VCA Animal Hospitals
Reviews and Complaints

I used to work at VCA Alpine Animal Hospital in Anchorage, AK. The staff who work there are rude, dishonest, abusive toward animals, incompetent with their employees in all aspects. Most of all they do not take the correct care of animals as they should. I've witnessed multiple insistence's of physical abuse, uncleanliness, and unfit housing conditions such as feces/meds not being administered/careless acts of abuse. Animals are left unattended for 12+ hours at a time, cleanliness isn't a priority here, feces and urine is everywhere, they lie to clients saying their animals are in great hands when they aren't. Clients pay for one thing and receive another. All animals are left in feces and urine often, beds are not sterilized often, neither are kennels, many animal viruses have gone around this place due to the uncleanliness. Animals are not administered meds when needed so more issues arise for them, so then the clients end up paying more to the hospital then what they should. The environment is very unprofessional and they have no compassion and they should not be working with animals.

On Sep 23, 2017 my furry baby, Rocky was brought in to VCA Animal Care Center of Chicago 1248 W. Washington Chicago, IL [protected]. Rocky was dropped off there to receive a comprehensive physical exam and grooming. Rocky has been a patient there since Jan/2016. I was contacted later, stating that Rocky was ready for pick up. When I arrived, Rocky was ready. I spoke with the the tech to pay my bill and purchased a flea and tick tablet (in which, the tech forgot to give the tablet to me, I had to return back to the facility to pick it up, no apology from the tech). While looking over my invoice, I noticed Rocky was given another rabies vaccine-annual booster. I told the tech, I think he had his rabies vaccine already. The tech stated, that I was probably mistaken, however I wasn't mistaken. Rocky was vaccinated for rabies on Mar 03, 2017. I showed the tech proof and expressed my concern. The tech went to the back to inform Dr. Joanna Krol of the mistake. The tech came back and apologized for Dr. Krol and stated that, Rocky shouldn't have any complications. I felt it was very unprofessional, that Dr. Krol didn't apologize to me personally. I had questions and wanted to be assured, that Rocky would've been perfectly fine. The overall expierence there was horrible and I was very concerned about Rocky's well being. Did Dr. Krol check Rocky's records before administering vaccines to him? Could this happen again? Do the staff at Animal Care Center care about the patients? Please keep up with your pets record.

I took my pet for an consultation due to vomiting and diarrhea. My pet was left there the whole day and they charged me $413.76. They charged me for services that were not provided and sent me home with a kit for collect urine and fecal test at home. I had no idea why they were giving me those test and they did not explain to me what I needed to do or why was I charged for a service THAT WAS NOT PROVIDED. They never disclosed that if I did not bring the sample they could not reimburse the money after 30 days. In fact the paperwork only says please bring back the sample within 30 days. I believe it is ILEGAL to collect up front fees for services not rendered and since the sample was never brought back they are refusing to reimburse the money at this point is not about the money is the principle of charging for fees up front and taking advantage of the customer. As it is illegal to charge insurance fraudulently it should be illegal for this practices to charge up front for services not rendered and refuse to reimburse the money to the customer.

