San Bruno Pet Hospital

Dismissive of concerns, overlooked obvious problems, put my dog's life at risk. I brought my dog in multiple times with issues of back pain, excessive urination and panting. I was told a number of benign silly reasons for the symptoms. I had told Dr Dewar that my dog was waking up in the middle of night panting and I was worried he was in pain, and she tells me it's probably nightmares. He's peeing in the house, he's yelping when he jumps out of the car. She dismisses these concerns, citing old age and even says, "oh it's great he's just peeing so much in one place, it means he feels comfortable and doesn't need to mark." His liver enzymes were high, but I was told not to worry about it, and the dog was put on a low dose of meds. A few weeks later, I'm in the ER with my dog because he's in so much pain, and we find out that he a GIANT, life-threatening liver tumor that has been growing for months. It's too large to be surgical because we didn't catch it early enough. A hellish, heartbreaking year that could have been avoided if I had found a vet who was paying attention to my concerns sooner.

posted: 08/22/2023

I brought my dog in for an appointment as he was being abnormally picky with his food. A vet at san bruno pet hospital suggested new food, topical fortiflora probiotics and sticking with the new diet to allow my dog time to adjust. I told the vet after a few days that he still was not eating. She insisted to continue doing sticking with the diet. I continued to listen to her. This went on for 3 weeks. By then my dog lost many pounds and I continued to rely on her advice. She was very confident that this was a "picky eating" problem. 3 weeks from that appointment I found out that my dog had cancer in his small intestines. If my vet was more proactive in his issues, we could have identified his cancer sooner and we could have had a better chance at saving his life. We had to put him to sleep shortly after that. My vet was very passive in his issues and he was incorrectly diagnosed. She should have been more aggressive in identifying the issues after I repeatedly told her that he was not improving. Much time was wasted and her email responses were slow and it was hard to reach her when I really needed advice. I suggest getting multiple opinions from other vets or finding a better pet hospital.

posted: 08/22/2023

Super accommodating and friendly get with reasonable prices. Took my dog for an exam and they were very gentle and kind with her.

posted: 09/17/2023

This review is way overdue, but Dr. Chiu and the staff at San Bruno Pet hospital deserve more than 5 stars. We have been bringing our senior cat to San Bruno since 2017, and the reason we brought him there was because his previous owner had taken him there. The staff have always been friendly and helpful through all these years. Especially towards the end, when my cat had a lot of health issues/emergencies, they were able to fit him in urgently on multiple occassions. Even when I couldn't bring the cat in, I would receive advice from Dr. Chiu and the staff via the phone and email. And when it came for the painful time to say goodbye to our beloved cat, Dr. Chiu was empathetic and helped me find at home enthunasia in my time of distress as I was crying on the phone. It was clear that our cat was very, very well taken care of at San Bruno Pet Hospital because he lived a long and full life, making it just a month shy of 21 years. As I was mourning him, I reviewed his 100+ pages of medical records that were meticulously kept by San Bruno Pet Hospital - going as far back as 2003 when the place was White Ivie! I can't imagine a place that could have take better care of a pet. I don't understand the negative reviews at all based off of one bad experience; I literally have documented proof of 20 years of excellent care. Thank you San Bruno Pet Hospital staff, for caring for my family member. One day when I'm ready to adopt again, I'll be happy to bring my new pet here again.

posted: 04/18/2023

First visit was Wednesday and start to finish was a welcoming, informative experience. Dr. Lawrence and staff provided excellent care and customer service. I look forward to our puppy's follow up visits!

posted: 03/17/2023