VCA Pet Medical Center

My advice is to never set foot in this office. Oh, it is very nice, clean and friendly upfront but, they overcharge and suggest procedures that are totally unnecessary and expensive to keep up the good looks. The first time I realized this was a couple of years ago when my puppy's blood work came back with high liver enzymes. They suggested I have an ultrasound done on her to see if surgery would be an option to fix her condition. They told me she would become lethargic , probably start having seizures and eventually die if left untreated. Well, I did some research on my own and found a special diet I could put her on to help her liver. Sure enough her blood work came back fine a month later. And she is a very energetic happy dog to this day. Why did I even return after that experience? Well, I just figured that all/most vet offices are the same and I just needed a place to get my dogs their annual tests and any vaccines. Last week I came home from a trip to find my other dog very lethargic and having a hard time breathing. I brought him to this office in the afternoon and the first tech that saw him gave me the first impression she had based on his symptoms which made total sense and ended up being the correct diagnosis. Dr. Welch then came in and put together her workup. I was told he should have a x-rays, all sorts of blood work and an emergency ultrasound to come to a positive diagnosis. ..over $1200 worth of tests/procedures. One suggestion she had was that he had cancer. Even my 14 year old knew that was absurd. a 3 year old dog with no symptoms does not develop cancer and be put on his death bed in a couple of days. I told her that there is no way I could afford all those tests and for what? After the diagnosis I'd have to pay more money for the treatment. She said that I could just leave him there to die if I wanted to.I could not believe I heard that. After two hours of getting the run around I finally was given my dog back to take home. As I was leaving Dr. Welch told me I could try the same last resort treatment that the tech who originally diagnosed him suggested. I received the truth from another vet that there was nothing that could be done to save my beloved dog and he passed away within 8 hours after leaving the center. I have no doubt the Dr. Welch knew that it was really too late to do anything to save him. But, she did everything she could to scare me into giving them more money and allowed him to be tormented further with needless tests in the last hours of his life.