Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center

I am very disappointed to be giving this review. I work very closely with this vet (referring clients, etc.) for many years now and what I have been through recently is absolutely ridiculous.
I had an AKC event I had been planning to go to for months — and while preparing [the night before] I realized my pet’s annual vaccinations had expired 2 days prior! As you can imagine, I urgently called around town looking for someone to squeeze my [well behaved] dog in. Wellborn road was able to do so, which I am grateful for. After happily paying a ‘hefty’ bill (with an ‘During Hours Emergency’ charge tacked on there) and leaving the clinic with a $ 0 balance, I proceeded onto our competition the next day.
So, you can imagine my surprise when I start getting phone calls a week or two later from them stating «I owe $ 17 for a county tag». Apparently either one of the front desk receptionist/​cashiers (or someone in billing) forgot to add that to the bill! It may sound silly, but after a whopping $ 200-​something dollar vet bill for annual vaccinations [that I hadn’t anticipated financially that month], I didn’t have the $ 17 at the time. I *continued* to receive phone calls for WEEKS after the actual appointment for this petty outstanding balance that was an error on their part!
I was pretty upset about it, but I let it go eventually. Now, a year later, I call just to ask when my pet is due again for his annual vaccinations and the services I *did* pay for — just so I can ensure that kind of situation doesn’t happen again and I can take my business elsewhere. Well they CONTINUED the harassment by REFUSING to tell me the dates and furthermore badgering me while speaking to their ‘practice manager’, Tatum.
In the end, they ended up accepting fault — but only after much [unnecessary] back-​and-​forth with them. Yes, they fulfilled the services asked — but I must caution others out there: This practice *used* to be great. I’ve lived here nearly 8 years. They seem to enjoy squeezing every penny they can out of you and are reluctant to take responsibility for their fault.
After all of this headache, thank you Wellborn Road for at least redeeming yourselves [somewhat] by emailing me his records. I only wish it you guys would’ve accepted responsibility the first harassing phone call you sent my way instead of the multitude that followed. *smh*

Absolutely horrible place. Super expensive! I was quoted $ 160 and a day later the bill was over $ 500. The ladies are nice at first but when it comes to helping out financially strapped patrons, they are dreadful! Go to a different clinic or you’ll pay the price like I did.

This used to be a great place to bring your pets. I was a very happy and loyal customer for almost 10 years and loved all the vets over the years. However, some of the current staff and vets offer inconsistent service and support practices that violate the AVMA medical ethics principles. A new vet that I saw recently was more concerned with paying off her vet school loans than caring for her patient by refusing to dispense the medication she prescribed unless I purchased it in house from her. I’m not opposed to paying for fair and reasonable fees, but I will take my business elsewhere when I’m told repeatedly that vet school was expensive and they have to make their money somehow. They are also pushing the new Bravecto and have a secret stash of other flea medications that they only dispense sporadically if at all when asked.

Pros:
Emergency services are worthwhile. My dog tore her ACL last year and the vet’s voice alone was like verbal xanax. His tone and demeanor are both very calming which help tremendously in emergency situations (especially with panicked owners).
Scheduling and medication refills are both simple and front desk staff is friendly. I was even able to come by and visit with my dog after surgery since she would be kept overnight.
My issues with the clinic:
— They clip toenails way too short (past the quick), even when asked not to clip them at all. I grind my dogs nails at home frequently and each time I pick her up she has at least 3 – 4 bloody ones anyway. Make sure to specify multiple times if you do not want your dogs nails quicked.
— Prices don’t quite add up. Surgery times, set up, anesthesia, and utensils are all very vague and for some reason the minutes charged for them are always different with no explanation. Also, medication used during surgery is marked up exponentially versus supplying your own/​buying a few weeks worth to take home. Tramadol may be up to $ 8 in surgery when I had just paid $ 20 for 90 pills the week before. Still is cheaper than going to A&M, though.
— Razor burn. My dog has now had three surgeries through this clinic and each time ends up with pretty decent razor burn. As a former groomer, I’m surprised that it is that difficult to get a close shave without scalding the animals skin. These burns require ointment not sold by the clinic, and must be paid for out of pocket on a trip to another pet store. After picking my baby girl up from surgery the last thing I want to do is navigate through this college town to find burn cream for dogs :(
— Lastly, my dog required a follow up surgery to remove a bone spur from the initial ACL repair where a screw was inserted too far. The vet told me over the phone AND face-​to-​face that the spur was a direct result of inserting the screw too far the first time, and then charged me full price for the surgery anyway. When I told the lady at the front desk that I was not under the impression that I was responsible for the entire surgery since it was ultimately fixing a mess-​up from the first one, she just shrugged and said she didn’t know anything about it. The payment plan that was available during the first surgery was also apparently done away with before the second surgery, and no one mentioned this, so I was SOL with a useless checkbook and had to put the ENTIRE thing on a credit card, when it had been made very clear that it was their own fault in the first place and I would not be fully responsible. I was extremely disappointed since I had an above-​average experience with the clinic up to that point.
My advice to you is clarify everything beforehand… down to WHAT «set-​up» entails. If I had known they were charging $ 35 to shave and burn my dog’s thigh I would have done it myself before dropping her off.
Overall, I have probably spent close to 4 – 5 thousand dollars here over the last 9 months and would definitely recommend them in emergency situations, but not for day-​to-​day care or even following up on some of their own work. If you feel uneasy. get a second opinion.

