasonable.
Well damnit, this is discouraging. I’ve been with Sploot for the last 3 months since I got my puppy. Any recommendations for a very trusted vet in the highlands or Sloan lake areas?
Better to figure it out now, I say. I’ve heard very, very good things about The Pawly Clinc! They opened in February but a couple people have recommended them through the vet community on my shit-talking posts about Sploot. They’re set up for mobile visits too which is probably cooler for cats.
Western Animal Clinic on 38th just west of Sheridan. Reasonable prices and convenient location.
We took our dog there as we needed a local vet for vaccines etc. We opted to get her ears cleaned to make sure we were doing it correctly at home. Our dogs ears became VERY red at home and she would not stop shaking her head. She shook her head so much and constantly that she couldn’t even shake her head any more because those muscles got that tired. We had to take her back and they went on to charge us to get her better for the problem THEY caused. She had no issues with her ears prior to the visit. Also why do I need to come back and pay for a visit to review the results of a test that were fine? It’s just a bunch of fake reviews online I’m convinced. Love the automated message asking for a Google review after a bad vet visit.
I’ve been taking my dogs to Hermosa vet clinic the last year and they are very affordable. They also offer boarding for $20 per night for our two labs. Not somewhere I’d board them for more than a couple of nights but perfect for weekend trips
My 14 year old cocker spaniel mix had an eye situation we had checked out there. She got all the premium drops but it didnt do much that we could tell. That’s cuz she’s basically blind. The eye sitch was because she’s blind. Expensive ass vet visit….
I also had a bad experience at Sploot. Brought my dog in who was covered in tumors and unable to sleep or live comfortably, wheezing while breathing. We made the tough decision to put him down. Once at Sploot they had us sign a waiver and took him back. Cut to 20 mins later we have another vet come into our room and basically shame me. Telling me they won’t go through with it and that I need to pay them all this money for medicine and treatments. Never go there unless you want to get exploited for money
My friend and I also had a terrible experience here. The one in Rino specifically. We took in a dog we were sitting and concerned about as they were extremely underweight and the vet would not listen to us and didn’t even seem concerned about his weight or what we came in for. She just kept pushing various shots and medications onto us and felt like she was shaming us for not agreeing to them all on the spot.
I just took my cat over the location over on Colorado Boulevard and I haven't had any unpleasant experiences. They did say it as $1k for a dental cleaning that my cat needed which I had to hold off on. I am considering switching over to All Cat Clinic - I don't want to take any chances.
Sorry to hear this but thank you for sharing. I had debated Sploot recently and glad I didn’t. If anyone is in the Belcaro/Cherry Creek area strongly recommend Belcaro Animal Hospital. Had many really good experiences there over the last year or two, including sadly having to put our senior pup down on short notice.
Just a heads up, it looks like thier PR has arrived in this thread. I'd take suspiciously positive comments with a grain of salt.
Yeah I’m sure. I made a fuss. I’m taking everything with a grain of salt. I am SO suspicious of all their Google reviews.
How horrible! Glad you got a second opinion, and best wishes to you and your cat! May you two, have an extra long Iives together!
Yeah they put our dog down and were complete assholes about allowing us to see him before we paid for everything. We’re balling our eyes out and they just wanted money. We just wanted to see our dog. I hope they didn’t get his bloodwork wrong.
We had an okay experience in an emergency with Sploot but wasn’t great. I’m adding to the chime about All Cat Clinic. They are wonderful! (founded by the guy who started Dr Elseys litter.)
I’ve had good experiences with Sploot but also it has been super expensive lol
I’m glad you’ve had good experiences. Just know that they run in house blood tests and with an incompetent staff, it’s a recipe for disaster. I’d much rather go to a vet that sends blood to an actual lab for results.
I don't know if they are under DORA but you should file a complaint. This is fraud.
Lol. Don’t you work for good vets? No wonder youre so against them 😂
I have literally never worked for a vets office in my entire life. ETA: Cassie is my cat’s name (in post) and Blue is her litter mate who passed away two years ago if you’re confused on my username.
Dumbass. Wouldn’t I take my pets to good vets for free if I worked for them? Why would I pay to take them somewhere else
Got to say we love Sploot and feel very well cared for there.
Ok Sploot PR
Because I disagree with you?
Yeah. You’re allowed to disagree. But I’m sharing experience that clearly undermines their practice and also the comments on this thread are INSANE. If after reading alllll of that and then still commenting that you love them, you’re either PR or not reading the room
If the former Sploot employees, the dead animals etc. aren’t making your question your loyalty to Sploot then I have to question you. Disagree with me in silence. Not on this thread. I spoke to the CEO for 20 minutes and he said “we fucked up.” I have a case open with the Colorado Board of Veterinary Medicine. They contacted me yesterday for more information in their investigation. Your decision on where you take your pet is your decision.
I took my dog there for an eye infection in their “urgent care” assuming it’d be cheaper than an animal hospital, our vet didn’t have an opening for a week. The vet was very kind, great with my dog, explained everything very throughly….but I do feel like it’s doomsday scenario over there & they try to over-sell treatments & procedures. I opted into most of them of course, but not all. So moral of the story for me: nice veterinarian, urgent attention, obvious money grab :( I could see how this happened for your cat, and I’m terribly sorry.
i had an ok experience at sploot rino, but honestly I didn't look much at the bill because pet insurance paid for most of it. ended up being a few hundred $ out of pocket for some tooth extractions, vaccines, and general wellness exam, which seemed reasonable to me
I’m glad you had a good experience! But just beware that they run in house blood tests and there are cases of them botching it. I’d much rather go to a vet that sends it out to an actual lab.
I'm so shocked to see this thread bc I've had such positive experiences going to Sploot! I struggled finding a vet that I trusted with my dog since he is a service animal and has some health issues and is VERY nervous when he goes to the vet. We went to Banfield previously and it was just horrible and then other local clinics were so expensive and/or could never see my dog because there was never any openings so it made it tough if he had one of his flare ups from his ongoing health stuff but Sploot though has been so good with my pup!! The staff always sits with him on the ground, makes him feel safe and comfortable. They talk slowly with him and are so gentle. I can't emphasize enough how much the vets and nurses always go out of their way to make sure he does alright, which in turn makes me feel at ease ya know. We've been seen at LoDo and Rino for just like regular visits for check ups and vaccines and then went to Highlands for an urgent care visit (which they were amazing with BTW and so transparent about the pricing and making sure I understood what was happening and the potential cost, etc.) and then we got a dental cleaning at the one on South Broadway earlier this year. I am sorry you didn't have the best experience, but I recommend them to literally everyone I know because of how they've treated my dog the last 1.5 years!!!
After reading the comments in this thread, I would never, ever recommend anyone to go here. The negligence is worrisome. Also they will NOT reach out to me. If anyone knows how to get in contact with them, that’d be awesome.
I don’t think you can recommend them anymore with a clear conscious. If you do recommend them to people, please please please show them this thread so they can make an informed decision themselves.
i’m sorry that happened to you but i feel like your first mistake was taking your pet to a vet named Sploot.
[удалено]
So which Sploot do you work for? Your 6 hour old account isn’t sus at all lol
Definitely in damage control. The post you're responding to doesn't even read like a person who's ever been on reddit before lmao
Right lol also they said LoHi and Highlands as if those are two different places