VCA Animal Hospitals
reviews and complaints

I'm sobbing as I'm writing this. I have never been more disgusted with people as I am with the people working at VCA Berwyn. I had to put my dog to sleep two days ago and, needless to say, it was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do. I took my Chica to her regular vet to do so (NOT VCA) and the doctor and tech were sympathetic, considerate, and kind...they cried with my mom and I.
Fast forward to today, which might very well be the worst day of my life. To give a brief background, I feed stray cats in my area and one kitty actually let me bring her inside my home...this is now her forever home. Turns out she was pregnant and delivered her babies a week ago, 5 beautiful babies. One baby took a turn for the worse last night so at 2:30am, I woke my mom up to bring the baby to the emergency room at VCA Berwyn. I knew the baby wasn't going to live, but brought him to the hospital to get confirmation and to do anything in my power to try and save him.
I asked to go in the examining room with the kitten-The answer was no. I asked to speak with the doctor before anything was done-The answer was no. The kitten was whisked away from me and I didn't see him for another hour and a half. I consented to fluids being administered through the vein...the doctor could not find a vein and put a needle in the kitten's BONE. The doctor, after quite some time, came out, told us she had done that, left us for another half an hour despite our requests to be with the kitty (knowing the rapid decline in kittens, I wanted to be with the kitten if it should die), then came back out with a sheet with the figure $1000 on it, the amount it would cost to do testing. She then added that the chances of the kitten surviving at all would basically not happen and she would recommend us taking the kitten home. I was livid. Why put the kitten through the torture of putting a needle in its bone? Why not let us be with the kitten? Why was everything taking so long (we were the only ones in the clinic)? THERE WAS NOT ONE OUNCE OF SYMPATHY IN THE DOCTOR. Everything she said, she said with a generic tone.
She left us again and my mom and I waited and waited and waited. Finally, a receptionist came out and I asked her for my kitten. She said, "Oh, well you know the kitten is not doing well." Umm...yes, I know that very well, do you not see my bloodshot eyes? I asked for the kitten again, saying I wanted to bring it back home to comfort it while it passed on and to try one last attempt to feed it. She said, "Well, we're going as fast as we can. You also need to pay before you can get the kitten. Oh, and by the way, the kitten isn't swallowing. If it's not swallowing, it's not eating. If it's not eating, it's going to die." Again, all said with a generic tone and a condescending air. It took everything in my power not to resort to violence.
Admittedly, I lost it and asked that she just hurry up, I have a dying kitten to comfort, a kitten I love very much. She took my money, slammed, yes SLAMMED my change on the desk, then strode off to the back. FINALLY, the kitten was brought to me...THE STORY DOES NOT END THERE. She handed me the box with the kitten inside and a piece of paper to sign. The paper was a release form, stating I was NOT going to do what the doctor had recommended. I refused to sign it. She got the doctor. The doctor said you have to sign this as you are NOT doing what I recommended. I said did I just imagine that brief, cold conversation we had where you suggested I bring him home? The doctor and the receptionist BOTH jumped on me, saying that they are trying to save the kitten and that by me bringing him home, (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP) I am going to ALLOW IT TO SUFFER. The tone this time was pure condescension and [censor]iness. I stormed out.
I brought my poor little baby home, tried to feed it, gave up as he wasn't swallowing, and held it and talked to it about all the catnip and playmates he would have in heaven. I told him that his mother really loves him and that me and my mom love him too, but he's just not meant for this world. I told him that I was so sorry. I held him for a few minutes after he took his last breath and sobbed onto his little face. I just buried him with my doggie a couple hours ago, with a little cross to mark the spot. I have never been so heartbroken in my life.
The doctor's name is STEPHANIE ORZYP. Please, don't bring your animals here. It's all about money at VCA Berwyn. I don't usually write reviews, but my kitty deserves some action. Take care

We recently boarded Satori at your facility and I am extremely disappointed at the lack of care and arrogance of your staff, in particular your office manager.

Your fee gouging is not a good business, delivering up surprises and pushing services that were not required.

The office manager was belligerent and argumentative when all I wanted was to pay your inflated bill, get our dog and leave.

Only after returning home did I discover the incompetence of your staff to attend to the basic needs of Satori during her brief stay. When she got out of the car she immediately urinated as if she had not done so in quite some time. Over the next two hours she had to keep going back outside to urinate and defecated a total of 5x.

Her usual pattern is to defecate 1x - 2x daily so it would seem she had not done so in several days.

Given this issue and the attitude of your office manager, I cannot see ever using your services again and certainly not for boarding.

Took my dog to vca for follow up after a fall, we mentioned that she was losing hair. Vet gave her meds to treat a yeast infection. After numerous follow ups and lots of money spent for a month, we took the dog to the hospital to get more help, since vca wasn't answering any of our questions, nor was the infection getting any better. After a month of disappointing treatments and meds that gave my dog pancreatittis, we found out that the so called yeast infection - was actually lymphoma. A far cry of difference for diagnosis. I'm not happy with vca - they are clearly out for $$$ not to help your loved pet. I'm very disappointed - this is the 2nd vca that we had issues with from 2 different states. We will NOT subject our pets to vca for future treatments.

