Hayden Meadows Pet Clinic

I admit our fur babies are important to us, most definitely! This is why, just like with a child, we have to advocate for them, particularly, since they can’t speak and most times have difficulty letting us know where their pain is.
I have attended Hayden Meadows Pet clinic through 2 fur babies– Sasha who I had for 17 years and Buddy Guy who was 15 years old and I just lost last week. Dr. Greg Castle attended both my babies and I would beg to differ with anyone who says the care and concern he has given and showed to my animals was anything less than stellar. When ever I questioned a treatment or procedure we completely discussed/​debated the need and or benefit. The same way I advocated for my children as they grew, I did also for my dogs. I’m not saying one shouldn’t, «blindly», trust what the professional says, be it a doctor or anybody else– you have to do your home work especially when you are the care taker!
I, for one, am and have been for years satisfied with the care I received from Hayden Meadows, formerly Affordable Pet Clinic– yes, prices have gone up but haven’t they every where. Don’t get me wrong, I have sought second opinions on care options prescribed, but I’ve always gone back to Dr. Castle and if or when I get a new fur baby they will be seen by him too. By the way, this is not a paid endorsement :) especially when Dr. Castle just gave my baby his last «sleep» injection. I came on here to thank the staff at Hayden Meadows for their compassion during that difficult time and then I read the negative reviews and I felt compelled to respond. I’m not saying what happened to them didn’t happen or they don’t have the same right as I, to express their opinion. I’m just saying make up you’re own mind.

I am actually very sorry to have to post this negative review. I tremendously respect the work that veterinarians do, but when you come across a practice that has such a cold bed-​side manner and almost callous consideration for our furry, best friends, I can’t sit silent. We considered Hayden Meadows our primary vet after they handled the spay of our Westie. I’ll admit, I chose them because they were affordable. I suppose we were lucky for a while, because we didn’t have to see them that often. But at 9 years old, our Westie started to develop stomach issues and our interaction with the physicians at Hayden Meadows picked up. They were never able to diagnose her, but certainly ran up our bill. I’ve forgotten the names of the doctors there because we saw them all, and each of them were frankly, unmemorable. The only thing I do remember about their personalities, was that they were cold. Institutional. Treated us like we were just a number. And they liked to prescribe pain pills and antibiotics. That’s about it. We reached a point where we had to admit our pup to Dove Lewis Emergency hospital because she began having bloody stool. She was in hospital for 3 days (even more $$$). While at Dove Lewis, they ran an ultrasound and discovered she had tumors in her bladder. 4 months later, our sweet pup passed away from Bladder Cancer. Of course I’m not blaming Hayden Meadows for the cancer, but maybe, just maybe, if they had been more thorough and contentious, perhaps we could have done SOMETHING to help our sweet pup. She was in pain.
I would strongly urge anyone considering this practice, to think again. If you’re like most pet-​owners, your pet is a part of your family. Fight for them to get the kind of caring and top-​notch medical care you would expect for your human family members.

Took my dog here to get him neutered. Had a very good experience from setting up an appointment over the phone to taking his cone off.
Brought my puppy, Dougie, on a Friday morning to get neutered. Went in and did paperwork. They were really nice and told me everything that they will be doing. Dropped him off for the whole day and returned in the afternoon to pick him up. I utilized a coupon and just got the necessary. So with the surgery, pain medication ($ 10) and E-​collar/​cone ($ 11), the total came out to around $ 135.
They told me to come back in three days to check on him. After he was good we went back a week later to take off his stitching and cone. During the whole process Dougie and myself had a good experience and we are glad we came here. Dougie is as good as ever and we have had no problems thus far.

I took my pit boxer here a while back to get fixed and she is an older dog. I was very pleased with the service and care for this procedure for her. (As she is a high strung hyper dog) She was in a lot of pain after surgery and they let me know what to expect. She quickly healed up and was back to normal a few days later.

