VCA Animal Hospitals

My puppy threw up one evening and had diarrhea the next day. I took him to VCA (Kapolei, Hawaii).

I expected an exam and a recommendation to monitor him for the next day or two (as indicated on their web site).

Instead, I was charged over $1,800. I was very upset at the time and chose EVERY test on their list...I was distraught!

Later, I was more composed, and I raised my concerns with VCA (Kapolei, Hawaii) about being upset and taken advantage of with inappropriate and unnecessary testing...but my complaint was dismissed.

One of the fees included outside lab testing...remember, I chose EVERY test!

The outside lab disputed the VCA (Kapolei, Hawaii) test results. VCA (Kapolei, Hawaii) administered the test again, but it was again inaccurate...they wanted to draw blood a third time, to which I said no!

My experience and subsequent complaint handling with VCA (Kapolei, Hawaii) were dreadful.

They took advantage of me when I was upset, they were too quick to perform expensive testing, their testing was inaccurate (false positives happen they said). Fortunately, my puppy only had an upset stomach and was fine soon after.

Save your money and go to another veterinary clinic.

Took my dog to this veterinarian to have his skin and eye looked at. She blew off everything as allergies and went into a sales pitch trying to push shots and maintenance meds the dog already had.

She pushed care plans and insurance. Furthermore, she sold us a hundred dollar worth of over the counter products. 5 days later, as my dog got progressively worse, I took him to another vet. I discovered both his skin and eye were in need of antibiotics and her diagnosis was completely incorrect as I had suspected.

My animal suffers through 5 days of unnecessary pain with his skin raw and blistered. Calvert sent a message asking how my animal was the next day, to which I replied, he is exactly the same as he was. There was no concern or reply to that message.

This vet is only concerned with taking your money. There is no concern for a pets health nor comfort.

My 8 y/o labrador had TPLO surgery (ACL repair) in November by Dr. Socha.

He was professional in all respects, providing answers to questions regarding the surgery. Wait times were reasonable if appts. are booked ahead. 6 months later, my lab is 100% healed, has resumed all normal activities and is on no meds whatsoever.

Much of the healing process is accelerated by following the rehab protocol that's provided by the hospital. I took my pet for hydrotherapy at a nearby vet hospital, since VCA doesn't provide these services.

I do have an excellent pet insurance policy which paid 90% of the hospital bill, which makes the invoice settlement a lot less painful! The charge for this surgery is pretty standard throughout the Upstate NY area.

I never had to put any money down and all invoices were paid on the spot by my insurance.All meds and re-visits also incurred additional fees which were also paid after my deductible was fulfilled.

Thank you Dr. Socha for Rosie's excellent care.

I chose VCA for my 18 month old Cane Corso to get all shots and also paid to be A Care Club Member. Last month he got all his shots.

Last Friday 05/26/23 I took him for a sick visit because he was losing fur skin exposed with bleeding and lots of bumpy clusters around face and neck I fear that it was Mange so I paid for a skin graph also paid for Nexgaurd to be delivered because the Plainfield VCA isn't equipped to do the shot for mites and I was told the Nexguard will be to my home by Tuesday and he also was put on Antibiotics. I called the Vet and was told the Nexguard will be to my home on Monday 6/5 so I said the antibiotics isn't doing anything he has blood all over my house he is losing more fur around fave and neck he isn't eating or drinking I am scared he will die. Can I bring him I'm for that Shot for Mange from mites and his ears are swollen. Dr.

Brooke's said we are not equipped with the Shot like other VCA's but you can call the other ones to see if they do. I stated why do I have to call other VCA why can't you call around and check...I started crying and I was at work I am A City Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service and said he is very miserable and I just paid close to $300 on Friday to get him checked by you and this is your answer. DR. Brooke's than stated that since I am ridicule his care of my dog that I can no longer bring My Dog to that VCA I need to find somewhere new for his care and if the dog is that bad off take him to the Animal Emergency Hospital to get him treated.

I than told him I am Contacting The Top of VCA and reporting him and I need that Nexguard ASAP because I already paid for it and am on a every month billing for Nexguard thru VetSource and that's the least he could do...I did call Headquarters to cancel my Care Club Membership and asked for all the money I paid on Friday also told them if My Dog Dies I will pursue charges on the VCA.

I have a high dollar Pedigree Cane Corso and alls I want was him to be treated for this Mange and I got nothing but still a sick dog and now have to find a New Vet. Wow I am at Awe and my Baby is still sick and Idk when the Nexguard will be here.

