VCA Animal Specialty Group

It took me awhile to write this review because it’s been so hard without my baby. We lost our Frenchie Binx to an aggressive cancer in January 2023. Although we struggled VCA was truly there for us every step of the way and helped the best they could. It was just too late to save her. I miss her every day. Thank you Dr. Ohashi and the rest of the staff for taking care of her. Sending out this book with handwritten condolences was so very thoughtful of you. All the best. 🖤

My experience with this place was only over the phone because they couldn't fit us in fast enough, which I totally understand. The receptionist or nurse, I'm not sure which, was SO helpful. She took time to recommend other options I could try. Our dog needed to see an oncologist ASAP and because of her recommendation we were able to get into a place the next day. This gave us the opportunity to figure out what was wrong with our pup and give her one last amazing week. The soonest anywhere else was able to see us was two weeks, our pup would've already been dead before we could even see anyone. All this to say, thank you so much. Because they took the time and spoke to us with compassion and care, we were able to let our baby depart peacefully.

I don’t normally post reviews online but I’m so grateful for Animal Specialty Group to have taken such good care of our 4 yo “baby” Kaia. She was crying non-stop one evening when we came home, she couldn’t sit or lay down. We tried every emergency vet in Pasadena and Glendale - all gave us a 4-6 hour wait, one even briefly checked her without running tests and told us it wasn’t too urgent, but we knew this was very serious. We called and went to Animal Specialty group, they took her in right away, ran all the necessary tests and said they wanted to keep her under observation for 36 hours. The x-rays revealed she had bloat, so they kept her for two night and her condition improved very fast. They checked in with us so many times to update us on the progress, they even arranged a quick visit so we could see her, and every single person we talked to was so kind, from the receptionists to the assistants to the vets. A total of 3 or 4 vets took care of her and they all were so concerned and really involved in her recovery. Thankfully, she got better really quickly and we are so happy that we went to this facility! Thanks again so much for everything, Kaia is all better now and completely back to normal!

Everyone at this VCA was amazing and treated us and our pup with empathy and kindness. We had a big scare and they helped our dog Stella get on a fast track to recovery. We are so grateful to the doctors, technicians and women at the front desk. Thank you

I am deeply disappointed with the quality of care our beloved dog and we as a family received at this facility. To anyone considering taking their pet here, trust the bad reviews. I did not as I was desperate and no vet, emergency or otherwise, had any availability to see our dog who suddenly stopped walking. Now, with no definitive answers as to why my dog died and more than $30,000 in medical bills later, I regret that I made this decision. Firstly, vets were incredibly dismissive when we raised concerns or possible causes for what was happening to our dog. And when we expressed sensible frustration as to why they could not provide us with answers of their own, they threw up their hands and said to wait for the tests. We visited our dog every day when possible, sometimes twice a day, when allowed. They claimed they tried to feed her but she wouldn’t take the food. We gave her food and water every time we visited, and she ate like she was starving. When I asked a vet later if they provided her with food or water, they said they had only put her on the IV. This first led us to doubt whether our dog truly was receiving “the best quality care”. This was further confirmed when they brought her to visit us in a private room with her back end covered in fecal matter and urine stains. When I pointed this out to a vet, she said she would get her cleaned up in the back. However, we believe that should never have been allowed in the first place. When our dog was first released back to us, they had all but assured us that this was a neurological issue, and that the medication she was receiving (Prednisone) would help with that. Almost a week later, I called back concerned she was anemic, due to the pallor of her gums. The doctor told me to bring her in. They ran some tests, and released her back to us, but thought that she had made great improvement. Then we get a call telling us that our dog is severely anemic and needs a blood transfusion right now. We okayed the transfusions right away. He wanted to move her over the holiday weekend to an ICU further from us, and we, as a family, expressed concern that she was too weak to do so, especially considering that an internal medicine doctor would be there the following day. We opted not to move her, which they later claimed was a negligent decision. It felt like they were just trying to wash their hands of us. During our time at this hospital, it was always a different vet, peddling different opinions as to the cause of our dog’s condition, with no real, concrete answer. At every turn, they tried to convince us to euthanize her, finally culminating in a chaotic, horrible night where we felt forced to make this decision after our dog’s health declined so much, due to internal bleeding, they claimed there was nothing more to be done. Unless of course, we wanted to do another blood transfusion that they said probably wouldn’t work and would cost another $1100. Still, we considered it, until the vet (whom we had never met before this night) said it was likely she would not survive the night and we needed to make a decision now. She was incredibly pushy, claiming she understood our pain but also kept needling us. She told us that their radiologist had misdiagnosed a lesion as arthritis when it was actually bone cancer. When my mother left the room, understandably upset and threatening a malpractice suit, I tried my best to reason with the vet and understand if they were absolutely certain. They were not, but said it was most likely. I told her if we had known this was cancer earlier, we would have treated this case entirely differently. The vet got vehemently upset, saying “That is not true. You wouldn’t have done anything differently!” I hated how she pretended to empathize with me, while also claiming that she knew my mind. If we had known this was cancer, we would have opted for an entirely different course of treatment, such as chemo and amputation. But now, of course, because of their “best quality care”, it was too late. In summary, do *not* take your beloved animal here.