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January 2024 by Rachel Siehr
My angel baby Roscoe (black kitty) had an emergency urethral blockage. We took him to Frontier initially but were referred to VCA due to the urgency and the amount of time he would need to be there. Dr. Shimon was absolutely wonderful, he was very transparent with us and was able to work with us the best they could financially. We were waiting a very long time, but we understood and were just glad that our baby got the care he desperately needed. Thank you Dr. Shimon and all the staff at VCA.
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January 2024 by Alexandria Heinemann
Dr. Shimon is the most compassionate, caring veterinarian there could be. After bringing our cat in, he listened to our concerns, and we felt that he truly treats the animals in his care as one of his own. We were kept up to date with the status of our cat, the plan of care, and options for treatment. As with any ER trip, animal or human, the costs are going to be elevated compared to a primary doctor, but it was by no means unreasonable. Dr. Shimon was transparent with cost estimates and alerted us prior to any medical intervention.The staff were pleasant, and they made us feel comfortable about leaving him in their care when we couldn’t be with him during the visit. They all do so much to help animals around-the-clock.Please understand that this is an ER. Our pet was immediately brought back for triage, as are all pets. It was after midnight and while we did have to wait a few hours, we understand that his condition was determined to not be emergent, but he was being monitored at all times in case issues were to arise. As with many pets, he’s the most important and critical thing to us as a member of our family; however, we know that his overall clinical picture determined him to not be categorized as critical status and there were animals who needed to be attended to first. But throughout the process, they still made sure it was known that he was being monitored and cared for which is all we could ask for. We are so appreciative of the care our little Buddy received.
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December 2023 by Maria Monty
PLEASE DONT TAKE YOUR ANIMALS HERE. Unless it’s not an actual emergency. I brought my dog who had multiple seizures and difficulty breathing. They reassured me that they would see her soon. After 30 minutes of waiting and my dog still struggling to breathe I took her to Frontier Urgent care which is close. They immediately took her back, gave her an IV with medication to stop the seizures and oxygen. Frontier was amazing unfortunately by that point my dog was too sick and passed. I wish I knew better prior to taking my dog to this place. It’s an EMERGENCY room they should prioritize their emergencies. To have my dog struggling to breathe and 6 workers sitting there gossiping at the desk was disgusting.
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November 2023 by Stephanie Exner
In September we brought our pup in,she suffered from a heat stroke. Coming in we requested iv fluids, oxygen supportive care, and blood work ran. The doctor wanted to give steroids because she was having difficulty breathing. She was not struggling to breathe. We asked again for blood work to be ran before the dexamethasone was given. The tech came in to give an update and we were told she was give the higher dose of dex for her weight and they were going to run her blood now. We were worried about organ shut down because of the heat stroke and steroids can hurt them even further. Unfortunately once the blood work came back her kidney and liver values were off the charts and opted to euthanize. It was a terrible situation and the clinics lack of communication and refusal to listen to their clients made and bad situation 100 times worse.
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November 2023 by Mackenzie Glazewski
We brought our dog in to have her ear stitched. She had been attacked by another dog at the park.The vet told us between $4-600 for surgery and antibiotics. When we picked her up, the cost of her procedure was nearly double that! They didnt even clean up the blood on her from the attack, just stitched her, put a cone on, then sent her home!For almost $1,000, they could've at least washed up the dried blood on her neck and chest!I recommend you look elsewhere. Their "financing" option is a joke too. A credit card with ridiculously high interest. They care more about filling their pockets then taking quality care of animals.
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November 2023 by Susan J.
you go there for an EMERGENCY, and they stick you in a room, take the animal in the back and stick them in a cage for 2 1/2 hours in you buzz them to find out why you're still sitting in that room with no word on your dog and they come in and tell you that they only have one vet and unfortunately some dog came in not breathing and it's 4 to 6 hour wait time and why didn't they tell me that when I first got there, then they give me a price quote to put stitches in my dogs ear of $12-$1500. They said the bleeding stopped. I'd bring the dog home and not have anything done. They go in the back, they take the bandage off that they put on her ear and sent her out so long story short they couldn't even give her a bandage to get her through till I can bring her to a regular vet , it's not about the animals there. It's all about the Benjamins. the doctor was very nice, but nice don't feed the bulldog.
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November 2023 by Josie G
We called ahead for our cat who was actively passing and they were so accommodating and generous, even at 12 am. They helped us immediately upon arrival and walked us through everything, then gave us all the time we needed to say goodbye. Afterwards they all said some wonderful words about our cat and we shared stories and they laughed and cried with us. We are so grateful for all of their wonderful work and kind hearts!!