Nice facility and vet staff. The veterinarian was informative and kind. My chihuahua had gotten sick with a case of HGE and I brought her here in a panic, they got me in same day and were able to treat her although they kept her over night. The bill was VERY expensive, but worth it to save my dog. I also have a cat that had ear mites as a kitten that I brought here because his ear had started to bleed. The vet treated my kitten and unfortunately the treatment did not work. I had to take my kitten to the vet in my home town to be treated again a week later.
Overall, nice & clean clinic, nice vet & staff. A bit expensive though.

I have been taking my dog and cat here for 6 years. I started coming here because I attended puppy training with my dog in this facility the evenings when I first got him (not sure if they still offer it, but it was fantastic) and it was fairly convenient to get to from where I lived. I never request a specific vet, I just call in and take whoever can see us at the time I want to come. I am always happy with the care we get from all the vets we have seen in the clinic. They have seen my cat/​dog through ringworm, a staph infection, and Cystitis. I’ve even had to frantically call Dr. Nieuwoudt at home once and he was very friendly despite the fact that I was overreacting. The front desk staff is always very friendly, and the hold times on the phone are usually not bad. I do get irritated because it usually seems like I have to sit in the exam room for a long time before I am seen for normal check-​ups, however this could be due to the fact that they will take emergency admissions. Which I recently had to take advantage of this Thursday. My cat was shot in the eye by one of my neighbors. I was freaked out and I actually didn’t know what had happened to my cat, all I knew was that he came home and his eye was filled with blood and bulging out of the socket. Dr. Lindsay Voge performed the surgery on my cat and was the one who discovered the bullet in an x-​ray. She along with the entire staff here were so very comforting and knowledgeable. It was so nice to be able to have my cat taken care of in a clinic we were familiar with. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth every penny. They even offered a payment plan, but I didn’t use it. They have gained a very loyal customer as I was considering changing vets since I moved across town. I am so happy that my sweet kitty will be okay thanks to them and they deserve my continued business.

The facility is very clean and spacious. The staff is cordial and the doctors are personable and caring. My visit went smoothly and the doctor was gentile with the animals.
My main complaint is with how the office handles prescriptions which is one of my top concerns with vets as I have several ongoing prescriptions that need to be filled and cost is a big concern to me. I called before visiting this establishment to confirm they allowed filling prescriptions by online retailers. The said they were OK with this but the animals must have a physical once a year and they will not fill prescriptions with the one big online pet med store. What I came to find out is that they will only authorize a 3 mo refill. I also forgot to have them write a refill for standard heartworm meds and they would not do me a favor and write one without an office visit even after they saw the animal the day before.
Since prescriptions are my very top concern with vets, and this establishment is not accommodating with them, I’m giving them a two out of five star rating.

These guys did an outstanding job fixing up my pup after she accidentally cut her wrist and nicked an artery. I will be switching to them for all my pup’s needs.

I went here with my German Shepherds for years before moving. This is a really clean place and the staff all seem competent. The only two negatives are 1) the prices… they are kinda high. I rationalized that I would pay more money for every service, as long as I knew that things were taken care of, around the office, and with my pet. 2) when I took my dog to a vet here in Austin, they questioned the anesthesia Wellborn Road Vet used to put my dog under for teeth cleaning a few years prior (seen from the faxed records). They said it was ‘way overkill.’ I had my dog put under for teeth cleaning at the Austin vet, and he did great. I do remember my dog was groggy even the next day after Wellborn put him under. This was a few years ago, but you still might look at that if you have to put your dog under.

Unprofessional, patronizing, insulting, rude owner. I have had one experience here where my puppy got sick at the facility and Dr. Nieuwoudt categorically refused considering that as an option and told me the vet that diagnosed him obviously did not do her job right. It cost me more to nurse my puppy back to health than it did to keep him at the facility.

Worst vet in the world, the guy who owns this place is rude and a jerk. This place got my puppy sick and then refused to pay for the medical expenses! Save your pets from this place!