Based on my own recent experience and those of friends, I believe this facility has some great vets on staff but also some very unskilled ones. Considering the fact that they are an emergency treatment facility with costs to match, I don't understand why their weekend staffing doesn't consist of the same quality vets as the other days. I went there on a Saturday expecting to pay more for services, but was not prepared for what I consider to be treatment that ended up doing more harm than good for my pet.
Our cat was showing classic symptoms of what we later discovered to be a Nasopharyngeal Polyp, which is somewhat common in cats (Google it, and you'll see what I mean). In our ignorance (we didn't Google it beforehand), we suspected she might have an ear infection and stated as such when we checked into CARE. They whisked her away from us for examination (I have no idea why they insist on doing this since our regular vet never does). They told us that she would have to be sedated before examination and we gave our okay. They then came back with a list of treatments they wanted to perform on her, with the diagnosis being an ear infection (though they didn't sound very confident in discussing this with us). The list of procedures and meds came to over $500, which seemed outrageous to us for a sedation shot, antibiotics, ear cleaning and some cleaning solution, ointment and a few pain med doses for us to take home. There were other 'tests' they wanted to do for her droopy eye (classic symptom of the polyp), but we held off on that for the time-being. They told us to flush her ear and apply ointment for a week and to contact our vet if she wasn't improving. We took her home and did as instructed, even though the treatments were very painful to our cat. She seemed to be a little better (probably the pain meds), but then started to decline, starting with her appetite and drinking. We got her in to see our regular vet about 10 days after her CARE visit, and our vet accurately diagnosed her polyp after a few minutes examination, without any sedation (she looked in her mouth and saw the polyp bulging in the back of her mouth, then looked in the ear and saw it there as well. I was stunned that the CARE vet (Dr. Wayne) wasn't able to see the same thing, especially when she had my cat sedated (my cat is very tolerant of exams, even without sedation). My vet scheduled surgery for my kitty for two days later. By the time her surgery date arrived, my cat was in very bad shape...could hardly breathe due to the polyp obstruction and had stopped eating or drinking as well. She underwent the surgery and it appeared to be successful in removing the polyp, but my cat about a week after surgery. I truly believe that her misdiagnosis at CARE contributed to this. If we had waited a few days to see her regular vet instead of taking her to CARE, she could have had the surgery when she wasn't in such bad shape from not eating/drinking due to the polyp obstruction. As others have commented here, CARE charges abhorrent fees for treatment...we spent about the same amount for her surgery plus overnight care at our regular vets, compared to the (inaccurate) and minimal treatment we paid for at CARE. I loved my cat and was willing to spend that to make her well...but spending it on a misdiagnosis and to prolong treatment for her REAL ailment is unacceptable. I contacted CARE administration to request a refund on everything not related to her true ailment but they were only willing to give me about half of what I considered to be fair. Money is only part of the issue...if you end up having to take your pet there, you might want to be sure that the vets on staff is one of the more-respected ones.

I believe that I did not receive ethical treatment:
1) My primary doctor failed to complete age appropriate testing over a 2 year period and he kept referring me to VCA Shoreline in Shleton Ct..

2) I discovered that his son was doctor/ supervisor at one of the local VCA hospital, this has the appearance of a conflict of interest.

3) My records were supposed to be present when I arrived and reviewed they were not.

4) Diagnosis were not ruled out prior to my animal being placed on medication.

5) My dog was placed on antibiotics in error as he test results were negative for infection.

6) Medications were removed when my dog declined but not entirely. My dog was left on a human insulin and I was not informed about the only FDA approved insulin that exists for animals.

7) My dog couldn't walk on his own once they completed his exam and I dosed him with their medication recommendations. I was told that I could "Sling him around".

8) VCA didn't want to treat him and either did my primary vet. I was forced to seek alternative care while my dog was in crisis.

09) I had to get the Dept. of Health involved and I still haven't gotten my animals diagnostic records.

10) I had 10 pages of other animals records mixed in with my own animals records.

11) The internist neglected to inform me of the radiologists results and placed her opinion on the only discharge sheet I received.

These people were unethical and immoral. They hurt me and my animal. This is the 2nd bad experience I have had at a VCA hospital. My cat died at another one of their hospitals. In my experience I was not educated by primary physician. Educate yourself!

https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Principles-of-Veterinary-Medical-Ethics-of-the-AVMA.aspx

Shame on you vca! If you want your dog to live... Do not take them here

They are the dr. Kevorkian's of the pet industry

Don't know how these guys are still in business

This company is the mafia of animal hospital business

Our dog is simply a gift from god!... Her temperament, demeanor, lively attitude and zest for life is known by thousands. She is a fixture at our house. We're an incredibly busy family and usually have lots of guests over. After years... She is basically a celebrity. People taken photo shoots with her, she's been in music videos, and children simply love her.

After not eating or defecating for several days we decided to take her to vca. Initially, it seemed as if they were on top of things... Then comes the bill for nearly $3, 000! (See attached) they said she had pyometra and went down the bevy charges and fees to justify the cost. Well because my girl was inconsolable with anguish and duress (As the vca staff sat idly by concerned with they're money)... I had no choice but to pay the money. After begging for a payment arrangement they let us off the hook with paying $1, 800 at that time.