I’m looking for a new vet. I took my cat in, they made it sound like he had serious dental issues so we were quoted $ 175 for the procedure and I will say it ended up being close to $ 500. Not to mention they forgot to remove his IV. Also my cat was in extreme pain, crying at insane levels non stop from in the back we could hear him up front to all night, I don’t think they ever gave him pain meds at all but told us not to give him the pain meds they sent home with him until the next morning. I wish I could sue them for doing this to my baby. Did I mention it turned out nothing was wrong with his teeth? I take my pets here for the cost, because I am broke, but never again. I remember a review here mentioning the cone. The animal in front of us just got fixed, they told the woman if he bites at his sutures, to go buy him a cone at Petsmart. Seriously? I would have thought they’d read the reviews and fix things like that but they don’t care. They «act» like they care but they couldn’t even remember to take out an IV? They don’t give proper instructions and my cat is on the lowest dosage of pain killers compared to a higher dose with other cats with the same procedure.
Do NOT take your pets here. There’s no free dental report card like their sign says (which has fallen over on the ground for a couple weeks, they haven’t bothered to sit it back up again). Back in the day, this used to be a great vet. Now, it’s a chamber of horrors. I feel sorry for every animal treated there with more than a general checkup even during, the vet wiped my cats eyes, without him expecting and with force. It looked so painful and we had to treat his eyes. Bad, Bad VET! I’m going back to North Portland Veterinary Clinic. One of the vets has been practicing so long, he used to treat my now deceased Grandmothers cats 30 years ago. Then my cats.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hayden Meadows killed animals for the fun of it. I had a cat who was poisoned (we figured it out after death), we brought him in, they said they didn’t know what was wrong and sent him home, he got sicker and sicker, we brought him back and they said it’s too late, everything is shutting down. This was 10 years ago (cat poison case) and they still haven’t got it together. I blame them for my other cats death who had to be put down, by them, because they were too dumb to treat him for poisoning and pretended the constant projectile vomiting is not a sign of anything wrong.

This is a warning to any pet lovers who are considering Hayden Meadows as their vet. Look elsewhere. Dr. Nelson was absolutely careless in treating our labs dog bite. She didn’t even shave the area, just took one short look and sent us home with some pain meds. I trusted her knowledge, but 2 days later our dog was leaking green puss from his neck (which we couldn’t see because the area had not been shaved!). We took him back in and Dr Williams took care of him, shaving and cleaning the area. She gave us the news that it was pretty badly infected and he might need surgery. Luckily, he healed fine and he is back to normal. But, this could have all been avoided if we had a halfway competent veterinarian to begin with.

I have been going to Hayden Meadows for about 25 years, but in the last 6, their service has gone downhill.
I have memories of the loss of my dogs eye. First off, their phones weren’t working. Could not get through to a human for days.
I went in because I couldn’t get thru to make an appt, and they charged me a $ 75 emergency fee and made me feel bad when I argued the charge.
This was the same visit where they diagnosed my dog with Conjunctivitis when he had an ulcerated cornea, and shortly thereafter lead to the loss of his eye.
Other things… certain meds are on the Fred Meyer $ 4 list. Hayden Meadows will charge $ 10 to «call it in» because they want you to spend $ 25 with them for the same script!
Finally, when they couldn’t root cause my dogs kidney and gastrointestinal diseases they sent me to a specialist.
The specialist was great. After three visits, we did have to put my dog down, but they were so caring! They sent me a card; called to check on me; personalized a hanging ornament, and more.
Hayden, on the other hand, made me feel stupid when I stopped by to let them know. No «I’m sorry for your loss». No card.
It’s important to me that my vet cares!
Sorry, but I wouldn’t recommend Hayden Meadows. They only seem to know basic vet care and their bedside manner lacks!

I have been debating over whether or not to leave a review about my awful experience with Hayden Meadows, but I finally decided that people need to know how careless they are.
I took my lab in to be treated for a pretty vicious dog bite. I paid for the emergency visit and Dr. Nelson brought us back right away. Once we were in the examination room she looked at his neck (which was covered by hair and his wound was not visible) for about 5 seconds and told us not to worry about it. The vet tech even suggested that she shave his hair in order to get a better look, but Dr. Nelson ignored her and sent us home with some antibiotics and pain pills. Even though I had a feeling deep down that something was not right, she sent us home (with a $ 225 bill) thinking everything was fine and great. No instructions for cleaning him, no supervision suggestions, NOTHING! And I was in too much of a panic to think to ask. I trusted her.
So, fast forward to 4 days later and our poor lab was leaking green from his neck. We took him in immediately and thankfully, the amazing Dr. Williams cared for him this time. She shaved and cleaned him (what Dr. Nelson should have done on the first visit) and told us what to do next. But… she also told us that his wound had become infected and it was pretty bad, so bad there was a chance he may have to have surgery. Thankfully, after his wound was cleaned and we kept up with the twice a day cleanings, he is fully healed.
However, we ended up spending almost $ 500 on something that could have been prevented on our first visit, would our veterinarian have been even halfway competent.
My dogs have been patients here for almost 2 years, but I can no longer trust them to care for my best friends.

