Heritage Oaks Veterinary Hospital 2444 North Heritage Oaks Path, Citrus Hills, FL 34442

"This review comes from a personal & professional standpoint. I am a Nurse Practitioner & Administrator 32 years. In 2018, I became a client with both my purebred Siamese sisters. For the first few years, the communication, follow through, getting appointments quickly and seeing Dr. Vilchez at every visit were excellent. Dr. Vilchez always called me to discuss everything in length. Sadly, almost a year ago, this office changed completely of what their culture and relationships stood for. It has been 8 months now, and I am yet to get a return phone call from Dr. Vilchez or Kevin that I requested many times. I am yet to get a response to my emails to Dr. Vilchez. When my girls were sick, I would leave voicemails and no return calls and if they did call me back, it was days later with no openings but I could drop them off but would not see the doctor. I had not seen doctor Vilchez at all for a year, it was just a tech relaying information after multiple drop offs. I was told by the front desk that Dr. Vilchez was only seeing emergencies & my cats issues of vomiting & diarrhea are not an emergency. I don't mind a drop off with a tech talking to me in place of the doctor once in a while but it was every single time and that is not appropriate in healthcare. I would get home & call the office because the technician forgot to tell me certain results or was not clear on what she was relaying, a message was taken and the tech did not call me back for a week! I expressed my anguish many times to the front desk and I was told that Dr. Vilchez has to make a choice to either see new patients or focus on established, apparently the established are not a priority clearly by what I experienced. I understand she is one doctor but you expand your hours, you do what you have to do in order to not neglect established patients as you are taking on new ones. You do not let your long-term established patients like myself suffer feeling discarded and not cared for. 8 months or so ago one of my cats got sick on a Saturday and I went to UF emergency . The ER vet told me to call Dr. Vilchez first thing Monday morning to evaluate the drained abscess. When I called Heritage Oaks that Monday morning and explained everything what the ER Vet told me, I was told that it was not an emergency because she was treated and offered me an appointment 3 days later as another drop off . 2 weeks later, the same cat started throwing up ironically on Friday night. Saturday morning, I called a Vet in Ocala who has Saturday hours and was happy to see Asia on emergency. I have a right to choose a Vet for emergencies god forbid it happens on a weekend and not pay a $1,000 again for 15 hours in the emergency room. The animal hospital that saw Asia did x-rays and ultrasound and forwarded it to Dr. Vilchez and told me to follow back up with her because Dr. Vilchez is the primary vet. When I called Heritage Oaks to follow up with Asia, it was 2 days before my call was returned, once again I was told to bring Asia in for a drop off only. When I came back to pick Asia up a tech came out that I had never seen before, she was unfriendly & rude, delivering a message from Dr. Vilchez stating that she does not feel comfortable examining Asia because the weekend vet who saw her, needs to take over. I was so hurt and so upset because this was wrong to do! A few days later I called Heritage Oaks very upset feeling like they do not care about my girls anymore and the technician told me call back after the ultrasound is done. The weekend Vet finished all the testing and forwarded the results to Heritage Oaks. I called Heritage Oaks spoke to 2 different people at the front desk asking for Dr. Vilchez to call me. I talked to a tech asking for Dr. Vilchez to call me. I left messages for Kevin to call me with no return calls. I emailed Dr. Vilchez in case she did not get my phone calls asking her to call me. As of today, months & months later, my phone calls have never been returned & my emails were never responded to. Absolutely Disappointed, Unprofessional & Appalling!"

"Stay away if you’re looking for compassion when dealing with a sick pet. I called to have my 20 year old cat put to sleep I knew she was in a lot of pain. I was told they couldn’t see her until the middle of January. I explained she was in pain I don’t want her to suffer and they just said there was nothing they could do I asked how they could treat a sick animal with little compassion and let them suffer for almost 2 months. He just chuckled and said “ you want the appointment or not “. I hung up."

"Kind, decent care. Excellent facility. The Dr. and staff listen and do a good job diagnosing and treating their patients. However, we experienced some difficulty when trying to make decisions about treatment options for an older dog which is why this is only 3 star. I would certainly not hesitate to recommend this Veterinary in spite of our experience."

"Dr. Vilchez and the team at Heritage Oaks do an amazing job taking care of our dog and cat. If you're looking for top quality care for your pets in a boutique veterinary setting, then this is where you should come."

"The low stars given for this vet and her staff is appalling. As a Nurse Practitioner, with over 20 years in medicine, how can you expect to refill prescription drugs for a patient who is not seen or examined? I can give scripts all day long, with refills, but you are still responsible for follow up appointments. It is just ignorant to expect any physician or practitioner to give medications to a patient, "in this case an animal" without seeing them. We are required by law to follow a patient regardless of "refill" status! She did you a favor by putting refills on your scripts in the first place. With, I am sure, the expectation of a follow up appointment at least yearly! If you are going to own pets then it is your due diligence to have the patient seen at least yearly. Things change at the drop of a hat, and that simple "asthma" could now become a severe pneumonia, yes I am a pulmonology nurse practitioner as well as an emergency practitioner so I know the ropes. So before leaving a nasty remark, do your part and bring your pet in for an exam. Food for thought, if you were sick and called your doctor, regardless of a "chronic" condition, would they want to see you, if they were any kind of responsible physician the answer is yes. They also probably told you to go to an Emergency vet due to an acute issue, this is not unreasonable, people come into my ER everyday with dental pain, shortness of breath, etc, and there is no way that I would send them out the door with meds without evaluating them and properly diagnosing them, that is the responsible/respectful thing to do. Don't expect anything different, and her asking for an appointment is not unreasonable. Your pet could have an acute issue that is far different from a chronic one. Let me tell you something, this vet found cancer in my dog that eventually I had to put down because I am a responsible pet owner and had tests done. Please if that is how you want to act then you should not have pets and seems like to me that you are trying to "get something for nothing". Shame on you, and I encourage you to take your dog to a shelter and give it a better life."