They will always have a 5 in my book.  My mom and I have been taking our animals to UAH since 2004.  We have had some great experiences and some not so good but it all equals to 5 because they have saved my animals lives.\n\nThe front desk staff is...a little rude at times.  I've walked in and stood at the counter many times for a few minutes before anyone even looked up at me or said we'll be with you in a minute.  The check out staff is usually more friendly.  But, the experiences I've had make the front desk staff nil.\n\nMy mom had a cat that was run over by a car.  When she was taken to the emergency vet, they told us it didn't look so good for her.  It was very sad as she was my mom's \"baby\".  They told us to give UAH a try and see if they could help her with surgery.  They had to amputate her leg but she is alive and I'm pretty sure she doesn't know it's gone.\n\nWe had a dog with valley fever, and had been suffering from the disease for a few years.  We were constantly at the vet to get blood work done so that we could reoder medicine and they always helped us out and made sure we could get in when we needed.\n\nMy dog was in to be boarded and while she was there, I was going to get her teeth cleaned.  Because she was an older dog, they told me that I needed to have blood work done to make sure all of her organs were working correctly in order to put her under.  I'm on vacation and receive a call from the surgeon, Dr. Koch, to let me know that there seemed to be something wrong with her liver.  I went into panic mode and started crying instantly.  He was very kind and told me that this happens and we needed to try a vitamin before looking at liver disease.  Home from the vet and straight to the vitamin store to pick up what we needed, 2 weeks later and she's fine.  He was right.  He called me several times to follow up on her.  I can appreciate anyone who cares, genuinely.  He does.\n\nMost recently,  I took my dog in because I found a very large lump on her thyroid area.  I was panicked and a worried mom, but Dr. Cortez helped calm me down.  She was very calm and reasonable.  She explained that there might be an explanation, other than cancer, and we would probably be fine.  She was right.  She was very caring and even followed up with me via phone.\n\nI moved 40 minutes away but will continue to make the drive to Tempe to take my animals here.