Columbia River Veterinary Specialists

Reviews

• TR

  Theresa Rouse

  4 days ago
  5.0
  Brought my dog here for a consult on a bilateral TPLO surgery, and immediately fell in love with the place. The staff is friendly and professional, and they took great care of my fur baby. Additionally, their price for the surgery was significantly cheaper than what MedVet would have charged, and they promptly refunded the money that was not needed (I had to pay the high end of the estimate prior to surgery). I hope I never need them for emergencies but will definitely come here if that need does arise.
• MG

  Michelle Gill

  Nov 13, 2025
  1.0
  This place doesn't deserve stars. Customer Service was good on the phone, front desk at admissions good, but horrible when no one communicates wait times chance from 30 min to 4hrs and telling me to go somewhere else when no one was waiting before me and the urgent one came in after I've been waiting 2hrs! A little bit of seen racism i noticed. Even when I noticed they put people in rooms and skipped over another family that was given long waited attention with others that had no appointments better attention in my observation. Just do better and tell people you don't want to serve them because of personal choice. I expect that behavior at a busy hospital.
• JA

  Jessi Ann

  Nov 9, 2025
  2.0
  This is my experience from 2022-2023. I found this in my notes and never posted. I had a good and bad experience while here They took immediate good care of my dog which I am so thankful for. But when I assume my dog was stable and in no danger the communication ended. I got pretty much no updates on how my dog was the 4 hours I was there besides them telling me that she vomited after they induced it. That was also the one price I was given and it was a verbal "like 124 dollars". I gave the okay. We already knew she had ingested something that made her sick. I found out what it was and after calling her vet and other places I was reassured at this point it was a waiting game. Not much could be done for her. I told the receptionist I was ready to take her home. They reported to the team and finally I got to see the vet after sitting in a room for who knows how long. She brought in a very large bill suggesting I should do the "hospitalization" which was 1500-1800. After repeatedly telling me "she could die" I feel like I was being scared into something that was not necessary. Once again I told her I would like to take her home. I asked if there was anything that could be taken home to make her feel better. The doctor said that there was activated charcoal and the water bag. She stated that she wasn't from here so she would have to check if I could take that home and that she would get me a price. I didn't make a decision. As I waited they administered both at the hospital without giving me a price and without confirming with me. So I was charged for those two which I did not consent to. Once I got the bill for over $700 I was SHOCKED. I asked for a breakdown and sure enough the 2 treatments were on there. The receptionist did not even believe me about the conversation because she knew they could not go home. Your veterinarian didn't even know that which is alarming to me. I still paid the bill. When they released my dog, the vet came out and she was very rude to me. Pretty much telling me I didn't remember the conversation correctly. Even though I had only talked to her once the 4 hours I was there. There was literally no communication. Why would I agree to treatments that I was not given a price for.? She did look at the bill and said one of the charges should not be on there. So how can I trust any of the billing that I was charged or trust anything that goes on in this facility. They were going to let me walk out with overpaying no matter what. Your vet wanted to accuse me of not remembering the one conversation I had with her the 4 hours I was there. While she is the only vet popping around to multiple patients. That doesn't sound right to me. Because it's not. I understand the animal care industry is so overloaded and overwhelmed and understaffed and I appreciate the care we got when we first arrived. But the rest of my experience there was very alarming and I'm concerned for other patients who are getting charged for treatments that shouldn't be on billed or THAT THEY DIDNT CONSENT TO! I walked out of this facility feeling like once everyone realized that the state of my dog was not an emergency, they tried racking up the bill for me. What a horrible feeling. Zero communication while I was there and zero transparency. The only reassurance I got was by calling two other vets while I was there. I got more info from them regarding statistics and likelihood of what would happen to my dog. They were not honest with me while I was there. Just kept repeating she could die which was not true AT ALL. I won't even get into the fact that the one price they gave me ended up over double what they originally told me. But I do not think I should be getting charged for treatments that I did not give the okay on.
• KD

