VCA Animal HospitalsReviews of vcahospitals.com

I have had at least six encounters with VCA hospitals (various locations around San Diego County), as well as countless experiences with Veterinary Specialty Hospital and others. VCA are the only ones who have left me feeling seriously concerned and upset. In every instance of dealing with them, I have seen a lack of empathy, no real interest in doing what is best for the pet, lack of thoroughness and attention to detail, and a tendency to upsell (pushing unneeded services to squeeze a few more hundred or thousand dollars out of you even though they know it will do nothing for the pet's outcome). At this point, I will never trust a pet of mine to them again. If their ER is the only one in town that has availability, I will drive to the next city and find something else. For anyone who needs great emergency pet care in SD Co, Veterinary Specialty Hospital (VSH) is stellar! I have used them for pet emergencies over the course of 25 years, and they have never been less than 100% professional, as well as genuinely compassionate. Their pricing is also very fair. Avoid VCA, though, if you really love your pets and care about their longevity.

This really is a two sided review. We have been with thd Wexford Animal Group in Wexford, PA for over 35 years. The vets over the years have been exceptional across the board. Their knowledge and bedside manners could not be better. They have been a joy to bring our many dogs there. However since VCA has taken over, the prices have become so outrageous that we have no choice but to look for more affordable options. We will be sad to see them go, but not the bills.

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.

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 here before with my elderly cats. They have all since been relieved of their suffering. Today's, I had a somewhat emergent question and the website says to call for questins,appointments or concerns. I was on hold for 37 minutes and never once talked to anyone... I now will have to either just bring her in as an emergency and get charged an obscene amount of money, or I will have to miss work tomorrow and take her I to her vet to be seen. Either way, I will do for her but I just needed them to answer he phone for some guidance. So much for customer service, I guess. My dog was recently diagnosed with Cushings and now there is a new concern. She is my daughter as I do not have kids, so I am very disappointed when all you had to do was answer the phone...

Receptionist, vet techs and vet were attentive and gave an honest assessment of our elder dog's condition BUT, it became very clear that VCA is all about squeezing as much money from their clients as possible. Everything centered around "the treatment plan and cost". We spent over $4500 IN A 27 HOUR HOSPITALIZATION with "no guarantees" that our dog's condition won't return in the future. It seems that every thing they do revolves around ensuring they take every penny they can from vulnerable clients who are already dealing with their own fear and uncertainty about their beloved pet. AVOID. Obscene overcharging for services

I am taking care of a service dog that uses a VCA office for routine care. My wife suspected the dog had a urinary infection and has some before in her fourteen years making it a good guess. I was well treated by the employees and received timely service. The vet suggested we get a urine sample and run the common test on it and also a culture. Sounds good so far but the assistant had entered those few items in to his pricing matrix and said my bill today would be $491. At times I just don't feel like being a door mat and flatly told the vet that the pricing was just plain criminal. She was calm and acted like mine was a common response. I decided to take the dog to my normal vet and got a quote from them from the parking lot. All the same but no urine culture that was not needed at this point. $141 is all for the total visit. So that plus the $99 I wasted on the VCA office call and it's still half as much. They may be a fine operation but are not price competitive.

We have taken 6 dogs to what used to be Standish Veterinary Hospital in Standish, ME over the past 15+ years. Around 2020, this local small town practice with vets and staff who knew your pets was bought out by VCA. Overnight, it seemed, not only did prices jump massively, but 9 times out of 10 you simply cannot get a sick appt for your pet unless it’s a month or more out. Initially, they blamed this on the pandemic but here we are in 2025. Last year, I had a dog with a sudden and severe respiratory ailment. Well, we can’t see your dog for two weeks. So I went to the local petmedic office who was able to assess the same day. Got bounced around for a while to more expensive specialty vets because VCA couldn’t get her in. The issue finally resolved after three months of coughing and gagging. No idea what it was because we never got a definitive dx. VCA was in denial that it was the canine respiratory virus saying that “none” of their other dog patients were getting it. This week, another of our dogs had an abscessed molar which, once again, they couldn’t see her for until SIX WEEKS out, with an actual extraction appt not available for TEN WEEKS. WTH? Then her abscess burst and she had a steady drip of blood coming out of her face. I again tried to call VCA to ask what the heck I should do but got their voicemail because they were “in a seminar” I learned when I still hadn’t gotten a call back 30 minutes later. Thankfully, again, our local Petmedic (who had been able to get her in for an assessment the day before and prescribed abx) was able to instruct me over the phone in what to do, who to call, and then sent me a list of about 20 veterinary offices in our county who ARE accepting new pts. I immediately called the closest one who said they had appts available this very same week!!! So I moved all four of my current dogs that same day to that practice and told VCA Standish to transfer all records and cancel all appts. Since 2020, they have also lost a number of long-time vets and staff who knew our pets. Now it seems only a few long-timers are left with a revolving door of newbies who don’t seem to give a hoot. It’s too bad, because the original owner and one of the remaining techs are wonderful humans but VCA itself sucks. I have gotten the sense they want to focus on preventive care so don’t leave any possible openings for sick visits. Not sure what that’s all about but I don’t buy the pandemic excuse any more.