South Boulder Animal Hospital

This vet practice is amazing. After frantically trying to find a vet that was open, and would see my dog, since our normal vet turned us away, I showed up with a very sick dog, in tears, and they saw her right away. It was a few minutes before they even opened, and not only did they squeeze me in before their first appointments, their vet who came in early, immediately jumped into action to find out what was wrong with my dog.
They ended up referring us to a neurologist for my dog’s rare brain disorder she ended up being diagnosed with, but they ran a battery of other tests to rule out anything else and took excellent care of her.
Their front desk staff was incredibly comforting, and treated us like family right away.
Ultimately, Dr. Watrous and staff saved my dog’s life, and I could not be more grateful. I immediately moved all my vet records over to them, and I will definitely keep using them.

Terrible customer service.
I tried to get my kitty in for teeth cleaning. The girl on the phone was rude throughout the call, and it was going to require multiple visits for this basic service (unlike Arapahoe Animal Hospital) despite the fact my cat has records of a visit, bloodwork, and shots within the last 6 months. They also refused to review that recent history from Arapahoe Animal Hospital. I haven’t had an issue of Arapahoe refusing to review records from other places. So, I’m still going out of my way to Arapahoe for the better service, less time off work, and most importantly fewer traumatic visits for my cat.

Nothing at the South Boulder Animal Hospital has ever been overtly wrong but nor has it ever been completely right either. My dog and I have seen Dr. Watrous 3 times and Dr. Kay once, and I haven’t been super impressed with either one of them – Dr. Watrous has a little better of a bedside manner while Dr. Kay was a bit more abrasive and did less to make sure that my dog and I were comfortable.
I rescued my dog (a pit bull mix) about a year ago and in that time she’s presented an array of behavioral and medical issues that have been very challenging to deal with and treat. We’ve gone to the SOBO Animal Hospital for a variety of issues – bald spots and lumps, gastrointestinal issues, a VERY itchy ear, lesions on her her paws, and behavioral issues. Both vets have provided very average care for my dog, just treating the symptoms rather than trying to figure out the cause. To be fair to them, these treatments worked in the short term, but failed to solve the larger problems. In all of my visits, the vets made some assumptions about my financial situation which made me uncomfortable and which I feel compromised care for my dog – just because I am a young owner of a stigmatized dog doesn’t mean I am not willing and able to pay for diagnostic tests and effective treatment. While I appreciate the effort to keep costs down for their patients, I feel like I should be the one deciding if it’s worth spending the money. Instead, both doctors quickly dismissed options on the grounds that «you don’t want to go there because it gets expensive.»
Both vets have also dismissed some of my concerns and questions about my dog’s health, making me feel ridiculous for even bringing them up. One of my initial concerns with my dog, which I brought up on our very first visit and have continued to ask about since, is that she has allergies. Neither of the vets took my concern very seriously and offered very little support in diagnosing and treating the issue. On our last visit, I was given a recipe for homemade dog food after some prodding (the initial suggestion was «you can always find a recipe on the internet.»…Really?) but I wasn’t given any further instruction (changes I might notice in my dog, how to transition from current food, etc.) I also asked the vet on our second visit if my dog might have a problem with immunity since she gets sick so often and he quickly wrote it off as too soon to tell and probably just being related to being a rescue dog – while I understand that this is an equally plausible explanation, it would have saved my dog and I a lot of time and money if he had talked to me about diagnostic options right then as we recently found out from another veterinarian that my dog does have a rare auto-​immune disorder. Finally, they completely wrote off my concerns about my dog’s separation anxiety and offered no support what-​so-​ever. On two of our visits, I was made to feel like I was an irresponsible pet owner for requesting behavioral medication (it wasn’t my first step with her, as I told both vets – we’ve been working with a behaviorist and a trainer). They asked me very minimal questions about her behavior and did nothing to try and diagnose a behavioral condition.
Overall, my feeling is that this is probably a good vet’s office if you have a pet that only gets sick in average ways. I’ve always found the reception staff and the vet techs to be exceedingly friendly and helpful – they call after every visit to follow up and have had same day appointments on the occasions that we needed them. The prices here are in line with other vets that we’ve visited. However, if you have a «difficult» pet like mine who has many issues that require in-​depth diagnostics and care, I wouldn’t recommend this place. Building relationships with pets and their people doesn’t seem to be a priority for these vets, and for this reason, if you’re expecting to see the vet more than once or twice a year, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Kind staff. Gave me excellent suggestions on how to get Buddy to take his pills, they really seem to care. Excellent follow up from the Dr. and staff.

love this place! They are so nice !