RY Allivet try4 months ago I overpaid for pancre plus...@ 248.00 dollars for 12 oz... could have gotten it at Allivet {online ) for 198.00 .and they also wanted to see my dog to reissue a script ...200.00...The vet knew of my dogs long standing need 8 yrs.

of a pancreatic disorder and oked it 1 more time at the higher price so I bought it . My GSD is 12 + yrs old ...I really thought this would be his last container of the med . When I wanted it filled again ...2 weeks ago ... the script alone was 410.00 dollars for the same 12 oz's.

The young lady in pharmacy said there must be a mistake ...but there wasn't so I declined the offer called my vet and ..He again oked it 1 more time .Allivet's price went from 198.00 to 207.000 a 3% increase vs a n 80% increase in the same time period ...I finally got the young lady to send script ok'ed by Dr to allivet and got exactly the same script (inert ingredients ) but the profit margins of VCA suck ..so I wanted to tell people to buy their pet meds from allivet ...the are VERY customer oriented , always a live person...etc etc ... thank you...T

DO NOT BRING YOUR PET HERE..

On December 10th we took our 11 year old Chihuahua into the emergency care at VCA Aurora because she was drinking excessive water and was unable to keep it down and also had not eaten over 24 hours. She is also on seizure medication.

We arrived at about 9 pm, we were happy to see they were not busy.We explained why we were their and they immediately took her back to an exam room for evaluation. Nearly an hour passed and they came out and got us from the waiting room and brought us back to an exam room, where we waited until Dr. Michael Houfek came in to tell what needs to be done . He said the concern was that she was dehydrated and one of her pupils was enlarged leading him to believe she may have a brain tumor or cancer or she may have had a stroke.

He then presented us a treatment plan saying she would need blood work, her kidneys and liver checked as well as an ultrasound and MRI that would would have to wait until Monday, 3 days later, she would also need to be hospitalized for 48 hours. the total estimate was well over $6000.00 which they would need half to start the treatment. Michael Houfek also said the other option was to euthanize her because in his words" she will not be the same dog as yesterday "( we brought in a lively dog who was dehydrated, and all of a sudden she is deteriorating this quick, I don't buy that ). We asked that since she is dehydrated that they start her on fluids, Michael Houfek was very negative and said that she is declining and that would not change the outcome.

At this point no tests were run , the only thing done was a catheter was put into her leg. He then told us her glucose level was 80 and said her kidneys and liver may be failing. We then asked if we can do the basics, blood work and urinalysis so that we may have a better understanding of what is going on with her so that we can make a determination of what our next steps may be. We then asked she be put on fluids at which time Michael Houfek said they will work up a new estimate, we again asked to have fluids started and he left the room obviously annoyed.

Another 45 minutes has passed, during this whole time we have not seen our dog, as she was somewhere in another room. Now Michael Houfek sent in a young tech to go over the new estimate nearly $3000 ( although very high priced I am not complaining about the cost , I was just trying to get some answers with the least amount spent so we can make a decision on our next steps.) We asked again if fluids have been started because before Michael Houfek left the room earlier we agreed that he was going to place fluids under her skin to help with the dehydration. Now 1 more hour has passed and he sent in an older woman holding our chihuahua away from her body and said that the doctor wanted you to see the condition she was in, to us she looked very scared all we kept hearing from them is she will not improve but at the same time they keep pushing the treatment plan, this tells me they care nothing about our pet and they only care about how much money they can get us to agree to. Before the tech left with our dog again , we had asked again why the fluids have not been started before she was able to leave we stopped her and said we would like to see her receive the fluids and to get Michael Houfek into the room to do it.

( after over 3 hours emotions were starting to take over ) At this point we were there over 3 1/2 hours and still nothing has been done except a catheter was put into her front leg. We had already agreed to the blood work and fluids so we can take her home. Michael Houfek was very negative the whole time and my emotions got the better part of me , at this point Michael Houfek ordered us out of the building. As I was walking to my car I noticed the catheter was still in my baby.

I went back in to have it removed. I brought my dear lively Chihuahua to the emergency room because she can not keep water down and that she had not eaten over a day and we left about 4 hours later with a pet that looked 10 times worse then she got there. We then decided to go straight to Plainfield Animal Hospital, while in route our beloved Mercedes had passed away. ( we certainly hope they did not do anything to harm our baby.

