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March 2024 by Stephen O'Dell
Our dog was hit by a car last weekend and we brought him here for help. The staff was excellent, professional, and dealt with us with complete transparency and courtesy. It was a very difficult time emotionally for all of us and leaving Bruno for the night was not easy. The staff sent updates and photos that night and the next morning, which were sorely needed.(from my 8 year old daughter) Bruno was sad when he got home from the hit. But once we took him to the vet, he was much happier and better. He is starting to get energetic again and we can't thank you enough for all of it!
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March 2024 by Paul Mavis
I’d like to thank the entire team of doctors, techs and support staff at the VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk.Late last Friday afternoon, my 10 year-old Labrador retriever, Ollie, was suddenly struck down in our home with what first appeared to be a stroke. We found him on the floor, paralyzed, unable to control his breathing, his eyes darting around and vomiting. Highly unusual behavior from an otherwise healthy, typically bouncy and energetic Lab!We wrapped him up like a hundred pound burrito and transported him to VCA, to save his life.And that’s exactly what they did.Through the first 72 hours of intensive care and another 72 hours of an abundance of hands-on affection and support…literally and figuratively since he could not walk on his own…the entire VCA team rallied to help Ollie and, as importantly, to help me sustain the hope I had nearly lost in him ever recovering enough to bring home.Along with state of the art veterinary care, what is most impressive at VCA is the uniformly high quality of personnel they’ve been able to recruit and retain.Any emergency department, human or veterinary, is at most times, an unrelentingly stressful environment and all I saw this past week was an incredible emotional commitment by VCA’s entire staff to help their patients and their owners during intensely difficult times, and consistently going above and beyond.Needless to say, with Ollie now recovering at home, I gratefully endorse and recommend VCA VREC in Norwalk, for when your pet needs the best care possible.
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March 2024 by Lindsey Levine
Very helpful on very short notice! Brought in my axolotl and they did a lot of research on how to best help her and walked away with a solid treatment plan. Dr. Emmel was professional and walked us through everything he was doing step by step and was concerned about animal stress and welfare first.
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March 2024 by Vic .R
I have to say I agree with the review of the heart breaking story of the previous review. My dog was having seizures due to a tumor. I brought her there about 3am and they did get the situation under control after 3 days and almost $6000.00 later. But this is my issue with this place and the incompetent workers and the money hungry staff in charge in the back that won't come out to face you as they are trying to justify thier ridiculous policy because they want to get more money out of you. While my pet was there they gave her a particular drug that stopped the seizures and sent us home without any refill and while trying to get an appointment for radiation treatment the medication ran out and since they are the ones that issued the drug that I paid them to do. VCA Shelton where her neurologist is wouldn't refill it since they didn't issued it for her. They told me to get it from VCA Norwalk, which they didn't want to give me a script because basically they wanted more money as I had to bring my pet there for a office visit, to wait for a Vet and wouldn't get her medication till the next day after getting out of there. Which would run the risk of her getting another seizure, but this was no concern for this facility, but an office visit for more money. After arguing with them they finally gave me the script, but luckily the facility in NY which she was currently set up for radiation treatment called it in after I explaining the ridiculous situation. They had also said originally we had to get from VCA Norwalk and VCA Shelton also told me the same thing. This was absolutely ridiculous and disgusting trying to get help from a place you just paid for your pet and there primary concern is money ? .
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March 2024 by Chelsea McCarthy
Very helpful, well informed, kind, and compassionate staff
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March 2024 by Christopher Jansen
The vets are all fantastic and the techs and admins are true animal lovers. We've been seeing Dr. Goodwin, the cardiologist, and he's incredibly knowledgable. He always takes as much time as you need to be sure you know everything -- even if it's stuff you don't really need to know. He actually drew me a diagram of a cat's heart to explain what was going on with our kitten. If there's anything to complain about, it's only that he takes so much time with each patient he's usually running pretty far behind schedule, particularly by the end of the day. Schedule early and try to be understanding; the care he gives your pet is worth waiting for.We've also seen Dr. Palmisano and he's extremely skilled as a surgeon, and frank about whether a surgery is required or not. We really appreciate the honesty and directness.Every day the staff lists all the patients names on a welcome board and it's not just an affectation; every interaction is proof that they really do love your pets.
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February 2024 by G schlauch playz
BEWAREDO NOT BRING YOUR PET HERE. Let me start by saying this is not an assement of the staff- the Vets are caring and competent. This is directed at the scumbag, profiteering company that owns the facility.We brought our older dog here in December, not knowing she was in heart failure. They immediately put her in an oxygen tank and told us it was 50/50 she'd survive, however she couldn't leave the tank, and only a specialist could make a true determination. THEY HAD NO SPECIALIST ON STAFF, or AVAILABLE. This repeated itself for 5 days- at a cost of over $13,000! Each day, being led to believe our dog could survive- who would put their dog down if there was a good chance they'd live?This is emotional blackmail. The staff is powerless- they have no choice but to allow your dog to perish if you cannot pay- each day we had to leave $3000, while we waited in vain for a specialist.FINALLY a vet located a specialist at a nearby facility- that specialist took minutes to tell us what would have spared us a miserable week and spent $13000+ ..... she had almost no chance to survive. We had to put her down. There is NO EXCUSE FOR AN EMERGENCY CARE facility to NOT have access to a trained specialist- it's what THEY ARE THERE FOR! Imagine taking your grandfather to a hospital in heart failure and having to wait a week to see a cardiologist!IT IS NOT the problem of the patients that a certain specialist is in short supply- IN SHORT, do NOT bring your pet to this facility, go somewhere better equipped.
