VCA Animal HospitalsReviews of vcahospitals.com

I brought my rescue cat to VCA because I wanted real healing, real thought, and real care—not blind obedience to an industry that too often presents itself as authority while failing to deeply question its own limitations. What I experienced reminded me of a larger truth: positions of power, expertise, and authority do not automatically equal wisdom. In fact, one of the greatest dangers in any system—medical, veterinary, or otherwise—is when people are placed in roles that profoundly impact vulnerable lives, yet continue repeating the same methods without adequately questioning whether those methods are truly working at the highest level. If a system continuously produces frustration, stress, financial burden, and incomplete solutions, then critical thought demands evolution. Real intelligence is not memorizing protocols and repeating them—it is observing outcomes, recognizing limitations, and innovating better answers. My cat needed thoughtful care, gentleness, and discernment. Instead, I encountered what felt like another version of a larger systemic issue: rigid structures that often seem more practiced in managing symptoms, selling procedures, and following established pathways than in reimagining what true healing could look like. One example that feels impossible to ignore is something many pet owners know all too well: giving medicine to animals is often unnecessarily difficult, stressful, and traumatic. How is it that in an industry built around animal wellbeing, medication delivery can still feel so impractical that outside markets have had to create workarounds like pill pockets simply to make treatment possible? Why are owners so often sent home to physically struggle with frightened animals instead of seeing more innovation from within veterinary medicine itself? To me, this raises valid questions about whether convenience, practicality, and lived reality are being prioritized enough. When industries hold lives in their hands—whether human or animal—they should be held to the highest standards of self-reflection and innovation. If current methods create recurring distress, then asking harder questions is not rebellion; it is responsibility. This experience left me feeling that too much of modern care can still operate from hierarchy over humility—where titles can sometimes overshadow the deeper obligation to continuously improve. Caring for vulnerable beings should require more than authority; it should require relentless curiosity, accountability, and the courage to admit when better solutions are needed. I love my cat enough to question anything that feels misaligned. And I believe more people should feel empowered to do the same. Trust should not be automatic simply because someone wears a title. Trust should be earned through transparency, adaptability, and outcomes that reflect true care. For me, this visit was not just about one wound. It was about seeing how much room there still is for systems to grow and how necessary it is for people to keep asking whether what we are told is “care” is truly the best we can do.

They will pump your pet full of unnecessary vaccines and then blame it on the breed instead of their negligence in order to make as much money off you as possible. There is a fine line between pet care and greed. This VCA has lost sight of the difference. .

Savevyoiurcloved ones dont kill them here they will kill your pet here bulking up profits taking time precious time you need im an emergency to get it corrected it didn't happen to me I lost my service animal here terrible place and staff only about the $$$ I came to have to use the vca emergency hospital few weeks ago multiple times as my current vet was too booked last couple of months out to see my cat whom has had this same emergency going on now 2 months 5 visits in a 5 weeks time to the pet er there in Greenfield 3 or 4 drs later i got the same dr twice out of 5 visits all delayed my cats diagnose until they could figure it out which never did theybcalled back to see whatvi needed todo i broughtvher time aftervtime duectonbeing told todo such a thing prolonging her suffering my cat had an 3 inch sack on her end of her tail by her butt happened over night from an unknown reason i brought this up multiple times to the drs here and staff seemed to brushed away like told it was a fatty pocket that dr wigger had checked it for bad stuff apparently not all she does half ass job I dont think she really did any pets any help tbere but my willow cat is still not going potty for days on end laying sideways crying while relieving herself this is not OK how's it ok to send a cat home to do this for 2 months when ive paid you to fix her plenty 10 k and we suffer im coming for yall everyone of yall legallyi can sue im gonna sue for these drs and hospital for delay of care delay in diagnosis wrong diagnose all kinds of shit to get what is due for my cat and i disabled vet at this too feel really took by this clinic. And the killed my service cat with terrible illegal care as a Dr in Illinois figured it much too late she needed to be put down was something they at vca emergency hospital should have caught I was billed for the job to care for my service animal I have legal papers you'll may wanna call and try to good luck settle im going to send my intent To sue letter in the near future I retained a lawyer over this im just busy cleaning up the mess this has been drs are very dumb here they dont know what difference is in each animal breed idk but shit was curable cancer until it wasn't due to the back and forth with this hospital oh im coming to get whats right my service cat I need is dead now and not even a frigging apology call or anything eben ifvtheyvwere supposed to they never called back on last labs they were supposed to has been made or an attempt to refund the 10000 ive spent there the last two months and pain and suffering too for little one on top of this disabled vet needing her to.do her task shebis no longer youll see vca dr wingers terrible the guy dr and young lady dr all dont know what's what I have all your names and what but my lawyers should be able to also so yeah don't call aee what happens thanks for being the first place in Wisconsin to bring your pet

