Hawthorne Hills Veterinary Hospital

We have brought our cat Angus in for a check up, shots and sedation bath and haircut. (Because he is a 22lbs wild boy tiger-​esque main coon with big teeth and claws to show you when he scared! lol) We took him to 3 groomers before this and Angus got fired every time for biting and making a run for it! They have been patient and very helpful. I like them.
Not sure about the previous reviews… Doctors recommend what they think… I marked off the things I wasn’t willing to do/​pay for and they were fine with it. Just say no thanks
I appreciate knowing all the options/​possibles and being able to make those choices.

Very disappointing experience with this Vet. They are very rigid about how they care for animals and don’t seem to be up to date on latest relevant medical treatments.

I took my cat to this vet for a couple of years because they are very close to my house. While the vets and staff were nice, I always felt pressured to agree to procedures and buy medications that weren’t necessary. On top of that they would tell me every time that they strongly recommend twice yearly check ups (we were reluctantly going once a year). Their prices are very high for everything and they won’t allow you to go in to just get a booster shot. You have to actually pay the consultation price. We’re currently seeing another vet.

I moved to Seattle from Florida four months ago and had a hell of a time finding a good vet. Baron my husky also started developing bald patches upon our arrival. After finally finding Hawthorne Hills I scheduled in a visit with Dr. Riley. I ended up having to cancel several times due to family emergencies that led me to leave town to Oregon; each and every time they were very understanding and willing to work me back in the same day or next day. Dr. Riley quickly and astutely diagnosed Baron with demodex and got us on a treatment plan. Knowing my want for information Dr. Riley always answered my questions thoroughly and brought information to the table I never asked for or thought of. Bringing forth my budget concerns all of the staff always checked with me each step of the way in regards to decisions that may bring financial cost up or down. They even over billed me on medication and credited back almost enough money for my followup appointment a month later without me even asking for it.
Small things that added value were the handwritten and signed card from the staff, the gift card they sent my coworker who referred me and the consistent friendly and personal service go a long way.
A little pricey is the only thing that holds me from 5 stars; however this will be where I’m staying.

I was initially very impressed with HHVH: the staff was friendly, the doctor seemed knowledgeable, and the facilities were clean and well maintained.
However, after taking my dog there only two times, I started to get a bad feeling about them. On both visits, they loaded me up with products and medications that my dog didn’t even necessarily need– and without even consulting me first. They never gave me any option to decline what they were forcing upon me, and I ended up spending hundreds of dollars more than I had wanted or anticipated. The experience left me feeling suspicious of their practices, so I switched to a vet that values the well being of my pet more than making money.

This is my first Unilocal review and it is a negative one. I realize that many Unilocal reviews are very subjective, unhelpful and negative but I felt that I needed to relay my experience.
We have had bad experiences with vets in the past, including one vet that pulled a bunch of our pug’s teeth without consulting us first but this one looms large in my mind.
We took our (old) pug in today for an exam as she had been either panting excessively or whining as of late and we knew something was wrong.
We called today and Ecco was promptly admitted and examined by Dr. Riley who gave her an initial prognosis of cancer, pending x-​ray examination. When it was explained that we could not cover the cost of x-​rays they put off her treatment until next week, pending payment.
We were able to pay for the initial exam but were told that she could not be seen until we could cover payment unless we obtained some medical credit option even though I explained that payday was only a few days away.
I (the husband) have had limited dealings with Hawthorne Hills as Ecco is my wife’s bonded dog and she has had most of the interactions with this clinic. On the occasions that I have had to pick Ecco up from them I have had the feeling that they might not give our dog back to us if we could not afford payment. I thought this might be an overreaction but now I wonder, given our present circumstance.
When apprised of the situation by my distraught wife I was worried. When she told me that they would not see Ecco again until we could afford payment, I was angry.
I called and spoke to one of the receptionists who (long story short) ended up telling me that we had a credit option through some third party or that we could «see if a friend or relative could loan us the money.» I remained cordial but came away extremely disappointing with their lack of compassion and strict adherence to a frankly inhumane protocol.
We have been taking Ecco to Hawthorne Hills for years now and we made the mistake of hoping for better treatment. As far as I can tell though, they are in the same league as Chase bank or some of our «fine» private human medical establishments.
I realize that money is an issue but what I do not understand is the willingness to let a member of our family’s health slide, even for a few days, based upon our temporary inability to pay.
I hate to say it, since their care has been decent in the past (because we could pay), but I will never bring Ecco back to this facility and I will forever dissuade anyone else from submitting their beloved pet into their care.