The experience was horrible. I waited 30 minutes in line to pick him up. They are always short staffed and the customer pays for it. They charged me a few dollars short of $800 for roughly 7 hours of care. I'm not a vet, but I knew it was highly unlikely that they pumped 3 units of IV fluid into my dog in 7 short hours. I questioned this and the Apache staff reluctantly agreed that they only used 1 and offered to refund those expenses. There was medication I paid for that was never given to him. I had to point that out for them for to agree to a refund. After 30 minutes of debate, I was finally refunded $92. I returned home only to find more discrepancies, so I returned the next morning. The office Manager MARY got downright nasty with me, telling me I disrespected her vet and the rest of the staff by not wanting to speak with the vet when I picked up my dog. That woman should never be employed in a position that requires customer contact. A person in that position should never raise their voice at a client or display hostility. This was unprovoked.

I had to call the corporate complaint department for further assistance. A short time later, I got a call from a contrite MARY apologizing and offering another refund of $100. Long story short, this place is a rip off. I identified nearly $200 in charges that I shouldn't have paid for in the first place. Those are only the ones I identified. Were there more overcharges? They charge too much to begin with. The total cost of services rendered should have been less than $400 (in another unnamed vet's opinion).

Lastly, the attitude displayed by the vet I met with was pretty much "pay the price or put him to sleep". That should tell any pet owner what they need to know about VCA Apache. In my opinion, they don't care about the animal, but only how much they can gouge the owner. My dog is doing well. That's only because I got decent care at another hospital thereafter.

Upon adopting a 3 mo. old kitten from the local shelter, I took him for his first visit to the VCA vet close to my home. All was well even after his first shot, until they used what seemed like an airgun for his second shot. It was really loud and even made me jump. It also made his tiny leg bleed a lot. They then gave me an estimate for his next visit. They wanted to see him in 1 month, they wanted to do a stool sample and a blood test, give him another set of shots and 3 mo's of Revolution.
The thing is...the pound already tested and treated him for worms, etc. They already did a blood test, but the vet said it wasn't done at the pound. They quickly flipped through the paperwork and said "it wasn't done and it needs to be." So long story short, the estimate for the next visit was $220. We didn't go, as he's an inside only cat so I wasn't worried.
6 mo's later, he shakes his head from time to time, so I take him back to the vet. He must have had flash backs because my sweet little cat turned into the tasmanian devil and wouldn't let anyone but me touch him. I did hold him so they could give him his booster shots (not with that damn gun again) and they were able to determine he didn't have ear mites, but that was all they could do. They gave me an estimate for anesthetizing him to look in his ears, along with blood tests (even though the vet said the results wouldn't be back before she did the procedure), stool sample(!), and no matter what they do to your animal, they manage to tack on a $6 hazardous waste fee. The total estimate was between $550 and $641!
To heck with that. I took him to my usual vet (which I should have done to begin with) and the charge to anesthetize him (yes, he hates all vets now) was $140! FIVE HUNDRED dollars less than the VCA vet. AND my usual vet was at least able to get an ear swab from the cat, before the cat was done being nice.
VCA vets must work on commission as both times I went to that office they tacked on ridiculous fees for unnecessary procedures and tried to get me to sign the estimate as quickly as possible. Absolutely ridiculous. And to top it off, I have a cat that will need to be anesthetized for even basic procedures because some idiot thought they could use a loud gun on him to give him a shot. Who the **#$(@#&** does that to a cat?! I never should have let the vet do that.
DO NOT go to a VCA vet!

I am not one who usually complains, but this was, quite possibly, the most horrific experience I've ever had with a vet.
My Beagle was 16 years old and one day his poor body just started failing. He completely lost any interest in food, lost his vision, lost a ton of weight and could barely stand up.
I knew what I was in for as I was driving to the hospital, ..knowing full well that we were going to have to put him down.
It was an emergency visit, so I knew it was going to be a bit pricey, ...it started at 150.00 for the visit, ..then they tried to talk me into a weekend long array of testing that was going to run over 5000.00. I asked if after the tests (not treatments, mind you), ..he would regain his vision, ..leg strength and have any sort of quality of life, ..the doctor said "probably not".
I told her that the only decision I could make was to put him down, ..it was the kindest thing I could do for him. She replied, "Well, sometimes people can't afford these tests, they have to do that."
I took all of my control to keep from punching her. I told her to get the papers I needed to sign, and get the shot, ...because we needed to do this. When all was done, I went to the counter to pay my bill, ...over 800.00, on top of the emergency visit.

I left there telling the people in the waiting area to run as fast as they could away from that place.

All of my dogs since then, go to Angell MSPCA hospital, ..all car is pricey, but they take such good care of their patients.

vca in loveland quated me a price then went back on there word and

ended up over 1800 dollers my dogs went there for parvo and they kept

wanting us to bring my 2 dogs home and after they refused to treat them

they put one dog down and sold the other one if i was u i would not ever

use vca animal hospital they just want ur pets to suffer or they found people to buy them underneath u. basicaly u are losing ur pet with out giving up so ya im a pissed and un satisfied customer of these worthless

wana be vets the vca of loveland so called vetrinarians do not have there

licenses to be able to check out pets they jus geuss at wat they think is

wrong when they actaully dont know go to a better vet who knows wat there

doing

A pre-op biopsy was never performed on the two growths on my dog's body.

