Arizona Skies Animal Hospital

Skies Pet Hospital and Dr. Nelson are the epitome of unprofessionalism. Their dismissive attitude, lack of transparency, and failure to provide clear and honest communication are deeply troubling. Dr. Nelson’s inability to address concerns respectfully and her rude, unprofessional conduct are unacceptable. If you value compassion and integrity in your pet’s healthcare, avoid this place at all

Our experience with Skies Pet Hospital and Dr. Nelson was deeply disappointing. A friend had recommended this hospital, citing a positive experience where they had BOAS surgery and spaying done for their dog at a reasonable cost of $1,100 (including dental cleaning). We scheduled an appointment at Skies Pet Hospital specifically for an evaluation to determine whether Louie needed BOAS surgery. During the visit, Nelson informed us that Louie’s case was severe, emphasizing that his soft palate was in poor condition and that surgery was necessary. We explained that we preferred not to put Louie under anesthesia unless absolutely required and mentioned that if surgery was indeed necessary, we’d like to address other concerns at the same time, such as closing his tail pocket, microchipping him, and cleaning his teeth. Nelson admitted that she didn’t specialize in tail pocket surgery but offered to take photos and consult a non-board-certified doctor who might be able to handle the procedure. This raised our first concern. In contrast, Nelson’s staff told us they’d provide an estimate for Louie’s procedures later that day. Three days passed without any update. After multiple follow-ups, we were told the non-board-certified doctor offered to perform all the surgeries, including the tail pocket surgery, for $3,800. We asked for a revised estimate excluding the tail pocket surgery with Nelson, but the staff remained pushy about going forward with the other doctor. When they finally sent the estimate, it was 2.5 times higher than what our friend paid for similar procedures. When I questioned why the price was so much higher, Dr. Nelson became defensive and claimed they had undercharged the other client. This discrepancy was alarming, especially since our friend’s dog underwent additional surgery (spaying). At this point, I began researching BOAS and learned that Louie’s symptoms seemed mild compared to what Nelson described. I also discovered that a CT scan or similar imaging is typically needed to confirm whether soft palate surgery is required—something Nelson never performed during her evaluation. I called the office to clarify and ask further questions, but Nelson never returned my call. Instead, she emailed me, repeating her recommendation to proceed with the other doctor. In response, I emailed her with specific questions, including whether she was board-certified and why she was referring us to another doctor who isn’t board certified. Her reply was curt and unhelpful, stating only that she was confident in her surgical skills before announcing she was “removing herself from Louie’s care.” This came as a shock. I emailed back asking for clarification, but she never responded. Shortly after, I requested a refund for the initial visit since she had refused to proceed with Louie’s care. Again, no one called me back. Instead, I received a rude and unprofessional letter from Dr. Nelson. In it, she insulted me, called me names like “a wretched human,” and even threatened me against sharing my experience publicly. I decided to seek a second opinion. I consulted two other veterinarians for evaluations. Both confirmed that Louie does NOT need BOAS surgery. They explained that his nostrils were better than most French Bulldogs they’d seen and that his soft palate could be removed only if his snoring bothered us—which it doesn’t. Louie doesn’t snore much, and it doesn’t affect him or us. This reinforced my suspicions about Nelson’s diagnosis and recommendations. This entire ordeal has made it clear that Skies Pet Hospital prioritizes profit over patient care. Nelson’s conduct was unprofessional, dismissive, and entirely inappropriate. If you value your pet’s well-being, I strongly advise against trusting this hospital with their care. Asking questions about your pet’s treatment does not make you “wretched”—it makes you a responsible pet owner. Dr. Nelson’s behavior speaks volumes about her priorities and professionalism, or lack thereof.

Attn Dr Nelson - My husband brought Tucker to Arizona Skies to examine my pets eyes. Tucker saw Dr Elaina Volpe who said Tucker had pressure in one of his eyes. She prescribed 2 different eye drops. When we noticed Tucker was not responding positive to the drops and appeared to be getting worse, we took him to Arizona Pet Hospital. Dr Brett took one look at his eyes and said I am not charging you for this visit because Tucker has edema in both eyes with severe ulcers and blisters. He recommended seeing Dr Urbana with Eye Care for Animals. Upon evaluation she confirmed Tucker had severe edema with ulcers and blisters on both eyes. The doctor also stated the 2 eye drops provided by Dr Volpe only aggravated his eyes and issues further. She said those are not the drops that should be given for Tuckers eye condition with severe blisters and my dog was having a lot of pain in his eyes. Needless to say, we moved to Dr Brett with Arizona Animal Hospital. We are very disappointed with the misdiagnosis, wrong meds for Tuckers condition and the charges that we incurred.

TLDR: If you want your pet to be healthy and alive, do not bring them to the vet here. I would highly recommend against bringing your beloved fur babies here. Dr Nelson is the type that refuses to communicate with a concerned pet owner and truly figure out a solution for your loved one. If she thinks "the communication style" doesn't work for her, she will literally push you off and say for you to go somewhere else. Rude, disrespectful, belittling and has a severe ego - which in this industry, it should not even be legal. At the end of everyday, it is all about the greater good of the fur babies. Or for this vet clinic, it's about the money? That's what that tells me when they up and decide "oh, well we couldn't figure out the problem and we can't handle any of your concerns, so go somewhere else". This has been an issue for months and we have not been heard or listened to. Our cat has been have a health problem where she was needing medication. At first things were fine. The dosage seemed okay and it helped, off to a great start. Then our poor baby started having side effects and the dosage was changed. And what's interesting about this, is everytime she needed a prescription refill, she needed to have blood work done, of which is a $350 cost everytime (Not including the expensive medication itself). Okay, it is what it is, but it didn't seem right, especially when the dosage remained the same for a long period of time (4+ months), and then was changed ONLY when we told the vet about the side effects. So then the dosage was halved, and we quickly saw improvement in our cat. We kept going in for a refill, and kept paying $350 everytime she needed a refill. On our last one, the dosage was upped again without any warning.. And suddenly our little baby started having issues again. She's extremely sluggish, lost a lot of weight, and is not acting herself at all.. Alarmed, we phoned the vet expressing our concern and it turns out it was a mess up on their end. We were upset, but not rude or disrespectful towards the girl on the phone, Caitlyn. She said words like "yes, I hear you, yes ill make note of that, etc etc..." and told us she would have Dr Nelson call us. Dr Nelson calls after 6pm, over an hour after the business closed... And she basically says that she was "not thrilled to hear how we spoke with Caitlyn and that we should go to another vet because our communication style is not a match". What? And what's worse is, she expressed literally ZERO concern for our baby - clearly showing us that she DOES NOT CARE. It's one thing to be disrespectful to a concerned customer and disregard anything we had to say, but to disregard our little family member? That's unacceptable. You can expect that from her if you show ANY concern of how they're handling treatment for your loved one. In all my life of going to vets, I have truly never seen behavior like this from a vet.

They took in my puppy immediately when she swallowed a sock. They also cared for my pup for eating various other items causing stomach issues both immediately in person and over the phone. They have a responsive front desk and compassionate vet that explained everything, helped us immediately, and truly cares for our puppy. Couldn’t have asked for better care while we have been visiting Arizona. Very grateful for this practice!