I have use this clinic for almost 10 years. I have nothing but wonderful things to say! From the puppy & kitten plans, to the discount teeth cleaning every February, to the boarding facilities and staff, nothing but top notch! No matter which doc you get, Dr’s. Niewoudt, McCreary, Jackson or Hibbits, you will be in excellent hands!!!

I’ve seen several of the vets at Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center, and I have been very pleased each time I bring my dogs in. The vets are excellent and the staff is friendly and accommodating. Wellborn Road is also very well equipped and can handle pretty much any veterinary case, including ICU, ultrasound, surgery, etc. They can process blood work in house, too, which I think is a plus — quick answers when you need them. They also do medical and nonmedical boarding for your pets. I recommend Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center highly!

We have two dogs and a cat and have been going here for about 3 years. We have been here for emergencies, surgery, and regular check-​ups. The prices are very reasonable, and the care is exceptionable. I would not go anywhere else.

I really like the vet that we see, Dr. Nieuwoudt. He’s very good with the dogs, and it seems like he really cares. He also gives us loads of information when we ask questions. I have also kenneled my dogs at this facility, and although the kennel tech wasn’t incredibly friendly, the dogs seemed happy and unscathed when I picked them up.

My girlfriend and I have been scrambling this entire week because her entire family is being evacuated from their homes due to Hurricane Ike. Her family has two full-​grown boxers that need a place to stay, so we booked spots at this Medical Clinic to board them, and from what we could tell, it was the last two spots in town. The charge was $ 20/​dog/​day. This is more money than they would like to spend, but these are harsh circumstances.
My girlfriend goes with her brother and sister-​in-​law to drop off the dogs, and then receives a call less than thirty minutes later saying that the dogs had not received the bordetella vaccine. For those of you who don’t know, this is a liquid that the vet will basically shoot up your dog’s nose to try and avoid «kennel cough,» and the only reason these boxers had not received it in the past is because they are outside dogs. The vaccine would cost $ 15/​dog. Okay, an additional $ 30. They agree. The vet says that normally they don’t give a vaccine without also doing a check-​up, and that this check-​up would cost $ 40/​dog. But this time, they would waive it. Excellent, wonderful.
The vet calls back AGAIN and says they will NOT waive the check-​up fee. So now my girlfriend’s brother and sister-​in-​law are officially going to be charged $ 110 MORE than the original agreed-​upon price. My girlfriend pleads with the vet, telling her that these people are evacuees and have no place to go, nor any place to make sure their dogs are reasonably taken care of while they wait out the storm. No dice. They will not waive the fee. This is officially expensive, and we’re all beginning to feel steam-​rolled as the vet’s office continually reminds us how lucky we were to get these last two spots. It starts to feel like, «How much are you willing to pay to guarantee your dog’s safety?»
So my girlfriend’s brother says no way, and we take the dogs back. Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center just officially bought themselves some bad publicity from us, because that is some truly incorrigible behavior. Evacuees? Seriously? You’re going to financially stick it to hurricane evacuees? These people are having a hard enough time as it is — they’re already worrying about losses both at home and in the workplace. This is the wrong time to play hardball to get the most money out of a client.
When my girlfriend went to go pick the dogs up, the vet basically told her to take the dogs to Veteran’s Park with all the other evacuees. This works out well for them, I’m sure, as it frees those spots back up to wealthier customers who don’t mind being extorted.
The moral of the story is, if you’re in an emergency situation, you can’t trust Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center to help you. With all the stress we’re under, this was the worst possible customer service experience to offer.

I bought my dog on a whim (word of advice: do not purchase a puppy the day after you break-​up with someone as it will make all puppy and break-​up related stress approximately twenty-​seven times worse) and needed to get his shots on pretty short notice and without a lot of money. Wellborn Road has a totally sweet plan set-​up for people like me that involves four visits to the vet over a period of 12 weeks for pretty cheap (what makes it even better is that the amount decreased each time we visited, so I ended up paying approximately $ 150 for all of his shots overall and thankfully not all at once). This amount took care of all his shots, flea prevention, heart worm prevention, and general puppy wellness check-​ups.
Also, when Ruck was a puppy he liked to eat random stuff and then puke it up, which resulted in a lot of stress for me and also A LOT of unscheduled appointments. WRVMC regularly waived the emergency appointment fee, which was awesome. They are also ALWAYS really nice when I go in, and the vet I see always remembers Ruck, which is really cool, especially since she must see a ton of dogs.
I’ve boarded him a couple of times here, and he’s never anxious when I drop him off and I always get him back smelling clean and looking good (once I couldn’t get him in here and when I picked him up from the place I had to use instead he smelled like feces, which is not OK).
Overall, I love this place and have recommended to all my friends who have dogs.