VCA Companion Animal Medical Center

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

We had a TERRIBLE experience here! We felt as though we had taken our dog into a crappy mechanic and were just being scammed for unnecessary procedures. The only difference between a crappy mechanic and this place though is that they have the ability to play with your emotions and tug on your heart strings. We had to bring our dog in for emergency care late one night. Everyone was really nice to us (the only reason they got 2 starts over 1) but after examining our dog the vet seemed to jump to the worst case scenario conclusions first and then would back track from there. Our normal vet is very conservative and doesnt push to do anything that isnt really necessary. After some initial blood work and other tests that kept coming back negative, the vet seemed convinced that the dog had been poisoned and kept asking us if our neighbors liked our dogs. We were shocked because we knew that none of our neighbors would ever do something like that. After we convinced her that was not a likely scenario she finally moved on. After even more tests and still more negative results they decided to keep our dog overnight and monitor the situation. They then came to the conclusion that she had eaten something and it was obstructing her intestines and needed to be removed surgically immediately…although we were told that even if they did go into surgery she didn’t want to guarantee that she would find anything. I’m sorry, you took x-rays and are trying to tell us that she ate something but now you’re saying you want to go in and cut up our dog to do exploratory surgery and don’t know if you’ll find anything? The vet then told us that her condition had not improved and that our dog was in pain and was suffering and if we waited to do the surgery she could die. After we explained that we couldn’t afford the potential $5000 surgery we were told that there was basically nothing that they could do (this was also after they offered us a medical line of credit). We asked to come back in and see our little dog and honestly with full intentions of having to put her out of this supposed pain and suffering she was in. When we originally took her in she couldn’t stand or hold herself up and when we walked in this morning they brought her in and she was walking around the room and wagging her tail! WHAT?! She looked uncomfortable, sure, but not in this pain and suffering and on her supposed death bed that they were telling us about. We immediately requested that she be discharged and we were taking her home. Again they tried to scare us into letting them keep her and do this surgery and that if we took her home she would die. Well we took her home and she immediately ate and drank water and went outside to the bathroom. She looked uncomfortable for about 24 hours but I’m sure she was also tired and scared from being in the hospital. It is now two days later and she is back to running around like normal and passing normal bowel movements. We will NEVER take our animals here again for anything. It is a big corporate business scam and they just want to overcharge people and scare them into unnecessary treatments. If you have an emergency go to the hospital in Castleton on Bash Rd. instead.

AB

Abbey Hall

This place is terrible! I took my dog here after thinking he had ingested something he wasnt supposed to by digging in the trash (tmi: tampon.. I know so gross!) so the vet tells me he needs a $250 x-ray to tell if he has ingested anything. Of course I say yes, absolutely! Because this is after the vet gives me a whole speech about how dangerous a tampon can be for my dog. So we get the X-ray back and the vet says; "okay, we can see a gas pattern that could be something." So I ask; "like a tampon?" And she explains that an x-ray would not be able to detect any organic material, including a tampon. Im immediately floored! Im worried my dog may die and she just lied to me and talked me into paying almost $300 on an x-ray that wouldnt prove anything. She then proceeds to tell me my options. 1. (And the one she recommends) exploratory surgery that will cost at least $4,000 and could go up to $10,000. 2. Hospitalize him and put him on an IV for $2,000 a day. 3. Take him home and watch him and basically says if he continues to get worse the outcome is most likely death. She asks me to decide this without my dog in the room. I of course refuse and ask her to bring my dog back in so I can see how he is acting to see if his lethargy has improved any since we have been there. Turns out it had and he hadnt puked in 7 hours. All evidence that would tell even a person without a veterinarian degree, that he was most likely on the mend. I decided to take my dog home as to not be scammed by these unethical people any more. I was in tears thinking my dog was either going to die on the operating table or die from taking him home. They make me sign a release form stating that I understand the risk involved in taking my dog home. Talk about a gloom and doom style of care! We have not been back. And to top it all off when I switched vets and needed my records transferred they would only release vaccination records to my new vet. I had to call and request the whole health record myself. They asked where I wanted them transferred I told them the name of the new vet. I also explained that my new vet had just called and told me that they had just called requesting. The receptionist said "well it wasnt me they talked to. So you dont have their fax or email?" I replied no, they just called someone in your office surely has it because you are sending vaccinations. She then scoffed and said "okay, Ill ask around to see who they spoke to." HEAVEN FORBID YOU PUT SOME EFFORT INTO YOUR JOB! Bye, Felicia!

MI

Michelle Melone

I wish giving zero stars was possible. My dog has been going to this office for about a year now. She has epilepsy. The last time I went to refill her medicine they told me that she had to have a series of blood tests to receive any more medication, to test her levels and reactions to the medicine, which I understood and agreed to. I was told that this would cost around $150. Being a single mother, I have to budget these extra expenses out very carefully so when I took her back to receive the blood tests I had planned on around that amount. They had my dog back there for about two minutes then brought her back up and rung me out now telling me that i owed around $300. I was extremely frustrated because I was lied to about pricing and ripped off but I had my one year old with me and I was trying to control my dog at the same time so I bit the bullet and paid what they were now telling me was the price. After I paid they now informed me that in order to get any more medicine AGAIN I had to come back and meet with the doctor in about three weeks, another $100 out of my pocket. Now I am angry because it is an unnecessary appointment just to be able to get her more medicine that she needs to survive when she just had blood tests and her levels were completely normal. Again, I am a single mom and I cannot afford to be ripped off from these people refusing to give my dog her medicine if I dont give them even more money for something completely unnecessary. Basically this establishment completely rips you off and has no care in the world about doing it. Do not go here unless you want to pay so much more than you would somewhere else, and the service is terrible so its definitely not worth it.