This vet is absolutely awful. I know several people –myself included– that have had terrible and upsetting experiences there. We love our pets and we want the best for them. If they needed a procedure or a medication that was very expensive we would be more than happy to pay it if it was truly necessary and if the price was also reflected in the quality of care our pets received.
Their practices here are both deceptive and DO NOT HAVE YOUR PET’S BEST INTEREST IN MIND! As we know with healthcare for humans, unnecessary medications and procedures can make a patient sick or sicker.
I have had pets in Seattle since the mid 90s, and I have never experienced, or even heard of, worse veterinarians. The BBB should really be contacted about this place.
Summary: DO NOT GO TO THIS VET IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET.

This vet clinic is terrible. They run every unnecessary test imaginable after presenting a doomsday scenario that your dog may die. Our puppy was feeling ill and had been vomiting and we thought he may have picked something up at the dog park. The vet continued to tell us he was allergic to his food and pushed expensive probiotics and their food. I started to say no and they make you feel like you are making a terrible decision and endangering your dogs health. They ran blood test after blood test and never explained anything. I asked them to do a simple fecal sample but they just told us it wouldn’t show anything and we should change his food (again) and he might have addisons disease which would cost $ 500 to test for. We naively did the addisons test because they made us feel like our dog was having a serious health crisis. Of course it was negative and puppy was still sick. We have spent close to $ 2000 at this point with no results. Finally we took him to our family vet on the eastside and he looked at a fecal sample under the microscope and saw bad bacteria, prescribed an antibiotic and now our puppy is back to his healthy self.
In summary Hawthorne hills clinic has vets that scam their customers to spend the most money possible and provide no results. Do not take your pet here. They are not looking out for your pet– they are only interested in their bottom line.

Starting to question the handling of our puppy’s allergy symptoms.
Bianca has suffered from itching for quite awhile now, trying out different foods, remedies, etc. All on the recommendation of our vet. To be blunt, we had these recommendations and a promise for a follow-​up that never happened until I initiated back myself!
I agree with the other reviews that this place is very expensive, and granted you don’t want to skimp on your pet’s health… but I truly wonder…

EDIT in response to reply from Hawthorne Hills:
In their response to my review, they did not address the problem of recommending an over-​the-​counter treatment and then selling you the medication themselves (without pointing out that these treatments can be purchased much lower cost elsewhere). You can see how this is a slippery ethical slope – would anyone want Doctor’s offices to be able to profit directly from sale of drugs that they prescribe?
Additionally – I looked up lung worm in the resources recommended by Hawthorne Hills below. I learned that it is common in the Southeastern US, where cats get it from ingesting snails and crawfish. Nothing I saw there convinced me that it was reasonable to test an indoor cat living in the pacific northwest for this parasite.
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Orignal post:
My experience has led me to believe that this is a «nickel-​and-​diming» kind of clinic. I highly recommend scrolling down to the bottom of all reviews and clicking «filtered reviews» to see accounts of other people’s experiences. It seems that Unilocal filters reviews that are very positive or very negative when the reviewer doesn’t have many reviews on Unilocal.They have good reasons for doing this, but I think that some people who aren’t normally motivated to write reviews might do so when they feel very strongly about a place. So, when something important is at stake (like you pet’s health), I think it’s good idea to take a look at the filtered reviews and use your own judgment. I wish I had seen these filtered reviews before using Hawthorne Hills.
Here’s our story:
We brought in our kitten for his first check-​up. The assistants and vet were all very nice and personable. They asked two innocuous questions, «would you like us to show you how to clip his claws?» and «we recommend XXX flea treatment, do you want that?» As we left, we got a bill that included $ 7.50 for the nail clipping and $ 75 for the at-​home flea treatment. I find it disingenuous to ask «do you want this» without any mention of cost. We later learned that we could buy the same flea treatment, in the same quantity, for $ 45 on amazon or at costco. They also sold us a $ 25 fecal test for parasites, we payed for that up front but needed to return with the fecal sample.
We felt uncomfortable with what happened, so we went back on Unilocal,saw the negative reviews (many of which were stashed in the ‘filtered reviews’) and decided to use a different vet in the future. We also decided to carry out the fecal test with HH, since we had already payed for it.
It wasn’t long before our kitten needed veterinary attention. He developed what we later learned was ring worm, a fungal infection that made some of his hair fall out. We did more research on Unilocal and found an apparently more trust-​worthy vet (critically, all of the filtered reviews were positive ones). He diagnosed the ringworm and recommended a topical and an oral treatment. He did not attempt to sell us either any treatment, instead he recommended buying both at local pharmacies.
A few weeks later, we finally brought the fecal sample back to HH. They called with a diagnoses of «lung worm», said that it needed to be treated, and that he would need a 12 day treatment in his food, followed by another fecal test. I called our new vet and he told me that lung worm is very uncommon, with a prevalence of about 1 in 100,000, and that he had seen only one case in 30 years, in a cat that was breathing rapidly. He said that if the diagnosis was correct, the infection could die off without the cat showing any symptoms. His recommendation was to do nothing unless we observed rapid breathing or coughing in the cat (we haven’t).
To be clear, I don’t have any reason to think that the HH staff deceived us. It’s possible that our cat is infected with lung worm, and of course a false positive is also possible (as with any medical test). But, I do feel confident in saying that it is a clinic that will recommend unnecessary tests and treatments, and who will try to sell you medications instead of directing you to retailers who can provide them inexpensively.
Especially if you are concerned about cost and avoiding unnecessary treatment, you can do better than this place. If you do use them, don’t be afraid to ask about cost, and to ask whether the treatments they are selling can be bought elsewhere (e.g., costco or amazon for flea prevention).

