Dr. Ron's Animal Hospital & Emergency
Reviews and Complaints

It is difficult to find a honest, respectable, caring veterinarian in Simi Valley so far. Had a bad experience with Alamo Vet Hospital recently. Any suggestions from anyone? Thanks KIM

Hi Aluisa,

I certainly understand your experience. It was one of the very reasons I chose to take my own kitty to a different vet facility...even though it meant driving several miles further from home. Most reputable vet facilities are well aware of these charitable organizations (in addition to the Care Credit program), and will impart that information to a pet owner facing the heart-wrenching decision of possibly having to have their beloved pet euthanized...just because they cannot afford the high cost of emergency treatment.

With regard to veterinary costs (primarily emergency treatment costs only), may I suggest that you also check on-line. There are a number of groups, such as, FVEAP (Feline Veterinary EmergencyAssistance Program), which may be able to help with some or all of a cat's emergency vet expenses.

Most of the organizations do have some requirements though. Some address the needs of senior citizens and most do not provide help for routine vet care...the cat must be in need of emergency care, and without it, the cat will likely die.

There are usually some income limit requirements as well, and may or may not require proof of income and expenses. But, given the choice of being able to get emergency care a cat needs or letting the beloved pet pass away...I think it's definitely worth looking into. They usually have an 0n-line application you can complete and email.

You should also be aware that these organizations do receive a lot of requests for assistance and depend heavily on donations from caring people, so their funding may become depleted rather quickly. Generally, if they approve your application, they will directly contact the veterinary facility and authorize whatever treatment is needed, and specify they will either pay the full amount of medically-necessary charges or a certain amount (depending if they have income requirements).

I hope you are able to get the care your beloved kitty needs! (At least one of these organizations is based in California too).

Best Wishes!

Pete

P.S. - I've attached a photo of my own 4-year old Maine Coon kitty, Munchkin.

How much did you have to pay this Dr. Ron for the office visit where he saw your cat, the x-ray, and the diagnosis?

You know- The best thing about the internet is also the worst thing. Anyone can vent/spew with little, if any repercussions. P.spensieri had a problem with Dr. Ron's., that much is obvious. But I'll be darned if it all makes complete sense. It reminds me of Judge Judy saying, if it doesn't make sense, it is probably not true. IF the above story was explained better, we, the readers could understand the problem more. BUT, as I said, I don't think we are getting the full story. MY full story is I have know Dr. Ron for fourteen years and have taken ALL our animals to him and have found him and his staff to be professional and put the welfare of our animals first and even explaining various methods/ options in order to try and contain costs if something was expensive ( not that our pets don't deserve the best). And believe me, Dr Ron. or no Dr Ron. our pets are family and if he wasn't up to the task, we would take our business elsewhere-it is just too important!
I respectfully submit that he is a VERY good vet and an asset to Simi Valley
The Roesch Family

We love Dr Rons - We are shocked by this review. They are great with our animals!

The Dobbs Family

Dr Ron's is horrible. I take 6 animals to them and my cat got sick and had a fever of 104 and blisters in her mouth and tongue. $565 later they said she had a stone in her bladder and needed surgery. They sent me home with a deathly sick cat that needed over night care, but they don't keep animals over nigh. I call the next morning to talk over options and the Dr Ron is off and he would not call me and they said the Doctor on staff that day was to busy. I tell them that I didn't have the money and needed help financially. (This cat has food allergies and can’t eat anything else but special food.) Since I didn't have the money for the surgery the nurse told me that I can try changing her food. Ya right she has blisters all in her mouth and cat eat or drink. When I make the decision to put her to sleep because they said she would have heart issues after and the stones would come back if the food is not changed. They questioned my decision several times and made me feel like I was doing the wrong thing. ALL they wanted was my MONEY! They had the nerve to charge me for dehydrating her for the day ($54) and $150 to put her to sleep. All they could talk about is when I am going to pay. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANIMALS just MONEY! All said and done I spent almost $800 and now I have a dead cat.

I went there on Dec 31st 2018, they wrong diagnosed what was happening to my dog. Dr Ron in person saw his watch and told me that a surgery is needed to remove stones from her bladder (without even doing and Xray) they gave her a "pain killer" I told them that my dog was not moving, they replied that she was in pain and that's the reason why... we came back home and the situation was worst, we took it to VCA and my dog had a Stroke, reason why she was not able to move, and she did not have any stones and that was not the problem, She was 17 years old and this is very common on this type of breed. I found out that DR Ron not only gave me wrong diagnose which can happen, but he came is this "cocky" attitude, not even looking at the dog, not even knowing what was happening and he just wanted to make 3000 dollars before his new years party. I hope someone reads this email and I hope you never have to experience this type of situation ever. Matt

Dr. Ron killed my dog and now he's gone.
My neighbor told me today that Dr. Ron has several lawsuits against him. I've done research and I want to know if this is true.
Does anyone know? Thank you.