I cannot being to describe how incompetent and uninvested these vets are in your pet’s health.
Long story short: they ignored my initial concerns that my dog may have a blockage in his stomach/​intestines, and nonchalantly dismissed my concerns. I took him to North Boulder Companion Animal Hospital and, instead of beating around the bush trying to sell me on useless tests, they went straight to an ultra sound and confirmed my initial fears. Now my dog is currently undergoing surgery, and this could’ve been avoid or caught much sooner than watching him starve for the past month b/​c the morons at SOBO animal hospital simply lacked the intelligence or motivation or both to figure out what the hell what causing my dog to continuously vomit his food and stop eating for over a week.
I brought my dog to these vets back in early october after suddenly seeing him vomit massive amounts of bile.
I was concerned he might have a blockage, and that he was massively dehydrated.
The doctor (Dr. Clinton Kay) assured me that my dog’s vitals were perfectly healthy, and that drastic action like X-​rays were costly and not necessary.
He noted my dog had a minor case of stomach irritation, and gave me a steroid, which I gave my dog.
My dog (150lb anatolian shepherd) fasted for over 5 days after this visit, and eventually started eating and regained his energy levels for about a week… until he went through another bout of vomiting several liters of bile several times a day.
So I returned to the vet. This time, they took a fecal sample and did an extremely general blood test. Again, Dr. Kay dismissed my concerns about a foreign object lodged in his stomach, as well as my concerns about him being dehydrated, and simply sent me home with an anti-​biotic. He told me that my dog had a slight infection, though he didn’t bother to explain that the blood test revealed Spirochetes and leptospirosis. He dismissed my worries by simply saying that his hearth rate and vitals seemed «normal».
Anyone with half a brain would’ve immediately put him on an IV, knowing how much fluid he lost over the course of the greater part of a month – not Dr.Kay. He simply dismissed my concerns and INFERRED that my concerns weren’t valid. Never once did he bother to actually perform the necessary tests to check his electrolyte levels, or to find out if there was an obstruction in my dog’s stomach.
The whole time, the doctor seemed more concerned with trying to save me money than performing the logical tests to rule out the possibility of an obstruction. I wanted to believe that my dog’s symptoms were the result of something minor, and so I went the doctor’s BS recommendations and assumed the symptoms would clear up on their own.
These doctors do not understand rare breeds, such as anatolians. Had he had any f-​ing clue about my dog’s breed, he would’ve known that anatolians have incredibly high pain tolerances and that pressing on his abdomen is a horribly inaccurate way to rule out a stomach obstruction.
Inferring that my dog wasn’t dehydrated simply b/​c his breathing and heart rate simply normal, despite me telling him that my dog was expelling LITERS of fluids for days on end, is PURE MALPRACTICE and INCOMPETENCE.
Every time I’ve been to this hospital, the doctor’s seem so nonchalant and lacked any urgency whatsoever that you’d think they’re all HIGH.
If your kid threw up several times a day over the course of several weeks, you would be freaking the hell out. Not these doctors. They could care less about your pet.

If Dr Bock was still there this would be a 5 star review. He was a stellar vet. Extremely kind and compassionate.
My experiences with Dr Kay were not as positive. He has a tendency to talk down to you when you ask questions and doesn’t use plain English. I found his «bed side manner some what abrasive after Dr Bock.
Also, he does up sell a lot more than Dr Bock. When we first started going to Adobe Animal Clinic on the recommendation of our neighbor it was expensive. However, Dr Bock would charge of all the tests and vaccinations while waiving the $ 30 – 40 examination fee. That immediately stopped when the offices joined.
We have since moved on.

Amazing VET clinic! Dr. Watrous and his staff are the kindest, nicest, most compassionate folks in Boulder. Unfortunately, our year has involved a lot of visits to the vet :(and these guys have made our experiences more more bearable. Cannot recommend South Boulder Animal Hospital highly enough!

After 2 ½ years, I just made arrangements with Dr. Kay to make payments for my last pet rat, Darby’s, ashes. Hopefully I will have her back with me within the next nine (9) months. Less if I can swing it money-​wise.
Apparently they do take payments; I was informed differently when I had inquired about her ashes to begin with.
I’m glad this has been worked out after all this time. For this, I give three (3) stars.
Oh, and I was pleased to find out the cost is $ 105, not $ 115 for her cremation. Less of an increase than was originally thought.

Have you ever met someone that you know was just born to do their job? Dr Bock is that person. If you have a small pet like a ferret, rat, mouse, gerbil etc, he is easily the best doc in Colorado, and probably one of the best in the nation. He saved the lives of my little ratties more times than i can count.
Now, I have only kitties and I have found Dr Bock to be just as excellent with them. He is thorough, very gentle and extremely knowledgeable. He called me from home fairly late in the evening when I was dealing with my late cat’s cancer and looked up articles for me to help me make a decision.
Go to him and you’ll realize right away that he was put on earth to heal animals and it is a path he pursues with all the passion and compassion of an angel or Buddha. I can’t say enough good things.
UPDATE: DR JOE BOCK HAS RETIRED AND IS NO LONGER WORKING HERE. My review was for Dr. Bock. I’ve only met Dr Kay once and can’t make a rating based on that one hour!

I’ve been taking my cats to Dr. Bock for almost 5 years now — even now that I’ve moved out of Boulder. He is very kind, compassionate and loves the animals he treats, and the prices are reasonable. He will take his time with you and your animal, answering any and all questions and making sure you understand what’s going on. I trust him and his staff completely with my precious beasts, and recommend Adobe Animal Hospital highly.

I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Bock and his staff. I have never met a more caring and compassionate veternarian, especially one who specializes in small animals. We have a 2 year old female rat who developed a tumor on her side that was not attached to any organs or bone. Our choices were to euthanize her or opt for surgery. We chose the later. Dr. Bock performed the surgery and our ratty was home with us later that same day. The bottom line is Dr. Bock cares. He is truly a gem.

We had an ailing pet rat in the family and brought him to Dr. Bock at Adobe Animal Hospital. It was a positive experience all the way around. The rat has just started on his prescribed medz…
I liked the compassion Dr. Bock has for these little creatures – and his friendly professionalism… it’s not easy to find a good Vet for rodents, so we are grateful that our home visit Vet recommended Adobe & Dr. Bock.
This whole process is a long story… we could probably write a novel about it… but that doesn’t mean anyone would read it.
Hopefully the dear little rat is on the road to recovery now.