  Kaylene Dawson

  Nov 8, 2025
  1.0
  I don’t usually use my time to leave negative reviews when I’m frustrated with a place. However, this is my second negative experience with this vet and their staffs cold and compassionless attitudes. My first experience was during COVID. We brought in my 4 year old lab at 11pm who had bloody diarrhea, was lethargic and vomiting blood.When we got there I explained to the tech that my dog was TERRIFIED of the vet and struggled with severe anxiety. I begged her to allow me to walk him through the threshold of the front door, as it was their practice at the time to meet you at your car and take your pet inside themselves. I explained that he was not going to calmly allow her to walk him through the door. She refused to compromise. I explained that I work in human health care and totally understand and respect their rules surrounding COVID and was not asking to wait in their lobby but simply wanted to walk him from the car and see him through the door. She continued to refuse stating if we wanted him seen, this was the way. She then placed a slip lead on him and I watched her choke my dog for an entire minute while he fought for his life and she could not get him to move. She began to get nervous of him due to his behavior and told my husband he could just carry him inside. I understand rules and regulations and I also understand compassion and meeting someone halfway. I was horrified and in tears watching my dog in pure panick, fighting with energy he didn’t even have. They triaged him and the vet called me to explain that his vitals were stable but that he was visibly unwell presenting with severe anxiety and recommended that I either agree to sedation or take him home and they would call me when it was close to his time to receive a full evaluation commenting that he would likely not be evaluated until 7am. We elected to take him home. I slept on the bathroom floor with him and woke up at 11am (12 hours since initially checking him into the ER) to no phone call from the vet. I called in and they assured me they were just about to call me and I could bring him in. Thankfully they did not put up a fight this time to allowing us to walk him inside and he received the care he needed. My second experience was with the same dog, now 7 years old, still terrified of the vet and on anxiety medication now, he sustained an injury to his jaw. We checked in at 4pm and were brought straight to a room when I explained my dog is dog aggressive and I did not want to wait in the lobby. We waited 45 minutes until someone walked in to “triage” him. The tech walked in emotionless and stale. She didn’t look up from her clipboard to even interact with my dog or my husband and I. She asked the same questions I had just filled out on a questionnaire, did no assessment, took no vitals and said the vet would be in shortly and left. After two and a half hours we checked in with the front desk asking for an estimated time to be seen by the vet to which she answered she was unable to do. I asked if it was possible to wait in the car or if it was going to several hours if I could again bring my dog home and wait for a phone call when it was nearing his turn as my dog experiences severe anxiety, pacing the room and working himself up while in the exam room. She very sternly and annoyed stated “we don’t do that here” to which I said “well they did last time he was here”. She chose to ignore my comment and stated they had a lot going on and I can go wait in my car. I was so off put by her attitude and the attitude and lack of compassion from the vet tech that I decided I would rather extend our wait time at another vet than allow them to care for my dog. They expressed no compassion, understanding or patience for my dog and his anxiousness and I wouldn’t trust them to provide quality and compassionate care behind closed doors where I cannot advocate for my baby. We left, brought him to Pacific Northwest Pet ER where they brought him back immediately for a physical assessment and vitals and expressed much more compassion and patience with my baby.
• KL

  Kayla Lagerquist

  Nov 1, 2025
  1.0
  In the past we’ve always had really good care here, doctors and staff have been amazing and so helpful. However, our last visit was devastating. We took our kitty here in the middle of the night, because he abruptly stopped using his leg. The doctor examined him, and told us he has a heart murmur and diagnosed him with an aortic thromboembolism. Essentially told us we needed to euthanize him that night because the prognosis of any treatment would be poor. We took him home against medical advice, and decided the next day to get a second opinion at different vet clinic. This new clinic did a simple nail trim test and immediately told us this diagnosis was not correct, further investigated with imaging and diagnosed our kitty with an acute injury, exacerbation from arthritis which was evidenced on the X-ray. We were so relieved to hear this news, kitty has since been making a recovery and is using his leg. We don’t know what tests the Columbia River Vet even did, we were so shocked that he was diagnosed with such a serious condition, without testing to back this up.

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