The last statement Michael Houfek said to us was to get out of the building I have other patients who have approved treatment. ( maybe a HIPPA violation). The only reason we came here was it was much closer than Plainfield. Boy oh boy did we learn a lesson.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND anyone to come here due to the unprofessionalism displayed by Michael Houfek. We honestly believe that the inaction of Michael Houfek by not giving fluids killed our dog. DO NOT BRING YOUR BELOVED PET HERE

UPDATE...I talked to a Manager over a month ago, they said they will investigate and get back with me, still waiting no reply . Now this week I get a statement in the mail almost 2 months later for almost 400.00 .

they did absolutely nothing for 4 hours because of Michael Houfek unprofessionalism . Yes my chihuahua passed away 10 minutes after leaving the facility.

DO NOT BRING YOUR PET HERE..

On December 10th we took our 11 year old Chihuahua into the emergency care at VCA Aurora because she was drinking excessive water and was unable to keep it down and also had not eaten over 24 hours. She is also on seizure medication.

We arrived at about 9 pm, we were happy to see they were not busy.We explained why we were their and they immediately took her back to an exam room for evaluation. Nearly an hour passed and they came out and got us from the waiting room and brought us back to an exam room, where we waited until Dr. Michael Houfek came in to tell what needs to be done . He said the concern was that she was dehydrated and one of her pupils was enlarged leading him to believe she may have a brain tumor or cancer or she may have had a stroke.

He then presented us a treatment plan saying she would need blood work, her kidneys and liver checked as well as an ultrasound and MRI that would would have to wait until Monday, 3 days later, she would also need to be hospitalized for 48 hours. the total estimate was well over $6000.00 which they would need half to start the treatment. Michael Houfek also said the other option was to euthanize her because in his words" she will not be the same dog as yesterday "( we brought in a lively dog who was dehydrated, and all of a sudden she is deteriorating this quick, I don't buy that ). We asked that since she is dehydrated that they start her on fluids, Michael Houfek was very negative and said that she is declining and that would not change the outcome.

At this point no tests were run , the only thing done was a catheter was put into her leg. He then told us her glucose level was 80 and said her kidneys and liver may be failing. We then asked if we can do the basics, blood work and urinalysis so that we may have a better understanding of what is going on with her so that we can make a determination of what our next steps may be. We then asked she be put on fluids at which time Michael Houfek said they will work up a new estimate, we again asked to have fluids started and he left the room obviously annoyed.

Another 45 minutes has passed, during this whole time we have not seen our dog, as she was somewhere in another room. Now Michael Houfek sent in a young tech to go over the new estimate nearly $3000 ( although very high priced I am not complaining about the cost , I was just trying to get some answers with the least amount spent so we can make a decision on our next steps.) We asked again if fluids have been started because before Michael Houfek left the room earlier we agreed that he was going to place fluids under her skin to help with the dehydration. Now 1 more hour has passed and he sent in an older woman holding our chihuahua away from her body and said that the doctor wanted you to see the condition she was in, to us she looked very scared all we kept hearing from them is she will not improve but at the same time they keep pushing the treatment plan, this tells me they care nothing about our pet and they only care about how much money they can get us to agree to. Before the tech left with our dog again , we had asked again why the fluids have not been started before she was able to leave we stopped her and said we would like to see her receive the fluids and to get Michael Houfek into the room to do it.

( after over 3 hours emotions were starting to take over ) At this point we were there over 3 1/2 hours and still nothing has been done except a catheter was put into her front leg. We had already agreed to the blood work and fluids so we can take her home. Michael Houfek was very negative the whole time and my emotions got the better part of me , at this point Michael Houfek ordered us out of the building. As I was walking to my car I noticed the catheter was still in my baby.

I went back in to have it removed. I brought my dear lively Chihuahua to the emergency room because she can not keep water down and that she had not eaten over a day and we left about 4 hours later with a pet that looked 10 times worse then she got there. We then decided to go straight to Plainfield Animal Hospital, while in route our beloved Mercedes had passed away. ( we certainly hope they did not do anything to harm our baby.

The last statement Michael Houfek said to us was to get out of the building I have other patients who have approved treatment. ( maybe a HIPPA violation). The only reason we came here was it was much closer than Plainfield. Boy oh boy did we learn a lesson.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND anyone to come here due to the unprofessionalism displayed by Michael Houfek.

We honestly believe that the inaction of Michael Houfek by not giving fluids killed our dog. DO NOT BRING YOUR PET HERE..