I feel for you...my dog started hemorrhaging on two different occasions following a surgery that Dr. Ron performed on her. He then charged us 310.00 for bringing her in when she was hemorrhaging from her surgical incision site. I paid it because my dog was bleeding out and I had no choice! He ran blood work (which was normal) and wrapped her up in a compression bandage and sent us home. Two days Later it happened again. Despite my efforts to have the doctor redo the stitches where her surgical incision was-he refused to without charging me for a 2nd surgery, anesthesia, office visit, and bandaging. They blamed it on my dog. We'll... My dog is 10 years old and was on pain medicine and a heavy-duty sedative, crated, had 24 hour care, and immobile . They knew this because i told them so repeatedly. I told them she was so sedated that she could barely stand. Once again, I told them that her stitches never looked closed to me. They look infected and blood was bubbling under the incision site and oozing out . When I asked for my medical records, they charged me 25.00 for 3 pages. Here is the best part! Dr. Ron made me sit in the waiting room while he typed them up. He stated that my dog was over-active, left unsupervised and unattended for long periods of time, and numerous other blatant lies. I never spoke to Dr.Ron. I was told I needed to make an appt to discuss my dogs incision site and would be charged for his time. I spoke to 2 different techs and they know very well that my dog is the calmest dog to begin with, and how sedated my dog was. My husband and I never left our dog unattended because we were terrified she would bleed to death. They know this! We took her in to get a 2nd opinion and the problem was her stitches! Also, with a almost 9 inch incision- she should of had a drain. Dr. Ron only did one layer of stitches. Our new vet had to clean out the incision, clean out the infection, restitch it, added staples, and put her on heavy duty antibiotics. Our poor dog now has a 8-9 inch incision, is battling a infection, and is still sedated 24 hours a day. She needs to go to the vet every 48 hours to be monitored. Luckily, our amazing new vet has provided many of our services for free. He obviously feels bad for us and our dog! Not only does Dr.Ron not stand behind his work, but he also caused bodily harm to my dog, left her in danger of bleeding to death, in pain, with a severe infection, has caused my husband and I to miss 9 days of work collectively, and falsified my dogs medical records. Then charged us 25.00 for falsified records. I think Dr. Ron is an atrocious vet, has unethical and immoral practices, a horrible person, a narcissist, and a LIAR!

Dr. Ron and his staff are beyond terrible! I have been taking my dog there for over 3 years, but I will certainly never go back. I went in for a recheck up after being in there 2 weeks prior. And without looking at my dogs file they do the same procedure that he was there for just 2 weeks before. My dog was certainly not healed, and they end up bringing him back to me, bleeding, and telling me I need to schedule a check up! The nurses and the front desk had such a lack of communication that they failed to acknowledge why I had brought him in. What's done is done, but it astonished me how completely arrogant the staff is, and how they will do anything to escape fault. The doctor I saw pretended as if nothing happened, but I was leaving, they proceeded to charge me for it? I asked the assistant why, and she took the charge off because she knew that I had simply scheduled a check up. But as he continues to bleed for the past few days, I called back and they informed me that there is no record of what happened. I will never go back there. I am not looking for any reimbursement, I just want people to know what lengths this office goes to, to hide there mistakes.

beware of this office! They manipulate costs and do unauthorized charges on your debit card. First, I called and asked the receptionist how much it would cost to gey my lab puppy spayed. The receptionist said it would cost $110. She said that these charges also included the anastesia. So I thought in my head, "Ok this won't cost an arm and a leg; we can do this." Then I took my puppy in for an exam, and I told the vet she was getting over being in heat. The Vet recommended I get her spayed immediately. I scheduled an operation. When I arrived to have the operation, the receptionist informed me that there would be an additional charge of $60 for the "over sized uterus" because my puppy is an older dog (she's one years old). I was really upset because I was not notified of this extra charge when I agreed to the operation. They also "recommended" charges like a catheter, meds for pain after the operation etc. None of these charges were mentioned to me when I called them, and the office manager did not go over the proposed charges with me when I scheduled the operation. I agreed to the charges because I realized with the $45 cancellation fee I would have to pay that, and then I would have to pay another vet $110 to spay my dog. In the end this was a mistake. I did not agree to pay an "dog in heat fee" which they charged me $40 for (remember I just agreed to pay $60 for the big uterus problem), and so they double billed me. I ended up paying $191. Then, after I took my lab puppy home, they charged me $66 in an unauthorized charge for who knows what. I saw the charge on my bank today, and I do not know why it was charged, except it said "contractal fees." Contractual my foot. How about thievery fees! I did not agree to pay them the $66, and the office staff does not know why I was charged. Currently, I've notified the police, my bank, and on Monday I'm notifiying the county attorney's office for them being fraudulent. My $110 operation went up to $257, and I'm dizzy from all of their fun let's expand the fees games. A few years ago, a sales associate at Sears decided to do unauthorized charges on my charge card. Now I have a vet office doing the same thing. The Sears associate went to jail for fraud. I don't see much of a difference in what they did.

