In all my 20+ years in Mountain View, Alta Veterinarian Hospital has always been a problem caring for animals. Surprised it has not been shut down before now. There is a better Veterinarian across the street on El Camino. They even care for birds.

I went there once and never again. Adobe Animal Hospital on El Camino is full of professionals who actually care about your animals. Highly recommended.

Check out Arroyo Animal Clinic near El Camino in Sunnyvale. They care and don' t charge an arm and a leg - or even a tail. As to the former vet still working behind the scenes at Alta, any customer can sue for unlawful business practices and shut down the business.

Re: Dan Waylonis, Jackson Park

Adobe Animal Hospital is very good, but they are also very expensive.

There are other competent Vets in the area that do not charge an arm and a leg.
/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\

We have taken our pets to Alta View Animal Hospital, more specifically to Dr Paul Ghumman for the last 22+ years. Dr. Ghumman is the one and only animal doctor we have allowed to treat our pets. Our dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters, geckos and gerbils have all been taken care of by Dr Ghumman himself. His treatment of animals is truly impeccable. When our fur babies need any type of treatment we personally request that only Dr Ghumman be the one to diagnose and treat them.
Dr Ghumman has never overcharged us for anything at our visits whether it was an emergency drop-in or a planned appointment. He has never once advised us to do any kind of diagnostic testing that wasn’t absolutely needed to treat or diagnose the given problem at hand. Instead he has always taken the time and worked with us to find the best possible treatment.
Just a few examples;
When our beagle Roxy needed to be spayed, Dr Ghumman knew that our family wanted her home that same night. Dr Ghumman said that if Roxy looks stable enough at 7 PM, knowing that we would be watching over her the entire night, that he would let us take her home. Shortly after 7 PM the phone call came that Roxy could be nursed by us at home. Dr. Ghumman also gave me his cell number to call if there were any problems during the night. The following morning Dr Ghumman called first thing to check on her status. Roxy was doing great and happier than ever because she was home with her family and other pets.
When our Toy Yorkshire Gizmo had one of his rear knees go out on him, Dr Ghumman surgically secured the ligament and Gizmo was good as new. At that time I asked Dr Ghumman if he could surgically secure the other rear knee (on his good leg which had no issues) just so we didn’t have to go through this twice. He said “no, it wasn’t necessary”.
When one of our kitties Mookie2 was having kidney issues, Dr Ghumman worked with us to give Mookie2 the best quality of life that he could have. With the help of fluids and diet Dr Ghumman helped give Mookie2 a much better life and we were able to keep Mookie2 for an additional two years. At one point Dr Ghumman actually made a house call to treat Mookie2 in the comfort of our own home so as to not cause the kitty extra stress and anxiety. That was over and above in my opinion once again.
When our beagle O.D. was at the end of his life, I phone Dr Ghumman up during the afternoon and asked if he would come to our home to put O.D. to sleep that night. As the day went on I changed my mind and I wanted to wait. I phoned Dr Ghumman to let him know and he said for me to call him in the morning to let him know how O.D. was. Well, Dr Ghumman didn’t get the chance for me to call the next morning because O.D. had passed peacefully with me at 5:30 AM. My daughter and I were waiting at Dr Ghumman ‘s office when he arrived at work.
Dr Ghumman has gone over and above to help keep our pets (babies) healthy and well. We have gone through a number of pet deaths over the years and not once was it because of something Dr. Ghumman did or did not do. In each and every case Dr. Ghumman did everything he could to help find a solution for the pet.
When it came time to say goodbye to our pets, Dr. Ghumman always has taken care of things with dignity, kindness, an understanding of our loss, love and compassion for the pet and for us. He is competent and thorough in his research and diagnosing of problems. Not once have our pets been treated for something that wasn’t absolutely necessary. When it has been time to make the tougher decisions about any of our loving pets, Dr Ghumman has been honest and open with us about the seriousness of the situation. He will discuss any options that may still be available but it has always been his honesty with us that has established this trust that we hold for him. His solid honesty has proven how trustworthy he truly is.

I’ve been taking pets to Alta view for 30 plus years. Never really had an issue with their vet care. Yes, it was prohibitively expensive at times, and they refused to clean my pet’s teeth while they were under anesthesia for a different problem (which I thought was lame). They went from charging one office visit for multiple pets taken in at one time, and then changed that policy without notifying us. (even charging for an office visit when they had to vaccinate for boarding).