The vet techs were great! However, VCA is owned by Mars candy who own a large chunk of the pet product industry (including food and medicine) and it shows. The vets were mostly fine but routinely push services and products. I left after my cat was diagnosed as having teeth absorption which would require a 6k dental procedure and I got a second opinion and was told she only had mild tartar build up! This was recently reaffirmed by our newest vet after moving to a new city. Glad I left when I did.

I have been a client of VCA San Diego for over a decade, back when it was at the Hotel Circle location. That VCA was an outstanding hospital with a staff that genuinely cared. I trusted it with the most critical moments of my animals' lives. That hospital no longer exists. VCA moved to a shiny new building on Mission Valley Road. The facility looks great. The care inside has gone in the opposite direction. The staff that made this place trustworthy is largely gone, and what replaced them failed my dog when it mattered most. My dog Herb was admitted on March 11 as a direct referral: liver disease, a platelet count of 7,000 (normal is 140,000+), and a swollen hind leg. He walked in on all four legs, was eating, and was alert. Two days later, he was discharged for at-home euthanasia with new internal bleeding, a painful abdomen, and a body that was shutting down. He entered your hospital with a fighting chance. He left dying. The ER and Internal Medicine departments (Dr. Daniel Cahn) operated like they were in different buildings. The ER doctor had Herb's full records Wednesday night and discussed them with me. By Thursday morning, Dr. Cahn told us repeatedly he didn't have access to those same records. In the same facility. Critical hours were wasted while my dog declined. Every question we asked was met with "I don't know." Not "I don't know yet, here's what I'm going to do." Just "I don't know." Multiple doctors brought up tick-borne disease as a possibility despite a comprehensive negative panel completed a month earlier that was in his chart. It felt like no one had actually read his file, and recycling an already-eliminated diagnosis was a substitute for having a plan. Herb's primary care vet at Kensington Veterinary Hospital had successfully treated the same liver condition three months earlier. They knew what worked. Dr. Cahn never called them. The vet who saved Herb's life was a phone call away, and the internist managing his case couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone. We prepared six individual meals for Herb's stay. His specialized diet was documented at intake. The Internal Medicine team fed him processed kibble and canned tuna in front of us, then noted he had loose stool. We did their job for them, packed and delivered his meals, and they couldn't be bothered to open the container. If they got that wrong while we were watching, what happened when we weren't there? On our last visit before discharge, Herb was brought to us with dried, caked vomit on the gauze wrapping his IV catheter and dried feces on the catheter line. He smelled of vomit. This is a dog with critically low platelets and an IV going directly into his bloodstream. When I raised this with the tech, he said: "We are really slammed today" and "We are only able to deal with what is in front of us." The vomit was in front of him. On his patient. When we picked Herb up that evening for his final trip home, they said they'd bathed him. He still smelled of vomit. That was the last thing VCA did for our dog. New building, same logo, none of the substance. The care is apathetic and transactional. This is not only my account. VCA's regional medical director reviewed what happened and acknowledged failures in writing in four areas: records transfer, dietary compliance, catheter sanitation, and communication. VCA offered a partial refund. I declined it. This has never been about a refund. It is about accountability. The California Veterinary Medical Board has three cases under investigation. San Diego County Environmental Health has confirmed a separate open investigation. When VCA Hotel Circle earned its reputation years ago, pet owners in San Diego had fewer options for critical and emergency care. That is no longer the case. There are more and better options today, and one that stands out is VEG Emergency. Please, for the safety of your pet, do not bring them to VCA for internal medicine or emergency care. Your pet deserves a team that fights for them. VCA is not that team anymore. Full account at vcaexperience.com

