Riverside Animal Clinic & Holistic Center

I love Dr. Carlson and would definitely go back to him. Although unfortunately with how popular he is, it was very hard to find appointment times. I feel that another head vet in the facility would've made visits a lot smoother. I would always wait in the playroom with my dog. At our very last visit for his last puppy shots, a young boy, probably an assistant, took my dog and walked away with him to the exam room, I was absolutely not comfortable handing my dog off to someone else but I wasn't sure how to handle that. My dog is not reactive, he's a young german shepherd. When they exited the door, my dog barked at the dog just outside the door, and the boy froze. The vet that has always given my dog his shots without absolutely any issues then pushed them back into the room and shut the door. She came back with another assistant and a muzzle! The muzzle never even got on him. I was beyond uncomfortable in that moment and I wish I had advocated for my dog. Being handled by others was never an issue for him and since this incident, he has an issue with it. EDIT: I'm very sorry to hear. Though it had never been easy to get an appointment since I started visiting in January. I enjoyed my visits to Dr. Carlson, but this specific experience was with assistant staff. I made a review 4 months after the incident, immediately after his next appointment at a new clinic. He had acted inappropriately, due to his last visit at Riverside being handled poorly. If the young assistant hadn't taken my dog away, we would've made it to the treatment room and had a normal visit. It was completely random for my dog to be taken from me, and be told to wait there. I'm not against muzzles. I didn't like them adding more stress to the situation by trying to muzzle him themselves. I found and specifically requested a veterinarian with experience in my dog's breed. Since he acted inappropriately, the veterinarian carefully handled the situation. I handled him, and she communicated through it. Then she made sure to end the situation on a good note with him. My dog is now muzzle conditioned and does well with handling. That takes time and he's only a year old. It's great to hear you guys are implementing fear free protocols.

First time we went to Riverside. Dr. Carlson and his team are amazing. Our dog has a tumor on the side of his face and Dr helped with a direction on how to start treatment.

I can’t say enough good things about the Carlson family and the love and compassion they have for the animals. We found this little kitten with a very deep and infected wound, it was a very serious case that had to be seen right away, they were so kind to take time out of their Sunday to take the kitten in and get the wound taken care of. Avery was so sweet and helpful. You can definitely tell that they truly do care for the animals. We are grateful beyond words.

Dr. Carlson is hands down the best veterinarian I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve encountered quite a few. Years ago, I saw Dr. Carlson treat my parents dogs and elderly cat into their twilight years and the compassion and love he has for our animal family members is unmatched. We firmly believe his recommendation of acupuncture treatment for their elderly Weimaraner gave her another 2 years of life after we all thought she had lost mobility in her back legs. I went to another vet for a few years (because they were closer to me) until they recommended expensive and side effect-inducing medications for my 15 year old Weimaraner. I had my doubts so I called Riverside for a second opinion. He reviewed her test results, health records, and examined her thoroughly and agreed that she needed none of that. Dr. Carlson put her on a much more gentle holistic regimen that allowed her to live comfortably the rest of her days. And when it was her time to go, at almost 16, he lovingly stroked her and held her paw the whole time while my husband and I said our goodbyes. The compassion is unmatched. Now I take all my pets to Riverside. Thank you to Dr. Carlson and his amazing team for always giving my pets the best treatment possible.

We have a very allergic pit bull boxer mix, and at one point we didn't know what to feed her. Dr Carlson and his team always have excellent recommendations that have fantastic results. Small back stories Lucy gets a skin rash, it may be from season change or something she found on the floor. They get bad and she gets itchy and starts to lose hair on her belly. We were recommended some bath soap and herbs to help her rash. And we have done SRT scans and now know her allergies. Holistic is the way to go and this team is the only one that could actually help this little member of my family. The pictures reflect 3 weeks of the recommendations we received from Riverside animal clinic.

Avery and Dr. Carlson are caring, knowledgeable and took the time to answer questions. The support staff is friendly and approachable. This is a great clinic for your pet!

Long story short for 1 star review is because of unauthorized medicine cost of $23.15 Amount paid but not happy. Sucks because my dogs loves everyone here. Ok not to turn this into a piss match but the miss communication between your staff is what simply caused this. I would say most businesses owners that make a small miss communication mistakes with some logic would not lose a customer over 20 bucks on a 9 year customer.

We have had positive experiences here. I have brought two of my dogs here for surgeries and they take really good care of them which I really appreciate. We drive 50 minutes to specifically come here, it's worth it.