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November 2023 by Kim
Sunday night I took my mini dachshund in at about 9 o’clock at night. She was having syncope episodes. Dr. Foster checked her vitals and said they were fine said she didn’t hear any fluid in her lungs and that she wasn’t having syncope episodes. She just didn’t know what was going on. Said if I could get her in to her own vet in the morning I should do so. by morning my dog could hardly breathe. I rushed her to my vet. She had to be put on oxygen and was so far gone We had to put her down. I would never again ever bring my dog to this place. Obviously Dr. Foster doesn’t know what she’s doing. They like to collect their $165 and send you on your way without doing anything shame on them
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November 2023 by Lina Nguyen
It is hard writing this as we lost our sweet girl yesterday in the early morning, but I wanted to share our experience with VCA since there seems to be a lot of bad reviews. Tootsie, our 10yo Pom, had been diagnosed at another pet urgent care with CHF on the morning of 10/1/23 and given medication to go home. She got progressively worse throughout the day with a respiratory rate of ~90 bpm. We called Blue Pearl since they were closest to us and they were not taking anymore patients. We called VCA around 8pm and they said Tootsie is welcome in but that it could take 4 hours depending on the urgency of the situation. As soon as they saw Tootsie's condition, we were taken to an exam room. Tootsie was seen within 15 minutes and taken back to be put in an oxygen tank. The vet explained to us the care we would receive and was very transparent about the cost of an overnight hospitalization and provided the itemized breakdown. We went home in hopes that Tootsie would be okay the next morning staying at VCA. Around midnight we received a call from the vet on duty and was delivered worse news about Tootsie's condition. She gave us our options and was very honest about the situation. We came in to see Tootsie, and ultimately made the difficult decision to put her down. The vet tech and vet were both very understanding and walked us through the whole process in a calm manner, despite our grief and overwhelming emotions. We got to say our last goodbyes to our baby, and was there for her last breaths. I'm grateful to VCA for their care of Tootsie and her last moments. Thank you.
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October 2023 by pythonkatie K
My 4 year old dog suddenly couldn't stand. He was on antibiotics for a skin issue and our vet had assured us he should be fine. He started peeing and pooping on himself where he lay, so we cleaned him up, gave him water and put him in his dog bed to be more comfortable while we figured out the situation. He then started to vomit and seize. My husband and I immediately loaded him into the car and he took off for our local emergency vet clinic, only to find out they weren't open. It was 9:30pm so every place nearby was closing and suggested we try VCA.I called and after being on hold, I said that I thought my dog was dying and wanted to see if they could take him since they were the only place open within 45 minutes of our house. The woman sounded very irritated and put me on hold. Then the vet came on because he was confused about the phone system so back on hold. After 10 minutes, while my husband was frantically texting me trying to figure out where to take our dog, the phone was picked up with an exasperated voice asking, "okay what's wrong with your dog because we probably can't take her." I explained again that he was seizing, vomiting, couldn't move and appeared to be dying. She asked, "so you want to bring him HERE?"At that point my husband called and I combined the call so he could know what was going on. You could hear that poor sweet boy whining and crying in the backseat, but she put us on hold again. I gave my husband the address and told him to start heading that way. She got back on and told him it was okay to bring the dog if she could give him a catheter to stop the seizures. Obviously we agreed, she told him to just pull up in front and hung up. By the time the staff brought him in, he was dead.Soon after, the vet had my husband call to try to convince both of us that because the dog had a seizure, he might have had rabies and the vet wanted to decapitate him for testing. Our dog was up to date on all shots, was an indoor dog and hadn't had any wild animal contact but he assured us that it was necessary. So exhausted and completely devastated over this loss, we finally relented and paid almost $500 for the test. He also said we needed to go get rabies shots ourselves because we had touched the inside of his mouth at some point that evening and he lightly closed his mouth on my fingernail during one of these times. Our children were asleep (hence why I was home) so I agreed to call my doctor about it in the morning. My husband came home and we cried ourselves to sleep.When the doctor's office opened, I called and asked if I could schedule the rabies shots. After speaking with the nurse and relaying all of the info we had been told, she said it sounded completely unnecessary but suggested calling the health department to see if they could order them just in case as they didn't have it on hand. She double checked with our PCP and he agreed. He had also heard about quite a few people being randomly told their dogs could have rabies to justify a $500 bill due to them dying before an exam fee could be charged.I called the health department and she first thought it was ridiculous that he was tested and even more ridiculous that we would possibly need the shots. She also mentioned that it's protocol for a hospital to call the animal's local health department to alert them as to a potential case, but they never did. She suggested we call our local hospital because they would have the first dose and our doctor could handle the remaining. But added that personally and professionally, she'd wait until the dog's test came back. Hospital said the same.VCA never gave us the results. It was our local health department that was nice enough to take down my information when I originally called and SHE was the one who called to let us know that the test was negative. VCA also spelled our names wrong, his name wrong got his breed wrong. If they would've just let us come right away instead of arguing the severity and keeping us on hold, the sw
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September 2023 by Andrea Fox