I have had dogs all my life but got my first kitten in January, and picked HHVH based on a combination of Unilocal Reviews and the American Animal Hospital Association accredidation website. They’re probably on the expensive side, but I’ve always had great service. Their boarding service is also reasonable, and they do a really good job checking on your pet’s health and happiness while they are there.
My kitten had a cold when I first got her and was on antibiotics. I was having a really hard time pilling her, and when I called HHVH, they told me to bring her over and they’d help me out. One of the techs gave her the medication for me, and showed me how to use a pill gun” in combination with wet food. They didn’t charge me at all for this, and I was really grateful. Great service there. Overall, everyone there has been really kind and professional– I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

Amy B. must not have had a representative experience, because the other reviewers and I have nothing but good things to say. The staff is warm and loving with our dog and all of the other pets I’ve seen in the clinic, and the vet has been great. I couldn’t disagree more — absolutely take your pets to this vet!

This clinic is terrible! The vets will swindle you out of your money by running every unnecessary test imaginable. I went there once to have an exam on my cat because he has a bony lump on his jaw. The vet ran a lot of expensive tests and told me she had no idea what was going on.
I went to a different vet who ran the proper tests (and only the proper tests) and found out what was going on. I never planned on going back to Hawthorne Hills Vet, but I needed to board my cat so he could get his daily medicine while I was out of town. Hawthorne Hills Vet is right near my house, and I can’t drive due to a broken ankle, so it was convenient to board him there.
What a terrible decision! On his second day there, the vet called me to tell me my cat had blood in his urine. She presented a doomsday scenario in which he would possibly have to go to an animal ER and have surgery. I gave her permission to run some tests. When I went to pick up my cat, my bill was $ 500 more than I had expected because the vet had run every test imaginable. All of the tests came out negative — the cat was fine all along. When I brought my cat home, he seemed overly stressed and had a cold.
As if I didn’t have my fill with this clinic, I just tried boarding him again for the same reasons as before. I would love to take him elsewhere, but this clinic is within walking distance. They told me they could board him and I could drop him off this afternoon. Later, they called me back to tell me that, since they are not the cat’s primary clinic and therefore do not have his medical records, they cannot board him. I told them that my primary clinic doesn’t board, and asked if I could bring them copies of his medical records, but they said they would not board him. They knew they were not his primary clinic last time I boarded him, and there didn’t seem to be a problem then. And I’m pretty sure spending $ 700 the last time I boarded him should give me elite status when I tried to board him this time… My cat ended up staying at home while I was out of town, where there was nobody to give him his daily medication.
In summary, DO NOT go to this clinic. Hawthorne Hills is more invested in their bottom line than in your pet’s well-​being. They will scam you out of all your money and have TERRIBLE customer service.

The staff here is great, very helpful, and patient. We recently moved to New York and wish we could find a comparable vet. For example, the script laws in New York are ridiculous, and the staff at Hawthorne Hills has worked with me over and over again trying to help get this script filled in NYC.
Also, when there was a question as to a new research study re: my pups heart worm medication, the vet honestly said that she did not now and wanted to research the issue a bit. Got a call the next day and she had read a new study issued from WaZu and had a plan to ensure my dog would not react poorly to a medication.
«I don’t know, but let me find out.» This is the perfect answer when it comes a new study and my pup!
The also won best vet in Seattle in 2006 (sometime around there) from the Seattle Magazine.
We will miss you Hawthorne Hills!

Dr. Robin is an excellent veterinarian who will work tirelessly to find out what’s up with your pet. She’s acted as a «general practicioner» with me and my dogs, referring us to specialists and monitoring the case along with me. But the staff can be difficult to deal wtih and sometimes a little too touchy-​feely for my taste.

I’ve been really happy here with our well cat visits. Kind, caring, friendly staff, very clean and professional… well, they do get quite snuggly with your pet. It came highly recommended to me, and I have no complaints.