Ian Witucki

Review of VCA Veterinary Specialty Cente...

I've had two poor experiences here.

I've had two poor experiences here.

1) My daughter had a gerbil that was not doing well so we brought it in. They said they'd observe it overnight, hydrate it, and take whatever action was needed (if any). We went to the back room to check in on the gerbil before leaving, and I was surprised there was a half-dozen young people working back there, laughing and goofing off quite a bit. The next morning we got a call that our gerbil had passed on. The bill was over $350. Nothing was done, no services, just watched it pass away. We could've done that at home and saved $300. I guess we have to pay all those teens to goof around though.

2) My older dog just had almost $2,000 worth of tests and exploratory work because she was coughing badly. Our regular vet recommended this place. All the work was done, but then the follow up was horrible. A short phone call from the doc with no instructions or conclusions, and a paper report a few days later that said nothing about "next steps" or "recommended action". We just went to our regular vet (months later) for our annual checkup and she asked how the steroid treatment went. What? How can you get $2,000 worth of work done and it not be made perfectly clear to the owner what's supposed to be done next? My dog's been in pain for months now because nobody told us the next steps to take and the paper report was nothing but medical jargon, with nothing that said "diagnosis", "next steps", "medications suggested" or anything at all. Doing "work" without communicating the results to the owner clearly is completely useless.

Pretty disappointed overall. Service is okay, follow-up and bedside manner could use a lot of work, seem very happy to take your money regardless. If my dog(s) need more help that we can't get at our regular vet, I'll be asking for a different referral.