Truly a five star veterinarian office. This was our third shot at getting help from a vet after receiving little to no answers. The team here takes such good care of our very difficult dog and they are so patient. We got to the bottom of what is going on and we are treating it now. Really kind service and always a smile. Fair prices for good, intelligent work.
If Acorn’s website proclamation—“We care about the experience that *you* have here. We care about the experience that *your pet* has here. We think about the little things—because that’s what excellence demands.”—is meant to inspire confidence, the reality we encountered renders it almost satirical.
To be clear, I was clearly against coming here due to issues we had over 10 years ago with them in reference to their costs. I adamantly conveyed to my husband that. My husband only desired to utilize them briefly as they perform in-house echocardiograms.
Our visit was not defined by attentiveness or compassion, but by a striking indifference to both patient distress and client concern. We brought in our Yorkie amid genuine worry over respiratory symptoms, only to be met with a transactional, almost perfunctory approach. While our dog was visibly panicked—barking, hyperventilating, and overheating—we were still asked to prioritize procedural formalities like obtaining a weight which our dog was reluctant to do--as though clinical box-checking superseded basic situational awareness. The suggestion to simply have them “open a window” rather than allow the dog outside while waiting, encapsulates the broader tone: superficial gestures in place of meaningful care.
To be clear, Dr. Holmes herself was courteous. However, the broader execution of care—and more critically, the culture of the practice—was deeply problematic. A urine sample was collected in a manner that many pet owners would reasonably question, taken directly from two accidents at once on the exam table via syringe. While perhaps technically permissible, it demonstrated a lack of regard for both perception and hygiene that undermines trust.
More troubling, however, was the overt hostility toward client advocacy my husband received. After raising thoughtful, financially rounded questions to both the doctor and the office manager —particularly regarding the necessity of an expensive abdominal ultrasound—he was met not with dialogue, but with defensiveness and condescension. The office manager’s response to my husband was especially unprofessional, going so far as to refuse communication with me entirely, labeling my legitimate concerns as “insulting,” and asserting that questioning a veterinarian’s recommendations was somehow inappropriate. This is not medical professionalism; it is institutional arrogance.
What makes this stance even more untenable is that subsequent consultations with MULTIPLE other veterinarians including my sister who practices in CA (AND prior to my calls and email) contradicted Acorn’s proposed diagnostic path. We were presented with less invasive, more cost-effective alternatives that Acorn either failed to mention or dismissed outright. Additionally, clinically relevant findings—such as a markedly low thyroid level—were not communicated to us. The doctor also missed a heart murmur that two other vets picked up.
Perhaps most concerning is the apparent inability—or unwillingness—of this practice to tolerate scrutiny. Any deviation from passive compliance is framed as aggression, and any attempt to advocate for one’s pet is treated as insubordination. This is a profoundly flawed dynamic in a field that should prioritize collaboration and trust between clinician and client.
In the end, Acorn appears less invested in patient-centered care and more in preserving its own authority. The experience was impersonal, dismissive, and at times overtly antagonistic. Pet owners deserve a practice that welcomes questions, exercises clinical judgment with humility, and demonstrates genuine empathy—especially in moments of stress and uncertainty.
Acorn, regrettably, does none of these things.
*I will be attaching to this review what was done as the office manager believes I thought I was better than their doctor when I emailed and called. I didn't go into any of this blindly as seen above. But the assumptions just again show their arrogance.
Any response to this just will demonstrate their lack of accountability as I've stated above.