This was by far the WORST EXPERIENCE I have ever had at a vet. YOUR ANIMALS HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF DYING IF YOU BRING THEM HERE!!! First of all I went in for a common procedure. My cat was 1 and was going to get spayed. When I picked her up from Hayden she couldn’t even move and her eyes were rolling back in her head. I started balling on scene and they couldn’t even tell me what to do to make it better. Just looked at me awkwardly. I then took her home and she began puking and having seizures. I called Hayden and they said it was normal so I waited. The next day things were so bad I had to take her to the emergency vet. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her until the third time I took her in and they opened her back up and discovered a piece of her uterus that had been cut out and sowed back up in her!!! It was turning SEPTIC and slowly KILLING her. When I called back they told me to get a lawyer and hung up on me.

We have had great experiences at this clinic. Dr. Castle is very knowledgeable and very good with animals, and we really appreciate the ease of making appointments at this vet, and the reasonable cost. We first switched to Hayden Meadows when we needed a cat spayed, and our vet at the time quoted us around $ 500 for the procedure. Our cat received quality care a Hayden Meadows for a fraction of the price. We also took in a pit bull that we are caring for recently, and we were so impressed with how easily the staff handled him, and really appreciate the care he received. Again, the price was substantially lower that what we would have paid for an exam and radiology at our previous vet, and the care and information provided by Dr. Castle was of the highest quality. We will be using Hayden Meadows for all of our pet health care needs in the future.

I have been taking my MULTIPLE pets to Hayden Meadows for about 16 years, they have always been kind, compassionate, and respectful. Dr. Greg Castle, Dr. Molly Williams and Dr. Audrey Nelson are amazing vets and have been there for me and my pets through everything from puppy and kitten-​hood through the progression of end life. I just recently lost a beloved dog to bone cancer and Dr. Molly was an angel in the way she broke the news of the disease and was readily available to answer questions and just be an amazing support during an extremely difficult life transition. We also have a large dog that suffers from epilepsy and Dr. Molly has been a wealth of information and has helped us maneuver through the medical odyssey that is epilepsy. I really don’t know how we would have managed without her care and knowledge. I really appreciate the open-​mindedness of treatment including alternative treatments rather than only a western medicine philosophy, they are interested in keeping my pets healthy not just curing ailments. The front line staff is really amazing, Brenda has a special place in my heart and has always been very kind and attentive even when she couldn’t make out the words through the tears on the phone, she has made sure we got what we needed for our four legged family members. I would (and have) highly recommend Hayden Meadows Pet clinic to anyone looking for an affordable, knowledgeable, and compassionate veterinarian.

Just like other have said, DO NOT go to this vet/​clinic: Took our 7 month old puppy to get neutered at Hayden Meadows Pet Clinic, and was the epitome of horrible customer service coupled with a vet (DVM, Greg Castle) who did a botch-​job operation. This is such a routine procedure that vets across the country have mobile neutering vans, yet Hayden Meadows treated us like second rate individuals, and completely neglected the care of our puppy. They were very informal to us upon dropping him off. On pickup, we had to ask them 5+ times what the care instructions were, as all the girls working in the office had no problem copping attitude, telling us how bad our adopted puppy had fleas (he did not, just dry skin) and being very ignorant with their use of words towards us, and regarding our pup; felt like we were surrounded by a freshman class of high schoolers. (They also did not even offer to send us home with a cone, as 99.9% of vets would)
If the experience wasn’t bad enough, our pup started majoring licking and incessantly biting at his sutures as soon as we brought him home. We then went to petco to buy a cone. But the behavior didn’t stop, and in calling in to the clinic, they offered no advice and simply dismissed us again. We took our pup to another vet who was shocked at the exposed skin left on our pups neutering, and it could have been a lot worse. They had improperly sutured him, and led to an infection on such a routine procedure. The other vet offered us discounts if we would never return to Hayden Meadows Pet Clinic, and we won’t! Not worth it. Our dog and his health and safety is entirely too important to us to risk infection or anything worse!!! DO NOT go to this clinic, absolute domino effect of negative events occurring one after the other!!!

We’ve been taking our dog Ripley, to this clinic for the past year since we’ve had her. The vet techs are incredibly nice and gentle with her, and the two vets we’ve seen are great.
The prices are good, the office is clean, but most importantly everyone we’ve met that works there has a good attitude and is very friendly.
We will continue to use Hayden Meadows Pet Clinic, and I’d highly recommend it if you are new to town, or just looking for a new place.

