Ark Animal Hospital — Attraction in San Diego

The experience coming here has been a world class disaster from getting prescribed the wrong meds multiple times for my animal which made them extremely anxious and specifically telling the staff not to prescribe them again the last time his pancreatitis flared up and asking the doctor about the side effects from them before she prescribed them this time, being told there were next to none, and that this was cheaper, and then being blamed for lying to them, about this happening before with their office.

How did I know exactly what this side effect was if he had not been prescribed this before? And why do you think I asked about them before hand?

You never mentioned this one, and now my dog is suffering unnecessarily because of your incompetence. This is sadly the second time we had this disagreement too, and she cares so little, she didn’t even remember the previous one. All I asked was for a discount due to this mistake, and the doctor would rather call me a liar, than lose $15. Greedy and absolutely disgusting. Do not bring your animals here unless they have a death wish.

This was BS. The money was not what mattered to me. What mattered, was paying for meds, he never should have been put on in the first place. And then being blamed for why it was not written in his chart, and why I said ok to them. You are the medical professional. It not being in his chart, is again, not my problem, as I didn’t write any of that data in there. I did however ask this to be notated the last time this occurred so it didn’t happen again. A lot of good that did.

That’s how I knew it was the issues as soon as I saw the symptoms. They also told me to go find a new vet following this incident too. Also, both vets here, which which both told me different things, are recommending different treatments of the dog, so good luck figuring out who to listen to. Now I have a sick dog, and the vet is bailing on him and calling me a liar. Please just retire and get a vet in there that actually cares about the animals. This one...

This Vet Hospital is really a very greedy place. There are Ark Animal Hospital centers all over Southern California so clearly this company does have money to provide services and support. This place isn't for low income people because the doctor would try to rip off the loving pet owners with ongoing bills for various services rather than try to support them. There is a lot of stray cats out on the street, and these low income pet owners who sacrifice to spend money to provide food, water, shelter and a lot of love and shelter for those cats rather than for themselves need to be considered while providing services. For example, I called to ask for a document letterhead to waive rabies shots (since I have indoor cats) so I could get my cats shaved to reduce shedding hair through the Humane Society since it was their policy to have documents on rabies shots before providing grooming services. Instead the Doctor refused to do the document and told me that I would have to pay the visitation/shot fees to get the rabies shots first before I can get my cats groomed....

Unfortunately, my experiences with The Ark Animal Hospital have been consistently frustrating. While the doctors are knowledgeable and seem to genuinely care about the animals, the front desk staff is shockingly unprofessional and careless. Every single time I visited, there was some kind of error or issue caused by the reception team—without exception.

I repeatedly felt disrespected during my interactions with the staff and brought these concerns to the attention of management. Instead of addressing the issues or attempting to improve the service, the mistakes only increased. To make matters worse, I later received an email essentially telling me to find another veterinary clinic. They claimed they only want clients who’ve had positive experiences, effectively deciding for me that I was no longer welcome.

This is not how a professional business should handle customer concerns. While the veterinarians themselves were fine, the terrible front desk service ruined the entire experience. I will be taking my pets elsewhere and would not recommend this...