I had a 4 month long severe flea infestation and brought my cat to be seen. I specifically asked if contact kill Advantage 2 might be better until the infestation was over, than bite to kill Revolution Plus, but the vets are trained to sell not listen. Suffice to say, the infestation kept going and my cat suffered needlessly until I thought for myself. Never again with a large corporate vet. They cost me thousands and my cat misery.

3/29/26 Terrible deadly experience. We brought our 4 year old Shitsu in with a bee sting. We got there approximately 10-11pm. They said it was a snake bite. Their main concern was getting a credit card to charge us $6-8000. They started an IV but said they could not draw blood because the veins were too small. We left the puppy there and called 2 hours later but they still had not drawn blood. When we got home another one of the dops got stung but we gave this one Benadryl and its fine now. All the vet had to do was LISTEN. We told the vet several times about bees in the yard but were told it was a snake bite. I guess they can't charge $6-8000 for a bee sting. The puppy died because they did nothing. Had the vet listened to us instead of worrying about the money our Shitsu would still be alive. We're interviewing lawyers because the vet needs to be held accountable. if you know any.

I took my Grandmother's cat in to a VCA vet in Redding,California and I should have never trusted them a second time. The first time they put me in a small room attached to their office and I sat there for over 6 hours and they were actually closed and were vacuuming and getting ready to go home and since the room I was in had a door to the outside I just left. The vet never came in at all. The nurse came in for maybe a minute max and just asked why I brought her in and told me the vet would be right in. After two hours I told them my friend whom I am a caretaker of and who has type 1 diabetes and was with me at the vet, needed to get back home for their insulin dose and was told the vet would be in right away, they never showed up. A week later the owner of the facility called my Grandmother apologizing and told her next time she brought her cat in that she'd be the first to be seen. That was a lie. I took her cat in again and was put in the same room after waiting to be called in from my vehicle after an hour and a half( this is after they told me to be there at a certain time and I was even 10 minutes early). The vet did come in this time and she checked the cat out for maybe 1-2 minutes then she told me I had a few options. She said if I wanted they could Clean her up and give her a dose of antibiotic which would cost $150 or we found could have a full blood panel done which would cost $500. I told her the $150 is all we could afford so she said ok someone will be in to get her in a little bit and left the room. About 45 minutes later a young girl comes in and takes the cat and says she'll bring her right back. Another 45-55 minutes until she brought her back. They gave me a receipt and a half Tube of ear drops and sent us on our way. I made the mistake of not checking the receipt before I left. They charged my credit card for $491 which was not what the vet had told me it would cost and I made very clear I could not afford more than $150. Then my Grandmother who is 89 years old saw the receipt and thought it was a bill she needed to pay so she wrote a check and sent it to them. So they got paid over $1,000 for doing nothing! They didn't even clean up the cat as they said they were going to do. Now I have to deal with arguing with them until they refund that money and if they don't I'll be taking this to my lawyer. I'm tired of dishonest people and they totally took advantage in this situation. I'm not at all happy and I'm warning everyone I know that this vet is one they don't want to deal with. There has to be a vet out there somewhere that is competent and honest who won't take as much money as they can from you but this vet is definitely not it.