The next day we went to visit her and for $3, 000 you would think she had ample living arrangements... Nope! She was in a cage! Aside from that, she seemed in the same condition. She stayed for another day and her condition was unchanged so vca then sent us to another clinic named (Hmmm what a coincidence.. ) for a $400 (Yes!) another $400 ultrasound. After the ultrasound would be performed... We were to return her to vca. As she is dying vca wouldn't allow us to take her to the vca vsv clinic until we paid the last of the $700.00 balance... She went in as an emergency... Don't know why but this place made us wait 45 minutes before we even addressed. Turns out, its apparent that is company is simply in cahoots with vca she gets the ultrasound done... Then told us since the doctor isn't there... They couldn't give us any answers so if we paid $2, 300 she could stay the night... Yes $2, 300.

Naturally we were forced to her back to vca... Only to be told we need to pay over another $600.00 for her to stay

I'm confused... If we paid for 3 days of medical care and overnight stay (If you look at my paperwork, she was admitted at 8pm but she is being kicked out at 8am)... Why is she being discharged 12 hours before the agreed upon time?
Gizelle, the girl on the phone, tried to rationalize the unexplainable! She said "its because of (Blah blah blah) " never addressing the reason. She merely repeated the charges on our bill. After an hour, (The whole time her condition is deteriorating) she did her best but it simple began to insult my intelligence... And although i'm the farthest from the smartest person in the room... I can only imagine how many victims there are out there that have been victimized by these crooks!

So we're forced to pick her up at 8am to find her somewhere else to go or to take her home to die. We don't have adequate resources at home to care for her. So we are picking her up and taking her to a recommended hospital for better care.

Of course, vca is in business to profit... That isn't my contention... Its the posture of "pay this or take your pet home to die". Be prepared my friends... They will request you sign a form acknowledging this so their ### are covered.

I empathize with their past victims... And pray for their future ones. God willing a federal indictment and investigation will be forthcoming... And when it does please call me first for a deposition!

It's so frustrating... That it is laughable

The worst day of Tinys life...
I should have listened to my gut... 3 xs I tried to "do the right thing". The question is, the right by who? Tiny was suffering, yes, but he was not ready to die. He tried to tell me, and in the end he was heartbroken. I failed him.Everyone is so judgemental. There way is the right way. I don't blame them, I blame myself for all of it.
Tiny was supposedly in heart failure, but there was never a ultrasound to back that up, so I had my doubts. I spent 1000s of dollars but could not get a correct diagnosis. For the past two months I have been nursing my Tiny. I had taken him to 3 different vets, each put him on different meds. My last vet said take him to VCA. He needed oxygen, I guess. 338.00 a nite to breath oxygen! I'm not rich. Meanwhile everyone sweating me that he's sufferering.i took him in 3xs in the next two days, each time telling myself and feeling it's just not right. So he came home, everyone thinks I was a lunatic, but who cares, I had my Tiny for one more night.
Today, he was in bad shape and had a lump on his back, huge, out of nowhere. He was finished with all 5 meds, nothing left for pain. I decided it was time, his time. I pull up to VCA on Amistad in Fountain Valley, handed him over. Now the procedure is to go into a private room, assistant brings in Tiny, you spend "as long as you need". They will then wait for the doc to come in give him 2 injections, etc.
Here's how it really was... ^
I was a wreck, Tiny too. Handed him to them, preceded to wait an hour for them to bring him in. Meanwhile the assistant came in at least 5 times, asking me for money, telling me I was never allowed to b ring any of my animals cuz of a 125.00 bill I owed 3 yrs ago. Next she comes in telling me they would not cremate him I had to take him home right after procedure in a box, I said "fine". Next thing I know she comes in telling me how Tiny was having panick attack, similar to the one he had earlier there. I told her bring him to me I can calm him down. Instead the so called Doc shot him up with a sedative and brought him in to me. Tinys head was completely turned around, he couldn't even open his eyes. The vet told me "he's just really stoned". His lips and tongue were blue. He had no idea who or what was going on, nevermind us saying good bye to each other. Needless to say I was upset, very. I cradled him in my arms, old ragged towel they wrapped him in, crying, and walked out. Right thru the lobby, not realizing a whole lobby of people are seeing this. Try to make it to my car, two doctors come after me telling me I cannot leave him with him. What? What more can you do to him? how much more would you want to kill him. The doctor pulled out a syringe instead and said
" let's do this right here" on the sidewalk. Needless to say I was shocked. She then proceeded tell me how cruel I was. Tiny died with that woman holding him tongue all blue and I never even said goodbye. The last thing he remembers, some stranger giving him a needle sedation. When I got home hysterical my boyfriend says to be to me Tiny was not ready to die". I am beyond upset furious hurt furious resentful revengeful...