Oh I have already filed complaints with the BBB, Consumer Affairs & Calif State Veterninary Medical Board, regarding the unethical tactics practiced at Dr. Rons Animal Hospital.

RE: Mishl101 To use your analogy:
If you made a reservation at a resturant & they informed you that they had a dress code of wearing a tie & if you missed your reservation they would charge you $50 per person, then when you arrived the host informs you that your tie is not acceptable. However you can purchase a tie from us or we can put you in seperate dinning room, but we will have to add additional 40% to your bill to dine away from the other patrons, so as not to affend them with your tie. Then when opt to not dine there they tell you that you owe them for the missed reservation. That sums up the attempt to exhort more money from a client that Dr. Rons office staff uses.

We decided to give Dr. Ron’s office another try. We haven’t been back to him since an incident several years ago, where the office staffed gossiped about confidential medical information to their other clients.
We made an appointment to have 2 girls spayed. I was informed that I needed to provide current vaccination records & there was a $50 missed appointment fee.
When I arrived I was surprised to see that the same employee that had violated medical ethics by gossiping was still working there.
I presented the requested records, the receptionist disappeared & returned only to tell me that they would accept our shot records. As a breeder, I do all of my own shots. They require that vaccinations be given by a Vet, a requirement that they neglected to mention prior to my arrival at the office. I was informed that I could have my dogs vaccinated again (which they didn’t need) or after surgery they would go into an “isolation” area ( at an additional fee) to prevent them from getting the other animals sick. When I choose neither of those options, I was informed that they would be billing me for the “missed appointment” fee.
From reading all the other comments on here it is obvious that out of the principal of the matter I will be seeing Dr Ron in court. I refuse to pay for an appointment that I didn’t miss or a policy that I wasn’t informed about prior to my appointment.

It seems that original complainant was given 3 great options of which she didn't like any. I understand vaccinating at home but I also understand if I do that then I may have the validity questioned down the road when it comes to insuring the safety of OTHER'S beloved pets as in the case of housing a post surgical animal. I welcome the 3 options given as I see Dr. Ron's office as taking care to not risk the potential infection of the other animals in the clinic.
I have been put on hold many times as they are a very busy office. At the same time I can say that when my animal became gravely ill from a urethral blockage I received a lot of their time and consideration...which means that I am sure many other people were put on hold because of me! I am grateful for the attention they gave me and I will in-turn understand when I have to sit on hold for any longer than I (at first) feel necessary. They also gave me a complete menu of services that they would like to perform to save my cat's life and asked me to initial anything I agreed with and to cross out any that I could not afford as they explained, in detail, what each meant to my cat's health.
Also, when my 16 yr old cat 'threw a clot' and was in absolutely horrific pain they simply said to 'bring him in right away' which was not the answer I received when I called another local Vet office. When I arrived with my kitty they were the absolute picture of graciousness and made the rest of the experience of losing my beloved family member...the best it could ever be. They were compassionate and gentle and respectful and allowed us to go as slowly as was comfortable for us both. And yes, they had me pay for the visit at the same time...they are a BUSINESS and they deserve to be paid for their services. Would you go have a dinner at restaurant and for any logical (and ethical) reason think you were going to leave without paying for the service?! I don't know what more you want in a Vet's office! I have been served well now for 5 years.

It seems this whole dispute is based on accepting Ms Welker's "word" that she self administered the vaccine. A vets office is a business with liabilities to the other animals in the facility. Anyone could say they self administer vaccines. Even boarding kennels require documentation of vaccinations before they will board your pet. Do you think the City would accept her word that she self administered rabies vaccine before issuing a dog license? Then maybe she doesn't license her dogs?hmmmmm?

Dr Ron's is horrible. I take 6 animals to them and my cat got sick and had a fever of 104 and blisters in her mouth and tongue. $565 later they said she had a stone in her bladder and needed surgery. They sent me home with a deathly sick cat that needed over night care, but they don't keep animals over nigh. I call the next morning to talk over options and the Dr Ron is off and he would not call me and they said the Doctor on staff that day was to busy. I tell them that I didn't have the money and needed help financially. (This cat has food allergies and can’t eat anything else but special food.) Since I didn't have the money for the surgery the nurse told me that I can try changing her food. Ya right she has blisters all in her mouth and cat eat or drink. When I make the decision to put her to sleep because they said she would have heart issues after and the stones would come back if the food is not changed. They questioned my decision several times and made me feel like I was doing the wrong thing. ALL they wanted was my MONEY! They had the nerve to charge me for dehydrating her for the day ($54) and $150 to put her to sleep. All they could talk about is when I am going to pay. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANIMALS just MONEY! All said and done I spent almost $800 and now I have a dead cat.

