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February 2024 by Kenson K.
It took a while to secure a new appointment here for my elderly shiba inu. She had been suffering from UTI's and skin itching for a long time. I used to get steroid shots for her every few months from our vet to calm everything, but they were pricey and he recommended that it would cause long term harm to our dog if we do it constantly, especially at her age. We turned to DFA in Oakland and the doctor there was most helpful. She was put on a Rx diet which helped. We also got recommendations to try other foods out there on the market as the Rx food was rather pricey. The advise worked and our pooch is no longer suffering with infections and rashes.
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February 2024 by Nerice Coleen A.
I've been a client for about 4 years now and thought it was time to write them a review. For context, I have a white pitbull that was living off of Apoquel and STILL broke out in hives when exposed to certain proteins and plants. Because of this, we anticipated that getting pet insurance would be beneficial to us, due to his likelihood of getting skin cancer, allergies etc. After talking with my regular vet, they suggested allergy testing, and they were very transparent and said that it is going to be expensive but given that my dog was always in for skin issues, it would be worth it. During my research phase of finding a specialized doctor, one thing was consistent, testing and bloodwork was going to be expensive. After talking with my partner, we decided to invest and get our dog the testing he needed. My experience with D4A isn't always perfect BUT they have always been patient and quick to appease if there were any issues. Their front desk person is a little unorganized but nothing is left unattended. They have provided my boy, Peter, relief and he's been hive free ever since he's started going to them. We know now that he's allergic to 3 different proteins, and almost every native plant in California and we're outdoors pretty often. Now that he's on his serum, he can enjoy the outdoors and not be so itchy. They were always transparent about pricing and Dr. Yamazaki has always been attentive and patient whenever we are in for appointments. I can only speak to my experience with them and I have had a pleasant experience with working with them. As long as you treat the staff with kindness and respect, they will reciprocate that same behavior.
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January 2024 by Jenny S.
Just called to make an appointment. They can not give me a date for appointment but demand my credit card to put me on the wait list. No other vet does it. Sounds like they are crooks.
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November 2023 by Natalja Turok
I was very impressed with knowledgeable and friendly staff. After trying many other Vet clinks who would charge money for visits/tests/surgery, but would not resolve my kitty's health issues, I found D4A, where Dr. Yamazaki performed a successful surgery and my kitty is finally free of a mass in her ear. Very grateful! Thanks you all!
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September 2023 by Dan J. F.
Love this place. Very hands on, explained everything. The best part is they print out very detailed instructions for continuing care and explanations of all medications, shampoo, their uses, etc. very thorough.
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August 2023 by Robin C.
I was adopted by a cat who had severe allergies. I couldn't figure out what was causing them & scrambled to find a vet who could help. I was shocked at how few dermatology vets there are in the Bay Area. And fewer still who were taking new patients. Finally I found D4A & they had an appointment... in 3 months. So for 3 months my cat had to wear a cone while we waited for our appointment. They got her infection under control & did a good job of getting her stabilized -- I will give them that. But once she was stable & it was time to explore allergy testing, I was appalled at their approach. We came in for a visit where one of the vets stood before a white board drawing out & explaining what my options are. It was unnecessarily detailed & I was clearly being "sold." The gist was -- a blood test might be ok but to be sure, she'll also need a skin prick test. It was a mix of fear-motivation & trying to up-sell me. When I asked how much either of these tests were, the doctor feigned to not know. RUKM? It was shocking to be lied to right to my face & even moreso that she thought I'd believe her. The vet then left & an assistant came in to explain the pricing details to me. I nearly about fell on the ground it was SO expensive--$1800, to be exact. I knew I was being scammed so I left. I felt insanely angry that we had waited THREE MONTHS to get into this vet, my cat having to wear a cone the whole time, & they turned out to be used car salesmen. I asked around & finally found a friend who had been in this situation. She said, "I have the best vet ever, who's incredibly caring & affordable, but you'll have to drive to Turlock." I gave this new vet a call & she said, "I'm so sorry you'll have to wait, I don't have an appointment for 2 weeks. And it's going to be quite expensive, about $450." Only $450 -- Hallelujah!!! I've been seeing this vet ever since, it's easy to schedule, reasonably priced, & my cat is thriving. D4A is a classic case of Bay Area inflation, preying on people's need, & unacceptably jacking the price. My advice to you, if you don't want to wait or get scammed, is drive east!