I had a healthy senior pet that was having age related changes. My primary vet failed to complete a geriatric blood panel along with other age specific tets over a 2 year period. He also did not educate me. They did not have an extensive wTo make a long story short: they rushed, mishandled my dog and stressed us both out, put him on unnecessary medication, he couldn't walk on his own after they were through. They cut me off from the doctors, my primary doctors office tried to defame my name, neither of them wanted to assume responsibility for his care. I was forced to find a new vet while he was in a crisis. I couldn't get a digital copy of his diagnostic records. There were 10 pages of other animals records mixed into mine. The internest wrote that he should have an emergency medication on hand in his case notes but never dispensed and I wouldn't have known if I didn't demand his record. The radiologists opinion was not shared with me and in fact another physicians opinion was on the discharge sheet. My dog later went blind and could no longer walk on his own. The doctor said I would have to sling him around with a harness as if it was no big deal. Had I not kept looking for help he would have continued to decline. He walks for short periods on his own now. The doctor initially said he wasn't your typical 10 year old dog and gave a great prognosis. She was very surprised to see his decline and quickly took him off some of the medication. Antibiotics that were given prematurely because when his urine sample came back there was NO infection and also the blood pressure medication which she insisted he needed. They didn't have my records when I arrived after I had called 3 times and my primary doctor acted as if they were doing me a favor by faxing them over while waited. I should have never let them ### him. Please check out the avma veternary ethics to learn about The Principle's... They describe how doctors should behave. I have a petition on Chang.org please sign to uphold the Principles and vote the Fairness to Pet Owners bill into effect. Thank you and don't make the same mistakes I have made educate yourself don't wait for your doctor.

On July 13, 2016. My six year old female cat named HollyBelle, we could plainly see was not well at all. We rushed her to the closest place unfortunately VCA Roberts and waited for over an hour. She began growing cold. Finally there they examined her and pretty much determined and treated her for an infection before blood results were given. The cost that night after being given a blood test and antibiotic shot $320.00. Then two DAYS later as she is growing worse, we get the results and they made it all sound grave. Called a meeting on Friday July 15. So back down we go and see a different vet. He calls it nothing bad and proceeds to tell us that a complete hospital stay and biopsy, and tooth work...was necessary and that would be over $800.00 when we told him we did not have the money he said to try to get donations and help and gave a page of websites. Piles of meds pain meds, and antibiotics costing another $200.00 ...she was 5 lbs and her cheek was puffing out more. We set up a GoFundMe and got $135.00 we tried the page of "help" and all the websites were disabled, closed, no more. Finally on Monday July 18, five days later. Hollybelles cheek RUPTURED and she began bleeding. We called another vet. took her there. They sent for all her paperwork from VCA, and astounded told us that she had no sign of an infection. She was dying and possibly had a tumor!

So we had to have her euthanized then and there. $175.00 more. All total $500.00 to a vca that basically did NOTHING, and now we have no cat. Whose to blame? why are we out the money? I will go Federal with this. I will go to the media as well.

Took my dog in to have a seriously raw, infected paw checked. The line staff is nice, but, obviously, it is ***seriously under vet staffed***. More time on signing estimates, getting chart notes from 7 years ago than seeing my dog. It is obvious their bottom line is more important than customer service. Next time I will try another vet who is open late; there ARE others.

I didn’t like how the receptionist from the company www.vcahospitals.com spoke with me and she refused to provide help to my dog. I arrived to them and started to tell the receptionist that my dog had an infection and I needed to get help as fast as possible. But she started to yell at me and told that I needed to call. Also she tried to call to the security, and I have no idea why. I was calm and asked only for help. Stay as far as you can from them.

People, be aware and don’t use the services from the company www.vcahospitals.com. I used their services, when the doctor found out that my dog had the cancer. He made useless operation, which cost me a large sum of money. After that he told me that everything was ok, but it wasn’t. My dog dies after couple of weeks and I have no idea why. The doctor is awful and their services are useless, so be aware and better avoid them. I wonder if there are other people, who had the same experience. Let’s share views about this website.

