Altas Palmas Animal Clinic

When we are in the Rio Grande Valley, we take our pets to Altas Palmas for any vet needs. The facility is centrally located, clean and well staffed with caring vets and techs. I love the fact that they will coordinate with our regular vet in Calif to ensure that our pet coverage is comprehensive.

After a therapeutic misadventure at the hands of a vet in that clinic about two years ago that nearly cost my pet's life, resulted in thousands of dollars in additional bills and turned a room of my house into a pet ICU where I was alternately feeding him pureed diet through a surgically implanted feeding tube, checking blood sugars 4X per day and administering insulin, completely preventable with appropriate clinical judgement before this vet instigated that unfortunate chain of events, I became rather selective with whom I would trust my pet's care.



So, when my cat stopped eating (an emergency for a cat), I called the practice to see who was there and specifically requested Dr. X. When I got there, I was assured by front desk staff, Dr. X would see my pet. After being left 20 minutes sitting on a bench and approaching lunch hour, I again inquired about seeing Dr. X and was reassured my cat would be seen by Dr. X. 25 minutes after that point, I was informed Dr. X had gone to lunch and my pet would be seen by Dr. Y.. I was strongly tempted to leave immediately, never return, & seek treatment elsewhere, but unfortunately remained. After observations leading me to believe mouth pain (or stomatitis) was the cause of my cat's problems, an incomplete set of vitals (no temperature) were taken. I suggested to the vet mouth pain may be the root cause of my cat's problems. After probing his mouth she stated she thought he had an abscessed tooth, and prescribed an antibiotic. No recommendations for follow-up care were made. And I guess vital signs aren't so vital with them. Or maybe they took to heart the commandment from Samuel Shem's "House of God": "If you don't take a temperature you can't find a fever!".



After a week of antibiotics and a pureed diet with blood sugars becoming progressively harder to control, I left for work after giving my cat 3 1/2 units of insulin for a blood glucose in the 330s, and making arrangements for a sitter to check my pet's behavior at time of peak insulin effect. I made two calls (spaced 3 hours apart) to the practice trying to get a return call from my usual vet there concerning what to do next. 7 hours later, I got a call back and faced with that clinical picture was told she couldn't see my pet that day or even the following one.



For demonstrated abject veterinary ignorance, total lack of clinical judgment and plain ordinary negligence over a period of years encompassing multiple practitioners complemented by deceitful unprofessionalism by the desk staff rendering it impossible to try and protect my pets from them, I am taking care of my fur babies elsewhere.

Dr. Durán is super great, knowledgeable, caring! Highly recommended but only with this Vet.

I chose to take my sick puppy to this clinic but after 3 visits they did not even test to find out what was making her sick. They just charged me for random medicines which did nothing to help. My puppy died of distemper, which they finally diagnosed her with on my 4th and final visit. Then charged me for the visit AND the uthenization. I saw 3 different vets and all of them were horrible.