Post-op pathology reported the growths were completely benign. This fact could have been determined without surgery. VCA has caused my dog unnecessary pain and suffering, has caused me emotional anxiety, and cost me a surgical and medical bill past $1, 500. Additionally, when sutures were removed 2 weeks post-op, I was informed my dog was "healing well". My dog subsequently chewed open a section of the wound, requiring further veterinary attention, at an additional cost of $328. Also, my dog will always have a permanent disability in one leg as a result of the totally unnecessary surgery. It is not known at this time how the disability and surgery aftereffects will affect my dog in the future. When queried as to why a pre-op biopsy was not performed when in the office to have the surgery repair performed, the veterinarian on duty replied, "sometimes we don't".

Since the surgery was unnecessary, which could have been determined by a pre-op biopsy lab test, I feel VCA was deliberately trying to make a commission on this case by going ahead without a pre-op biopsy. My dog would not have required a second visit for surgical repair if a pre-op biopsy had been performed, and I said that to the veterinarian on duty.

There was no response from the veterinarian; the lack of comment "told " me all I need to know.

I feel VCA owes me restitution in this case, adjustment of the fees is definitely in order. There is totally substantiated evidence from the pathology lab that the growths were benign. VCA cannot dispute the facts.

I can't even find the words to tell you how traumatizing the experience with the VCA animal hospital was. I brought in an injured wild animal that was struggling to live for 6+ hours, and I wanted to put an end to its misery. They turned me away and said that they could only do so if I was to pay them upwards of a hundred dollars. I was unable to do so which led to the poor thing dying a slow death, gasping for air because of the lack of compassion they showed at VCA. I was appalled at the lack of compassion shown towards the animal, and realized this place is only in it to make a large financial incentive.

At the VCA Hospital at Sierra Vista, AZ, we received notification for needing to update our dogs for Bordetella (Kennel Cough) in the mail. When I showed up the vet insisted that I had to get all shots for my dogs, even though all of the other shots still had several months to go before needing to get new vacinations. I asked them why was it necessary for them to get "all" shots and I was told that "this is the way we do this in the hospital". For example, our dogs have a current rabies shot (was vacinated less than one year ago) that is good for 3 years. A three year shot is "legal" in AZ. They insisted on giving the shots. As a result I paid a fortune for unnecessary shots, and I have another source that I can used that charges much less for shots than VCA. It REALLY appears that they are trying to make money (profit) at the expense of animal care. I can't trust their judgement now, because I don't have confidence now if different tests, lab work are really necessary, or is a quick way for them to make a buck.

I took a very, very badly injured kitten to VCA Palmetto Animal Hosp. in Conway, South Carolina and over 30 min. later they finally decided they could see him. They wanted to stablize him.(he had a very bad injury in the shoulder and could not use his leg at all) They waited 4 DAYS before they xrayed and took him to surgery. He died because of the severity of his injuries and lack of concern by VCA. AND they charged me almost $900.00. NEVER AGAIN. I love animals and believe they have a right to decent care and I don't mind paying but they let him down, me down and all animal lovers everywhere.

I took my cat here. I knew she was very sick, we adopted her after her original owner died. We had her for only 1.5 years and nursed her back to relative health. We took her here because she was having a hard time breathing. The vet said the diagnostic tests, just 2 x-rays would cost $165., then if they couldn't find anything from that they would have to put a camera down her throat... I couldn't afford all this. He gave her a shot of cortisone saying this would help her but just for a short time. It did and it gave us time to think what to do. They said euthanasia is $123 when i asked. But the next day, her breathing became so labored again so I brought her back the next night to euthanize her. I told them when I came in what I needed, that I needed her to be put down. The girl brought me in the room and called a vet. in. I told him what was going on with her, and what the vet said yesterday and told him I needed to put her down, I was crying. He said he would get his stethescope. He listened to her, we talked for a bit, I thought he was just being nice. I told the girl I wanted to be with her while she was put down, and they had me fill out a paper on what I wanted to do with the remains. I asked if any of these options cost more and she said no. Then she took my cat, saying she was going to start the IV. They brought me to the front to pay and asked for $230! I was shocked. They said the extra was for the vet to examine her. The vet came out and we argued about the unanticipated cost $100 for him to listen to her lungs but they took that cost off. Then they were going to charge me $75 for them to dispose of her remains when earlier they told me it was no extra cost, so I told them I would take her home and bury her. Then, the girl who took my cat to start the IV comes out with Samantha wrapped in a towel, again I was shocked and said, "I told you I wanted to be with her" and took my cat and ran out the door.
This place is horrible. Not only a rip off but a bunch of liars. They are predators who try to prey on you when you are vulnerable. Please, spread the word, never take your animal to this place. A horrible experience, it was horrible that Samantha died, scared, without me with her. They took that away from me.