VCA Joliet Animal Hospital

Please don’t go here if you care about your dog. Every time I brought in my dog for anything from stomach issues to eye issues it turned into multiple visits because they didn’t know exactly what was wrong with him. I would get told it could be so many different things and would get sent home with medication that did nothing. Most recently I brought my dog in because I found a lump on his neck. My dog has become terrified at this vet and he hid under a bench when the vet tech came to examine the lump, which should have really been done by only the doctor. She reached under the bench to touched him and my dog got extremely scared and bit her for coming into what he thought was his safe space at that moment. My dog has never shown signs of aggression before. I am not justifying the bite, but the way that we were treated from that moment on was not okay. The whole visit turned into only dealing with the bite incident instead of my dog’s lump which is why I was there in the first place. Dr Bishop kept telling me that my dogs “aggression” would only get worse from here. At this point my dog was laying down calmly almost falling asleep on the opposite side of the room from Dr.Bishop, when he tells me to hold him on a shorter leash. I was then forced to pay upfront for a follow up visit to make sure he didn’t have rabies. At this visit my dog was treated as if he was an extremely dangerous dog. Both Dr. Bishop and another vet tech, Haley, were both very rude to my sister and I as if we wanted this to have happened. When the doctor finally got around to discussing my dog’s lump, he basically said it wasn’t possible for it to be cancerous since he’s only 1 year old. He suggested having it surgically removed anyway just in case. I brought my dog in for surgery 2 weeks later and I get a call from the doctor an hour later saying that they did an X-ray and that the lump is actually just from his microchip. All of this was discovered AFTER my dog had already been put under anesthesia and had half his back shaved. I was still charged for the surgery. Days later my dog got extremely sick and I was told by the doctor that it was side effects from the anesthesia and I was given medication to help control his vomiting and diarrhea. The medication worked for a day and then he got sick again. And on top of this, he ended up getting a very bad hotspot where they shaved his leg for the IV. I decided to take my dog to a different vet and it was the best thing I could have done. They treated him for the damage that VCA caused and discovered that all of his medical issues he had been having for the past year were due to food allergies. My dog is now thriving and loves his new vet, which is fear free certified!

The front staff and the staff that assisted the doctor were friendly and patient. As for Dr. Bishop he is not personable and lacks enthusiasm. He was rude, dry and at one point I thought he was going to smack my dog. The way he stared at him was evil and how he looked at me….sheeesh!! alot worse! I felt like I was being judged and scolded for my dog’s overall health. I’m disappointed about the visit and I’ll have another doctor examine my dog next time.

We have three cats and a dog. We first started meeting with doctor byers when our dog was a puppy. To say this staff goes above and beyond is an understatement. In almost two years since switching everyone to this vet, we've been able to make sure our whole family is cared for. We've dealt with surgery, meds, vaccines. Every time I get so much compassion from Dr byers. Every time I see my pets, I'm thankful for my vet.

I did not have my regular Vet today and I’m not very happy. The Vet I saw held my dogs head because he was “having a tantrum”. He’s a 4 month old puppy and he was scared! Absolutely ridiculous. I will not be returning to this location. I am not impressed. I’ve worked at a dog daycare and that is not something I would do to anyone’s dog. Seth is great, make your appointments with him instead of the other Vet. I also was not asked what kind of heartworm preventative I would like. We will be going elsewhere.

The vet was very rude. He said it wasn’t safe to treat my dog because his barking is an osha violation. First of all, not true, I am osha 30 certified. Also, they did not give my dog all of his shots. They said I had to return in 3 weeks. Funny, I never had to do that any other year with any of my pets. And last they basically doubled the price. I will never go back. If you value your pet and your money you won’t either.