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July 2023 by Courtney Flaherty
I had an excellent experience here. The team was thorough, knowledgeable and caring. They were wonderful with my dog, who gets nervous at vet visits. They did everything to make sure he had a positive experience, while giving him the best medical treatment.
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June 2023 by Gina Murphy
I was referred here to follow up on my pups ear infection. I was quoted a price for the Exam, cytology, plus meds. After the exam, my bill was over $900…When I questioned the tech as to why I was charged hundreds extra to look inside her ear & not quoted the price on that she said she would have to speak with upper management about it. She then came back & told me it was the “wrong one” which lowered my bill to $717.The vet was kind but my pup has Many serious issues that she sees Internal Medicine for in SF & I’ve never been charged so outrageously for such a simple problem. So sadly I can’t afford.to return here for another follow up.Side note: I thought they were so kind to offer to trim her nails & they charged $39 for it. Silly me.
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June 2023 by Gaye L.
Dr. Yamazaki, Ashley and the rest of the team at D4A Oakland are the most caring and kind vet team I've ever experienced. By the time we brought our dog to them, we had been given the run-around by several other practices, but D4A Oakland was fantastic. Our poor dog, Daisy, had advanced cancer so once Dr. Yamazaki had gently done the biopsy, there wasn't much else she could do. She did, however, recommend an end-of-life vet that comes to your home, which helped make a horrible experience much better. Then after all of this, we received a card signed by Dr. Yamazaki and the whole team with truly kind messages. I thoroughly recommend this practice, and will always be grateful to them.
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March 2023 by Danielle N.
In response to the reply to my review: To write back and imply that I am lying and posting a review from my experience to be malicious, instead of approaching the situation with empathy and truly trying to resolve the issues listed? I would expect nothing less from a company that employs such negligent doctors. I have been going to your Oakland location for over 6 months now, and am there quite frequently for her cytopoint injections. My husband brought Mia in for her first appointment, so her profile may be under his name hence your inability to locate me specifically. Nonetheless, I wrote this review detailing MY experience at your location. I don't know how many other clients have had similar experiences as me or how many other client relationships Dr. Yamazaki has ruined, but if you have a fear that people will go to those lengths to express their displeasure with this clinic, your company really should take a step back and asses the common denominator.
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March 2023 by Renee S.
I took my cat to Dermatology for Animals in Oakland for many years and was thrilled with the 5-star experience I had. However, when the previous doctor left, the care went downhill (plus they sold out to the Thrivepet Corporation). They couldn't find anyone to fill the position in Oakland for a long time (closing down, getting subs) and now all they can get in their Oakland and Walnut Creek offices are new doctors with little experience. Note that all the positive reviews here are not for the current doctor and staff!! I wasted more than THREE MONTHS with Dr. Yamazaki and Dr. Terry at Walnut Creek trying to diagnose my cat (prolonging tests while guessing at treatments). When I left I found two doctors that not only knew exactly what was wrong with him by sight (before seeing any records), but knew exactly how to treat it as well (NOT the treatment that the doctors at D4A gave me). For weeks, while Dr. Yamazaki was busy calling around trying to figure out what was wrong with my cat because she had no clue, he could have been undergoing treatment! He is already SIGNIFICANTLY better in the two weeks since I left there and went elsewhere because he was immediately given the CORRECT treatment. In addition, I made the mistake of having an updated allergy serum made by Dr. Terry and when my new dermatologist saw it she recommended starting over, which of course I will do. More money down the drain. The rest of the staff is just as bad. They rarely answer their phone despite having a dedicated CSR. The techs don't know how to relay a message, which led to misinformation being given to both me and the doctor. They were unable to draw blood from my cat, so they sent me to the Walnut Creek office, who were also unable to do it (bad techs there as well). I went the next day to my family vet and they had no problem getting his blood. I just had bloodwork done at another vet last week and they had no problems either. Instead of apologizing for having no idea what was wrong with my cat, the hilarious thing is that two weeks after I went elsewhere, I received a communication that I have been "terminated" by their office. I had no intention of ever going back to an office that can't even treat my cat anyway. They said I was rude to their staff, which I wasn't. In fact, I put up with a lot of attitude from Dr. Yamazaki, which was totally uncalled for given her lack of knowledge. She bailed from the office for two weeks without having any replacement and had the nerve to give me attitude about the fact that I reached out to others IN HER PRACTICE for assistance in her absence. The photos of my cat after 3 months of treatment at Dermatology for Animals versus 2 weeks of treatment elsewhere are attached. Note the SIGNIFICANT improvement once the correct diagnosis and treatment was prescribed. He is not healed yet, but that's because it will take a while to undo the amount of progression of the disease from this long. But he improves every day, unlike during his time with D4A, when he got worse every day. My cat has gone through hell for so long (including ER visits for oxygen), and I blame it entirely on Dermatology for Animals. All I got from them was excuses of him being a "difficult case." Yet another dermatologist and a regular family practice veterinarian had no problems diagnosing his myriad of problems right away. One even doubts the labwork/conclusion provided by D4A. This was dragged out for far too long due to doctors being unavailable, miscommunications with techs, and lack of knowledge of their vets (and their refusal to listen to more experienced peers). There is a reason the other veterinary dermatologists in the area have such a long wait - they know what they are doing! Do yourself a favor and wait for BAVS, UC Davis, Golden Gate, etc. and get an experienced dermatologist that is knowledgeable.