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February 2024 by Grace Bailly
Dr Palmisano and the team over there did a great job with my dog’s leg amputation. It was sad to hear the news at first but he was confident in his recommendation and was honest about his uncertainty in other approaches. When we decided to go through with it, everyone who worked with us made the process easy and they checked in with us to make sure she was okay. She had an amazing recovery no complications, and she runs and plays like any other normal 4 legged dog!
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December 2023 by Gina Little
We had the sad and unfortunate experience of having to put our dog down earlier this week. From the initial phone call, to our arrival at the clinic and to the moment we left, the staff at VCA were very compassionate and helpful. I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Curto. She was very honest and informative and took so much time with us to explain our options and also comforted us in our choice. Although we are completely gutted that we lost our sweet boy, we know we were in good hands. Thank you Dr Curto and all the staff at VCAThe Littles
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December 2023 by Donna MinYoon
Arrived at our appt. on time. After waiting 30 min. for the heart Dr., I asked how much longer it would be. Was told Dr. was running 2 hours behind! Asked why I wasn’t called ahead of time, or told about the delay right when I came in? The receptionist was very rude, saying, “we don’t do that”. She then nastily said I could reschedule for January (today is 11/29). My dog is old and sick and was panting so hard from nerves, waiting there for 2 hrs longer wasn’t a valid option. No apology, no other options - Worse service, very inconsiderate and uncaring. Not to mention how overpriced their services are. Would never go back and I recommend you don’t either.
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October 2023 by Janet Guthrie
We visited the VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk on Sunday morning with our fur baby Jinxx. He had developed some neuro issues and was not himself. Upon entering, The staff took him right away to triage. Our interaction with Dr. Megan O'Brien, and all of the staff on the 7-3 and evening 3-11 (Sheryl) was outstanding. We were able to bring him home for 8 hours, before we were forced to bring him back due to a decline in his condition. He had come home to say goodbye to his siblings i'm thinking. We went back and was again comforted and reassured. We made the decision to put our Jinxx to sleep and allow him to cross the Rainbow bridge. He knows WE loved him that I'm sure of. Dr. O'brien and the evening staff were there for us and Jinxx in his last moments and breaths. There is a special place in our heart for ALL of you. We appreciate the patience and warm and kind words. Thank you for taking care of our Big Guy Jinxx ??
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October 2023 by rachael barrows
We had our first emergency vet visit for our pup this past week. Understandably, when you go in for an emergency for your fur baby, you are a ball of nerves fueled by adrenaline. Our pup woke us up at 2am visibly uncomfortable. Upon inspection, she had something sharp and hard sticking out of her eye. We immediately brought her to VCA. This was our first experience here and upon arrival, the staff was both professional and kind. The space was clean and welcoming. They took our dog back quickly and within an hour were able to sedate her and comfortably remove the foreign object, which turned out to be a prickly beach grass seed (wild, I know!) that had gotten lodged under her 3rd eyelid. I'm so appreciative for Dr. Spencer Lutchen and Renee, the tech, who were kind and gentle with my girl who was both terrified and in pain. Dr. Spencer spoke compassionately to me and took the time to explain what needed to happen before they did anything and give me detailed instructions for at-home care. Dr. Evan Emmel is also incredibly kind and reached out to us the next day to see how our dog was doing. I am so appreciative for the entire staff and care we received at VCA. Thank you!! :)
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October 2023 by Adam Smith
VCA will let your pet die if you can't afford service. It happened to me 5 years ago, my vet was closed one Saturday and I needed insulin for my cat. I had the prescription from the vet, but they said they only honor the ones from their own vets and couldn't help unless I had $800 for exams, tests, and insulin. I did not and my cat got sick and passed away a few months later. Painfully. Because of it I will never trust, recommend, or say anything nice about VCA, they're just in it for the money. We could have worked something out, but they said no, cash in full, up front.
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August 2023 by dbwoog
Many of these reviews are reflective of our experience. After $3,000+ of diagnostic tests, the recommendation was a $10k surgery or euthanasia (in this case more appropriately murdering our 1 1/2 year old dog). Vet told us the dog had hours to live and would die on the way home because of internal bleeding. She pressured us to kill the dog there [update: when I say pressured, she emphasized in the room w/ our children present FOUR TIMES that she highly suggested killing the dog before we left, that I was doing the wrong thing by brining him home, suggested that I call a house-vet to euthanize the dog while she was in the room]. That was 4 days ago. We brought our dog home, made arrangements for our vet to come over if needed...the dog has recovered in an amazing way and is almost back to 100%. The internal bleeding has reabsorbed and healed (for now). I thought of recourse here, and this was my conclusion - a review [update: under consideration after a full review of the data files]. Don't take a your pet to this DEATH BOX under any circumstances.Update 8/22/23: It's been 168 hours since we left the DEATH BOX and our dog is living his best life. Stay tuned.
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August 2023 by aidan earley
My cat is my entire heart and soul. I brought him in after sudden neurological symptoms and was sooo nervous to leave him with the staff for hours. I just cried so much. Dr. Walsh (Kate), spent so much time explaining every single little thing that we needed to consider and answered every silly little question we threw at her. She ran only the tests we needed so they didn’t over charge. She was compassionate and personable. I’m now home with my baby trying to reintroduce him to life after a (likely) stroke. It friggin sucks but at least I’m confident that we’ve done everything we could for him. And I know exactly when to pull the trigger if things get worse and we need to pursue further care, thanks to the time she spent informing us. It was such a hard day of worrying, but this amazing doctor made it the best it possibly could’ve been.