I am the last person to write a bad review or an official complaint, and it has taken some time for me to do so in regards to the last two experiences I had with VCA in Alexandria, VA. But after hearing from others about similar experiences they had with the above facility I felt that it was time.
1. I took my dog into emergency in 2012 for vomiting blood. They checked her out and discharged her. An hour later I was back with her projectile vomiting blood. I can fully understand a wrong diagnosis. We are all human. But what I can NOT accept is the fact that the vet did an ultrasound that was $580.00 and it was not preformed or read by a radiologist. Yet, they still charged me for it! I had her transferred to VCA Southpaws and had an incredible experience. They did have to redo the ultrasound due to the mistakes made on the previous one.
2. My mother brought her dog in last year for breathing issues. The vet diagnosed him with congestive heart failure WITHOUT running any bloodwork and relied solely on the films. They kept him for two days and we transferred him to the HOPE Center where he was properly diagnoses with Bordatella! By that point it was far too late to save him. And the worse part was that he had received his Bord shot the week before at VCA Alexandria. It turns out that he received an immunization with a live virus. Actually, the worse part was that when we called VCA Alexandria to ask them for help with what we should do (a second opinion from our dog's primary vet) they said, "Sorry but he isn't in our care anymore so he is no longer our patient." We had no words...in utter disbelief! I will never set foot in that hospital again and instead make the 20 minute drive to Southpaws or 40 minute drive to Pender.

Do NOT go to this place. They are definitely for-profit, greedy folks who do not care about the outcome of the treatment they provide. I wish we would never become their customers in a first place.

Our eight year old Scottish terrier started to limp and we took him to this hospital. Dr. Averill suggested a simple X-ray test of his leg. During X-ray procedure our dog was hurt so much by Dr.Averill that he could not step on the foot anymore. Then we were told that he needs an operation because now the ligament was torn completely. We agreed again. In a conversation about complications of operation we were never told about dangers of anesthesia. Dr.Kenney performed an operation. Our dog died 4 weeks after operation due to the massive liver failure caused by anesthesia. We didn't get any support from the hospital: they right away referred us to the emergency care. Doctors told us that our dog liver was probably not normal from the start. However, he never was diagnosed in this hospital with liver disease and all his blood tests were showing normal levels of liver enzymes before operation.

We are absolutely devastated: we lost the best friend.

We will never come back to this place and will make sure no one else does.

Brought our pet [censored]tzu of 14 years here because she was slowing down and eating less, but still active and healthy. The money hungry vets charged us 80% up front and prescribed an appetite stimulant to her that gave her two seizures the next day and killed her. They never verbally or in written gave us any disclosure of the possible side effects and acted like it wasn't their fault. I demanded to see the manager the next day he was extremely rude and would not give an explanation. They have many cases pending for malpractice from the state and have no compassion for your pet. I lost my beloved companion Rhani because of their negligence and malpractice. These people should not be in business, somebody please shut them down before they kill any more pets.

My dog has a severe itch that was getting worse and worse. She was loosing hair and full of open wounds. Dr Aronson at VCA animal hospital misdiagnosed her for six months. All they wanted to do was pump her full of needless medication that was making her condition worse. They said it was a staff infection so gave a very expensive shot for that. Then they gave me an anti itch medication that was 60.00 for 15 pills and she stayed on it for 5 months. Then he said it was probably an allergy and wanted us to have expensive allergy testing and change her dog food. We finally went to another vet and they tested her for mange. The doctor said in his 40 years as a vet he has not seen so many mites on the microscope slide. She was infested with scarcoptic mange. By now it was in my house and causing all of us to itch as well. We all had to be treated. All it took was a 30.00 test for mange! I had said two months earlier that I thought it looked like mange. I was just dismissed my the doctor. They are just in it for the money not to care for the animals. I will never go to a franchise vet again.

I took my dog in for his rabie shot and walked out paying $100. They said he also needed a bordetella vaccine also. $40 for both and $60 for the tech to feel his heart rate. My dog was in there no more than 3 minutes. That calculates to be $1200/hr. Is this criminal or what? These VCA's need to be investigated. People who cherish their pets like their own children but are forced to pay these ridiculously high prices for absolutely nothing is criminal. Shut these places down.