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February 2023 by Lauren Bayly Holmblad
We have been customers for 3 years and we still are customers of D4A. We’ve been seen here many times, seen different doctors, did both a blood test and a skin test, and have a semi-weekly injection (immunotherapy) for 1 of our bred dogs. We’ve spent over $5,000 with this location.While we love and appreciate Dr. Schick out of Arizona (the founder), the Oakland location has been a disappointing experience.I have learned that one’s experience with D4A is dictated by the location specifically so I advise you to do your research around the Bay. Shoutout to Tricia in Walnut Creek for being so kind and helpful, as well as Scottsdale admin.Here in Oakland, the administration staff has been consistently unkind and unhelpful over these 3 years. It has been consistent across multiple people. You’d think it wouldn’t matter, but, ultimately the front desk holds the keys to your dogs health here.Long ago, we also started with a JARRING experience with Dr Hudec (who now runs Campbell), but this location is now run by Dr Yamazaki so the review is not reflective of the new doctor herself nor her technicians.This review is 100% awkward for us because we will undoubtedly have to come in again for our pups health, but I end up crying every time I have to talk to the Oakland office so I hope this is seen and feedback is received.
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April 2022 by Demetri B.
We went to this vet and were misdiagnosed-- beware! Our dog Has demodectic mange and we were told by dermatology for animals in Oakland that he had an environmental allergy. They claimed that biopsies and blood work had been done but that is certainly false after our experience today at a different veterinarian. The vet we went too today took a biopsy and looked at it under a microscope finding demodectic mange mites. Our dog has been robbed of years of his life by this faulty diagnosis by these self proclaimed "dermatologists". We stopped taking our Terrier, Teddy to these "dermatologists" after a few visits when they were certain he had environmental allergies, but uncertain to what he was allergic too. As it turned out if they had simply looked under a microscope they would've seen the 8 legged demodectic mange--- Not allergies! This place is full of unscrupulous scoundrels that diagnose based on their pocketbooks. I am sure they would've loved to charge us thousands to find out that actually our dog wasn't allergic and they were incompetent and had made a faulty diagnosis; woops! I want a FULL REFUND And I also want them to cover my vet bill for the ACTUAL problem my dog had. TLDR; Wrong diagnosis Horrible veterinarians. -Demetri
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March 2022 by Lisa M.
Update: all I can say to the response below is "wow". All I wanted from this practice was a proper response to their inability to care for my pet, and to address the rudeness of their staff. And, they chose to respond here with a general blanket statement and have the audacity to use my pets name as if they built a relationship with her from one visit. You guys are something else. You need to deal with your clients on a human level. This is a business, not a family dispute. Call your clients, and don't hide behind a bunch of email addresses.
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December 2020 by Miranda N.
We came here since our pup was breaking out in hives and we couldn't figure out what it was she was allergic to. They have safe low contact practices with COVID. They have you wait in the car and call when you arrive. They are your pup in and call you to chat about everything rather than having to do so face to face. The doctor was extremely thorough with his descriptions about what he thought was happening, what the options were, his recommendations, and the plan. It turned out to be a simple solution where our dog was getting bitten by fleas because we switched her to a topical flea medication rather than oral (which topical seems to be ineffective in Oakland). Each visit is quite pricey but the quality of care seems to be worth it as long as you exhaust all other options first (wish we asked our vet about the flea issue earlier).