We had a terrible experience at this clinic last week, with Dr. Stephanie Sierra. We called in advance because we had a pet chicken needing care to make sure they were able to care for this type of animal. I was told on the phone that there would be an avian / exotic vet available at 6pm. My mother and daughter took our hen into the clinic between 5-6 to get checked in, knowing that a "specialist" would be available soon after. Our hen had swallowed cotton yarn, about 1 foot down (we had worked to get about 8-10 inches pulled out before her visit), with another 2 feet hanging out of her mouth, stuck.When they arrived, they quoted an exam fee, then recommended x-rays to see where the yarn was, and giving a sedative. We okayed this treatment in the state our hen was in - alert, active, with 1/3 of the yarn inside her, but most of it out. Keep in mind, we had kept her from swallowing any more of this in the 90-120 minutes or so from when we found her and I called until our arrival.After the xrays were completed, they came out and while not providing any exact info on the results, said that oh, by the way, she swallowed all of the rest of the yarn. She went in with 1 foot of yarn, and now has 3 feet of it inside her because while we thought they were *caring* for her, they left her unattended in the back and allowed her to just continue to eat it. They said it was too far down now to do anything about, take her home, she has a 50/50 chance. If they had told us before x-raying that they had allowed her to eat the yarn, I would never have consented to a $400 charge, because such a large amount is not likely to pass through.When my family complained, Dr. Sierra came out with an attitude, asked "What the problem was?", and stated, that well, she came in with a problem, she is leaving with the problem. She also stated there was no one higher than her in the clinic to talk to, no other vets, and that there was NOT an avian / exotic vet as I had been told on the phone. Someone was lying. She was cold and callous, rude. They were negligent in leaving her alone - like a child who ingested poison being left alone with the bottle at a hospital. When given that comparison, Dr. Sierra rudely stated, "well, chickens aren't children".When we took her to our vet, they recommended we file a complaint for her treatment. They also stated that because the yarn didn't show up on x-ray, whatever they said about how far it was in her digestive tract wasn't accurate. They were not able to see the yarn until they gave her barium.Now we are waiting....will this extra yarn that they allowed her to eat unattended kill her or miraculously pass through? If she dies, I fully believe it is due to their negligence, and lack of care. It was all about $$. They had a duty to inform us that her condition had changed dramatically before continuing with tests and charging. We have not paid at this time, and I am awaiting a call back from the office manager after calling to file a complaint, again at the recommendation of our vet as well as our frustration and sadness. I am sure they will be wanting to collect on their bill.If they had just let us sit with her, my family could have kept yarn in place, as we had been doing up until then. They first said she was left alone for a "couple of minutes" but then insisted she was being watched...well then whoever was watching her just idly sat by and did nothing while she ate the yarn??? Just trying to cover their backsides!Our vet gave us the opposite care - compassion and competence!For emergencies, I would consider WVRC or Blue Pearl - it's not worth the safety of your pet to take them here and roll the dice that you will get the kind of care we received from this doctor. We've brought another pet before and had good luck. But it's not worth it.**Edit: It also took 30-45 minutes to get her back from them while my child was having a panic attack and my mom was getting frustrated, telling people she wouldn't bring a dead dog
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September 2023 by Sarah S.
Absolutely hate the place. Took my very sick cat there, he was seen promptly but staff showed no compassion. The doctor wanted me to do all those expensive tests and probably hospitalize my cat for fluids. I declined and still had to pay over $200. On top of dealing with my sick cat and being concerned, the After visit summary highlighted all the tests that I have declined and made me feel guilty about it. I was told he has a mass in his mouth which could be cancer. Followed up the next day with my normal vet, who wanted to do blood work that showed renal failure, vet also saw a lot of puss in his mouth from a tooth infection and not cancer. my vet was compassionate and discussed everything with me in details, we tried treating the infection but unfortunately his renal failure was the cause of his illness. The vet at the VCA was so cold and told me : If I was you I would wake up every few hours make sure he's still alive" . Do not recommend going there unless your pet is actually dying and even then they would probably charge you so much for unnecessary diagnostics.
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September 2023 by Heather S.
The staff when checking in was calm, helpful and very pleasant. The male vet doctor that helped my dog was very educated, kind and helpful in treatment to my dog. The two female assistants were also very nice as well. Thankfully, my dog is recovering well from the subcutaneous fluids, anti-nausea shot, and antibiotics she is on. I recommend this emergency vet to anyone experiencing a critical time with their pet. Thank you to the staff for being great to me and my dog during that unexpected and anxious filled time. I appreciate you all immensely!
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September 2023 by Jackie Wolf
After having to come in unexpectedly and then having to put my cat Phoebe down, I just wanted to say the staff here was truly incredible. During one of the most heartbreaking times all the employees from the front desk to the vet I was treated with patience and grace even though I was a complete mess. I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who was there Friday morning to try and help Phoebe and to comfort me.
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August 2023 by Alexandra Dewey
When our dog was very sick and we were pushed around by another ER vet, we were beyond impressed with the time Dr. Shimon spent with us explaining our options and the risks involved. I think between phone calls and time spent face to face, we had an hour of undivided attention from Dr. Shimon, which we thought was amazing and truly comforted us in a time where we were unsure of our dog’s status. We also had the pleasure of briefly working with Dr. Richter who was also very thorough and friendly. We had follow up questions both in person and over the phone post surgery for our dog and all questions were answered without a fuss and in a timely fashion. Although we don’t live as close to VCA any more, we will make the further drive to ensure our dog gets incredible care from these dedicated caregivers.Butte also says thank you from the bottom of his heart for saving his life!
