McCrystle L David, DVM

Just a quick but important update.
My kitty, Ellie, weighs only 7 lbs. I was given a bottle of 250 mg pills of metronidazole, each cut into 4 pieces (approximately 62.5 each, though they were no where near evenly cut).
After I was able to trick her into eating the first piece of a pill, Ellie was really out of it (could barely walk, breathing rapidly and shallowly, couldn’t follow my finger with her eyes). I told Dr. Basurto (during the visit I describe below), and she said that it just didn’t make sense to her since antibiotics don’t do that. I also told the vet I first met with at the new place what happened with the antibiotic, and she also was confused, saying it didn’t make sense to her either. I told her that it didn’t make sense, but it happened. Then she stopped and said kind of softly, «maybe they gave her 250 mg instead of 25.»
Yup, they did. According to the dosing directions, a low dose would be 35 mg (5 mg x 7 lbs). We discussed giving her a low dose. Instead, she got about double that (I gave her one of the larger pieces because they were all cut into different sizes.).
This, alone, ensures I would never trust Ellie’s health to Healdsburg Veterinary Hospital again.

Honest and kind care for your pet is so hard to find these days…
It’s so disheartening when this kind of care is the exception instead of the rule.
Dr. McCrystal and his team (Dr. Bové too) took such incredible care of my dying cat — subjecting her only to tests that were necessary to improve her quality of life.
He also armed me with a bag of sub-​q fluids and shots I could give her myself to spare her the stress of a car ride and keep her comfortable at home.
When the devastating time came to let her rest in peace, he came to my home so she could go to sleep in a familiar, comfortable environment.
I hope he never retires — and that if/​when he does – that he trains his replacements to offer the same quality of honesty, compassion and clinical savvy-​ness.
The veterinary community needs more people like Dr. McCrystal and Dr. Bové.
I’m so grateful for all he and his team did for my kitty. He’s earned my trust and therefore the treatment for all my pets’ and future pets’ needs.
Thank you so much.

We love Dr. Basurto, Debbie and the entire staff! We have finally found a place that looks at the entire lifestyle and picture of our animal family. It’s been two rough years of dealing with another local vet clinic that acts more like a ‘chop shop,’ than a customized approach to animal care. Thank you everyone there for making Louis and Nica feel like family!

Dr. McCrystle is an old fashioned, no nonsense man who knows his business extremely well, cares about his patients, and doesn’t try to sell you procedures that aren’t necessary. I am a total fool for my animals and would do anything for them, so knowing I can trust him to give them the best care and not take advantage of me makes me value him very, very highly. I have been coming here for 20 years or so now, and I know of what I speak.

YAY! I love this place, and wouldn’t take my pets to any other vet (I did once and got very overcharged). Dr. McCrystle is the best vet there is… he definitely knows what he’s doing, and he cares the most about animals and doesn’t partake in nonsense like charging for things that were unnecessary. He’ll come in whenever he has to. The assistants are so friendly, and as it was pretty recently renovated, it’s a very beautiful vet office. They really care about the customers and their pets, and the same people — as well as new ones — have been coming here for years.