Both Dr. Greg Castle and Dr. Molly Williams cared for my English Cocker for the last 13.5 years. They helped me through his difficult final days in every way, medically and emotionally. I am so grateful to have had them in his life. They have been compassionate, knowledgeable and helpful. I have recommended them to all of my friends. When we decide we’re ready for another dog, they will be their vets too. Reading the other bad reviews makes me wonder about those situations, not the doctors or staff at Hayden Meadows. After this many years I really know these folks! If you love your animal and want the best care from wonderful people, this is a great place to take them,

Cheap, but not worth it. We took our puppy here for her spay and she came out horrible. The grade of anesthesia must be very low because I have never seen any of our other pets suffer as much after surgery. The stitches were awful and so long that my puppy tore them out the first night, so we woke up to her with a large open wound. We brought her back and they told us that they could help seal the wound and they preceded to hold her down and staple her stomach up without any use of medication. We were not pleased and asked for a «cone» collar so she would not be able to reach the staples and we were told they do not carry them and we would have to go to another vet to get one. By the time I drove to the other vet, my puppy had removed her staples again. We now have her cone collar and she is sealed up and healing, but after so many calls and visits we will not be returning to this vet. Lack of compassion towards the animals and did not seem like it is stocked or managed well. The North Portland Vet Hospital is our new spot and much nicer!

I tried this clinic recently for my cat who had what I thought might be an eye infection. The doctor I saw (Ralph) rattled off to me that he would be injecting dye, then a test for ulcers. He assumed I would just go along with it. I asked for more explanation because it seemed like overkill and I wasn’t sure I wanted the expense or for my cat to suffer the invasion of dye. He explained to me that if there was an ulcer, it should definitely be treated now rather than later, and that most cats he saw with the symptoms we presented did in fact have ulcers. While seeing the doctor my cat sneezed a few times. It occured to me that my cat may have just had a cold and when I mentioned that, he shrugged the idea off by saying that it was probably due to new surroundings. My gut feeling was, no, my cat probably had a cold. When I decided to mull it over for a few minutes, and after I asked for a cost breakdown, the doctor excused himself to attend to other paying customers. He mentioned, insultingly, that since I «had an opinion about it» he understood if I wanted a few minutes to think it over. Well, why should it be a suprise that I, the cat’s owner and sole advocate, might «have an opinion»? Obviously he is used to people just trusting his word as God and not questioning it.
The cost was going to be $ 77 + medication if needed. I went outside to think it over. My gut said my cat probably just had a cold, but he succeeded in scaring me just enough to go along with the expensive test. Literally 2−½ minutes later, it was all over, test negative, me $ 77 poorer. Damn, I didn’t have that kind of money to waste and I was irritated. I expressed my irritation to the woman at the front desk,(who was sniffling and sneezing herself, to the extent that I didn’t want to touch anything she touched) by saying «I should have went with my gut» and she was stone faced. Said nothing.
What a creepy place. Interested in raking in the bucks and dispensing suspiciously specious advice. I won’t be back.

I have used this clinic off and on for years for my 4 cats and 1 dog. They have never been very helpful or friendly or seemed that interested in really helping my pets, but they are cheap and that is something. The vets are nice enough. The front desk staff can be particularly snarky. I have taken my animals there for routine calls that do not require a sophisticated diagnosis. I have referred friends to the clinic who have had similar unfriendly experiences and have ceased going there. In the past they have been rude and unhelpful during emergencies.
Unfortunately, today was the end for me and my family. Another vet clinic that I trust has tried calling in a prescription to this clinic for refill as the animal is a patient at both clinics. Hayden Meadows is more conveniently located to me. This is not an uncommon thing to request. Hayden Meadows refused, citing an Oregon law that requires that the animal be examined within one year to refill prescriptions. This is a true law. And my pet has been seen recently by the other vet who offered to fax all records necessary to fill the prescription. Stubbornly reciting said law, they still refused, saying that the dog needs to be seen by their vet only. What they fail to understand is that the policy of the clinic is not a state law and citing it as such is at the very least misinformation to clients. Misrepresentation of a justified state law to get an office visit fee out of clients is disingenuous. Nice job Hayden Meadows, in an effort to get another $ 35 you have alienated a long time client with a menagerie of pets and loads of pet owning friends.

We love our kitties and we love Hayden Meadows. Both of our cats have had some major issues; one a serious UTI and the other needed teeth extractions. Both times (in addition to their checkups) we have found the vets and techs super friendly, honest and very supportive. When our little cat wasn’t quite herself after her surgery, we were able to see the same vet who did the procedure. He was super nice, explained everything that might have caused her lethargy and shared his philosophy as a vet (you rock, Dr. Greg!).
This place is no D-​L and not super fancy-​pants. However, their staff is compassionate and honest. We’ve been to four other vet clinics and we will always take are kitties to Hayden Meadows and recommend every chance we get.

Great clinic, very quick and very attentive towards animals, clean and friendly. The doctor called us the next day with the results (even though it sometimes takes up to 4 days to get them back) so I was very impressed. The prices-​are GREAT, their heartworm testing was only $ 25 (a special they were running)
Would highly recomend it.