Hawthorne Hills Veterinary Hospital

After 14 years with a previous Vet in the area, I switched to Hawthorn Hills Veterinary Hospital. We had our first visit this week and I was very impressed with the practice, the amount of time they spent with my dog Maya, and the effort they took to ensure Maya experienced zero anxiety during the visit. Dr.Chou’s exam was very thorough and she explained everything that she was doing. My previous Vet would always take my dogs to a separate room for immunizations, blood draws, etc. and I always wondered why they couldn’t just do it in the exam room. It made me think that the procedures were causing my dog discomfort. With Dr. Chou and team everything was done in my presence. It gave me the sense that Maya was in very good hands. I’m especially grateful that Dr. Chou alerted me to a potentially dangerous health condition from a medication that Maya was on. My previous Vet had known about a disturbing trend in Maya’s BP for at least a year and never expressed any concern. Dr. Chou clearly articulated the issue and her concern and presented me with options to lower that risk.

They saw my dog on very short notice even though we weren’t current clients. Dr Andy listened carefully and asked a lot of questions. I felt very heard, which is so important when your heart is hurting. I feel very confident that Dr Andy and Hawthorne as a whole will be my rock as my dog moves through his final stage.

They've been great about helping me care for my geriatric cat. She had some stomach issues a few years back and she lost weight so fast I thought she was dying from something likely untreatable. We did a lot of tests and talked about goals of care. Eventually we put her on some hypoallergenic food (as doing more invasive things would hurt my cat's quality of life) and she thankfully improved. The team there was reliable and helpful through the whole ordeal.

I switched to another vet for my older dog's care after disappointing partnership with Hawthorn Hills. The experience with the other vet has been eye opening, with lots of good information and best case and worst case scenarios discussed. In addition, the new vet recommended a prescription diet and then steroid which made a huge difference immediately, after months of sleepless nights getting up with the dog 5 or 6 times. We recently called Hawthorne Hills to get a refill on something they prescribed for us and they refused to authorize the refill since we had transferred to a new vet (our new vet told us to continue the medication).

I've gone to Hawthorne for 4+ years. Sometimes it's a normal experience - but the last visits that caused me to switch to Urban Animal: 1. They told me my dog needed 5 vaccines at his checkup. I asked if it's safe to give a tiny dog this many at once -- I said I was not cost-constrained and I'm happy to schedule a new visit for the next round. The vet assured me it was safe. A few hours later my young dog COLLAPSED which terrified me. I brought him back in and they said it was likely the vaccine overload. They charged me for dog aspirin but told me they would waive the visit fee. Sheesh. 2. Shortly after, my dog needed refills for his basic flea + heartworm medicine. They require a paid visit every time, and asked for a fecal sample. Later it turned out they tested the fecal sample BECAUSE we brought it, but it wasn't required. They do SO many things like this to nickel and dime you, that no other vet would do. Even if you have the resources, it feels so shady and gross. 3. Side note: they asked customers to help protest a city road project that would impact their parking. That is the most anti-Seattle thing I have ever heard of. Double gross.