URGENT! DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DR. RON'S ANIMAL CLINIC. Kudos to all who have posted their experience on line for others to reed; I thought my experience was an isolated incident. I called the office Wednesday to cancel a Friday appointment and rescheduled for the following Monday. I was placed on hold several times; but thought nothing of it; I'm tolerant as long as I get good customer service; appointment was confirmed for Monday. Called office Monday to advise I was running late and was told I did not have an appointment and would be charged a $50 cancellation fee for missing my Friday appointment .t I was perplexed and explained I called in 2 days prior to cancel and reschedule. I was told that I must have made a mistake because they do not have a record of me calling in to cancel or reschedule. I told them I indeed called in and was not liable for the $50 fee. I thought that was the end of the cancelation fee conversation and rescheduled a new appointment for Thursday. Upon entering the office I was greeted by two very young girls who both immediately advised me that I owed them a $50 cancellation fee. They then informed me that the office never makes mistakes. I reminded them that I was the customer and the adult and if they never make mistakes, that means I am a liar and took off of work 2 days this week to play this blame game. As I left, they reminded that I now have incurred to cancellation fees. The good Dr. was in his office the entire time, no intervention or accountability; as I left I heard him call for one of the girls. Good Ridance...

Absolutly a horrible experience. It's tough to get good judgement from a girl at a front desk making minimum wage. Too bad this guy has these people makeing decisions for him in his business. Does not have a clue. Sad thing is, I was willing to pay them when I came in for the reschedule, however, so rude not only lost the money but a customer. The person who wrote the comment on how happy she is, probably works there.

I agree with the complaints of the practice at this animal hospital. They are rude, there is nothing professional about this office. Many people give there own shots out there since you can buy them from Theresa's Feed where he also runs his shot clinic, and give the shot yourself. This is nothing but a ploy to get money out of you. It shows his resentment of owners taking control of the cost they encounter. We have a choice out there of at we want to do. If we are knowledgeable enough to give our own pets there shots to protect them, then we should not be penalized by someone that calls him self a vet.

On another subject.

I have been going to him for a couple of years for simple things and one of my dogs got a ear infection. He kept having me come back, charging me office visit after office visit. Having me buy costly medication after medication. This ear infection went on for 6 months. I went to another vet and the ear infection was cleared up with in 2 weeks on the correct medication. This type of practice is scary. Not only did it cost a fortune to see Dr Ron and nothing correct was done. It also was costing the health of my dog.

We all love our pets and would not tolerate this type of care with out children, so be careful and anyways question everything...

I totally agree with the original post and the second comment. They did the same thing to me. The office staff is extremely rude, the billing practices are shady at best. Dr. Ron is never available for personal consultation unless you pay a fee. I would never ever recommend this place to anyone and am sorry I ever set foot in the place.

I agree with your complaint about Dr. Ron's. We were also treated very poorly. It's very sad that they are allowed to behave this way. They wouldn't answer my questions and had a sharp tongue. I wouldn't recommend that animal hospital to anyone. Dr. Ron should take another look at his staff. Maybe he just doesn't care. Thank you. Maddy S.

It's a shame that you had such a bad experience. I was just looking online for Dr. Ron's phone number to make an appointment and saw your complaint and was very shocked. I've been going to Dr. Ron for over 5 years and have always been very pleased with their service. In fact, when I did call to make the appointment, I was reminded how great the service is and how cheerful the receptionist was when made the appointment for me (at short notice, tomorrow morning). I hate to diminish the scope of your experience, but I've been very pleased for a long time.

We've taken our dogs to Dr. Ron Resnick for years and he is the best. The staff is OK...have not experienced the ATTITUDE as this person suggests. We understand that you can't please everyone but the experience described by Ms. Troncale is not what we know.

We have taken our dogs and cats to Dr. Ron's for many years. Veterinary care has always been excellent and the prices fair. The front counter staff is always friendly and courteous and helpful.

Perhaps the complainer's bad attitude evoked a similar response from staff.

All of this is soooo sad! But let me tell you... They all don't have ANYTHING on Platt Springs Road Animal Clinic in West Columbia, SC! Even in emergencies I guess it's better to wait it out or deal with MAJOR mistakes! : (

Your right! Dr. Ron's animal hospital has the most rude service I've ever encountered. We were treated very poorly. The women behind the front desk had a sharp tongue and ignored us most of the time. They were talking on their cell phones and to each other and gave me a dirty look when I tried asking them a question. Unbelievable!

You should have gone to Dr Butchko in Riverside. THE BEST.