The drug mentioned in this article is commonly prescribed to dogs for incontinance. The implication that Ghummam was selling for the purpose of meth manufacturing is dubious. I don’t see Dr Paul as some criminal, drug dealing mastermind or Breaking Bad type situation. I’d like to see the entire list of pills and under what circumstances they were prescribed before making too harsh a judgement on that. Was he prescribing opioids to humans? At some point they stopped prescribing Tramadol for pain for pets, because they stated humans were injuring their pets to get ahold of it (which I don’t find to be too much of a stretch, considering how many dug addicts there are in the world).

dr Stearns is my favorite vet at Alta View. I hate to find a new vet and really, really hate the idea of having to find a new place to board my pets when I go out of town.

What is the name of each licensed vet at Alta View? The man who lost his license IS NOT LICENSED. If he is still working as a vet, he should be arrested and locked up either in jail or in a barebones kennel.

Dr Ghumman treated our cat for 8 years from when we brought her with us from the U.K to her passing. She finally passed away at the age of about 22 after successfully treated her for kidney failure, then overactive thyroid until she finally succumbed to heart failure. We feel he managed her conditions well and helped keep her healthy and active until the last 2 months of her life when the heart failure took her. She was still a reasonable weight and had a lovely shiny coat when she passed. He identified her heart condition within minutes of seeing her and was able to advise us accordingly. We now take our new rescue puppy there and would not hesitate to recommend him or practice.

Just so every one knows... You can't cure kidney failure, you can symptomatically treat and give the cat a better quality of life.
I don't know this vet but these sound like lame accusations.
I hate when people say that our community is money hungry.
This article is also poorly written

@Megan

The improper treatment of a cat with renal failure was related to previous charges against Ghumman that led to his probation in 2014. While I didn't go into detail in this particular story, I encourage you to read page 11 of the .pdf embedded in the story to learn more about what happened. The fact that kidney disease is a chronic, incurable condition is beside the point.

> Just so every one knows... You can't cure kidney failure, you can symptomatically treat

Megan - please read the article
"he failed to properly treat a cat with kidney failure"

Really sad and disappointed to hear. My Great Dane passed away under their care January 2019, when questioned about the circumstance the story was not concise. The grieving of our dog made us feel like we were the ones to blame for allowing the overnight stay.

Dr. Ghumman and Alta View have taken excellent care of our family's orange tabby cat. I have been to several vet clinics over the years, and Alta View is our favorite. The staff are all helpful and caring. Dr. Ghumman and Dr. Suji have always explained things clearly. Dr. Ghumman even gave us his cell number. My husband and I appreciated his personal attention and make the drive from several towns over. You can tell he loves animals. The facilities and equipment at Alta View seem to be top-notch. Since Covid-19 hit, the clinic has remained open and has built a safe and efficient process to drop-off/pick-up the patient animals from the parking lot. I would not hesitate in having Dr. Ghumman and the other vets at Alta View care for any of our family's pets.

Most pet parents are unaware that veterinary clinics never need to pass annual inspections by a governing agency. Any vet can hang a sign, get a business license, and operate for decades without any inspections. They could be practicing the worst, most outdated medicine in the world and sadly, our animals cannot tell us about it. Tragically, many pet parents learn about this after a horrible experience at a clinic.

As founder of Tripawds, the world's largest community for amputee pets and their people, this situation and this vet's poor practices are yet another reason why we constantly educate our members about the importance of choosing a veterinary clinic accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). Less than 12% of North American vet clinics choose to become AAHA credentialed, which requires them to adhere to a strict set of standards of care. Those who do become credentialed commit to giving a higher level of care and practicing modern medicine that our animals deserve.

If we love our pets as family, then I urge every pet parent out there to choose an AAHA clinic first. If you still want to stay with your non-AAHA vet, then please urge them to become credentialed for the sake of our animals' health and well-being.

My husband and I have been bringing our cat numerous times. Every trip will cost crazy amount of money, our cat having scans, and other tests and he WOULD NEVER GET BETTER from his skin allergy. Money was not the issue, but we saw our cat continue suffering with his same skin allergy, and no help in the horizon. This last trip, we met the new lady veterinarian doctor. She gave our cat and us a detailed medical plan to follow, and removed him of a medication she didn't like pets to be on for that long (3 + or so years our cat had been on). The new medication has seemed to be helping some(it's still too early since he started it). I told my husband that I liked the new approach the new vet doctor took for our cat. We didn't know the reason for the new vet to care to our cat (the removal of his previous vet). I am concerned Dr. Ghumman is still in the back office handling our babies. But I hope our furry babies have a better medical, accurate help under the new doctor staff. Thank you for keeping us informed of news pertinent to our babies and their parents.