University of California Veterinary Medical Center - San Diego

This place is AMAZING. We had been once before when my boy fell out of bed and lost a nail, they were great that time but last night - omg - gold standard of care. My boy Bruce and I were attacked by an off-leash dog and they got us on the list to be seen immediately, pulled up our file without any prompting (phone number), and saw him so quick. He ultimately did not need treatment, just a few scrapes that looked worse before the shave, and they were SO FAIR and SO KIND. The attack was one of the worst things I've been through and the way they cared for us (I was more upset than Bruce)made it clear these are the type of people you want on your team when stuff like this happens. I already recommended them to everyone, but I will be singing their praises until the end of time.

I love this place. Dr Chandrakumar is very good and I am so happy to have him treating my dog. He communicates with me and I really appreciate this. This hospital puts your mind at ease. They treated my dog so well she never has anxiety when she needs her blood drawn. I will always bring my dog here in the future!

Highly recommend their cardiology team. The entire team has been so kind and on top of our dog's care. The front desk and scheduling team, especially Ashley and Libby always follow through and have been so kind and patient. Dr. Hodge is incredibly knowledgeable, kind and informative. We are so grateful our vet referred us to them to care for our pup. We have felt like we are in great hands.

I cannot thank the team at UC Davis Nephrology Department more for saving Santo’s life. Santo, my 13 year-old Labrador developed acute renal failure from leptospirosis. I remember kneeling, saying the rosary when Dr. Bierlein came into the room. All I was praying for was a chance that Santo could be a candidate for hemodialysis since he was not really urinating much at this point and had signs of fluid overload with puffy eyelids. Dr. Bierlein said that he was a good candidate for dialysis. His creatinine (kidney function test) was 18 before we started the first dialysis session. After the first session, Santo started urinating when he really wasn’t urinating before. A normal creatinine is in the 1.0 to 1.5 range. Santo’s value was 1.0 in November of 2023. This shows that it was definitely a case of acute (not chronic) kidney failure. Dr. Bierlein and her nephrology team is comprised of nurses Melissa, Emily and Tracy, all of whom helped with Santo’s care at one time or the other. I would say that Melissa was his main nurse. All of the nurses on his team were friendly, professional and committed to making Santo better and being aggressive with his treatments, all at the direction of Dr. Bierlein. Dr. Bierlein continued to be aggressive with Santo’s treatments at my urging because I started seeing Santo’s personality come around. He was becoming more active and mischievous compared to the lethargy that he had displayed upon his initial evaluation. Dr. Dufayet, Dr. Bierlein and Melissa had to change out Santo’s feeding tube a few times and I appreciate their diligence in doing this for me. Dr. Bierlein had to change out Santo’s dialysis catheter one time and she expertly performed this job. The receptionists at the UC Davis Center included Ashley, Libby, Yersinia and Abby who were always helpful and cheerful and even went so far as to dab on Our Lady of Lourdes holy water on Santo in my effort to have him experience a miracle. After a few weeks of hemodialysis treatments each of which would bring his creatinine down to less than 1.5 on each visit and oftentimes to less than 1.0, I could no longer afford to pay for dialysis treatments. After not having dialysis over the weekend, Santo’s creatinine had rebounded up to 7.1 on a Monday. This was very discouraging since I could no longer afford any further dialysis treatments. To my amazement, what Dr. Bierlein had hypothesized that 7.1 was his plateau appeared to be the case. On that Friday, the other nephrologist, Dr. Dufayet, saw Santo for evaluation. Santo’s creatinine had come down to 4.2 with no need for dialysis (they hold off on dialysis at less than or equal to 5.0). The following week, without dialysis, his creatinine was 3.5 and his dialysis catheter was pulled! We have now been told to return in 2 weeks’ time for repeat evaluation. Dr. Margo Karriker, the pharmacist at the center has been invaluable in advising me on the various medications, giving me tips on their administration and helping me understand the myriad of medications that Santo was placed on and that are now being decreased. I truly believe that the University of California Veterinary Medical Center-San Diego Nephrology Team and all of their dedicated workers are a Godsend! If it wasn’t for them, Santo would be dead by now. Thank you to Dr. Bierlein and everyone on the staff for your God-given talents!

We had a cardiac echo done on our senior cat, and 2 weeks later I'm still trying to get a report from them. I've called 3 times requesting it, and was told the first time that it would take 2-3 days, the second time that it would be emailed to both me and our regular vet by the end of the day, and was told today that the report is locked on the cardiologist's screen and no one else can access it. The front office staff could also use help in the professionalism department. Apparently, the call in which I was promised to have the report by the end of the day wasnt even logged or passed on to anyone. We have cancelled our follow up appointment as this appears to be an ongoing problem with this organization.