Center Veterinary Clinic and Urgent Care — Attraction in San Diego

I think I might be done with this place. Got a notice in the mail from the humane society that said that my dog’s legally required license was expiring and she needed an updated rabies vaccine, so I made an appointment here which automatically got canceled a few days later because they need a physical annual exam done (around $80). Annoying, but it’s their policy and a good thing to get done since I haven’t had one done on my dog in a while, so I rescheduled. That’s all taken care of and good, then the day of the appointment I take my dog in and she has bad anxiety in veterinary hospitals (which is usual).

I had remembered that the last time I took her that she urinated out of stress, so I told the doctor and then a few minutes later she actually did. He then condescendingly tells me that when dogs have anxiety they are supposed to be given anxiety medications before they go to the vet. I’m sorry Mr. PHD in Veterinary Sciences, but I legit didn’t know that anti-anxiety medications for dogs were a thing or that I was required to give them to my dog before a veterinary visit. Later he tells me that he recommends getting some labs and fecal tests and other vaccines done since they haven’t seen my dog in a while and want a better picture of my dog’s health. He said that my dog’s past vaccines (which I had done at a different veterinary hospital) were expired and not in their records and that they had to be done again which I didn’t know about.

The doctor leaves and then a few minutes later a staff member comes in to discuss pricing. She says everything about getting fecal tests, labs, and all these other vaccines in addition to the Rabies vaccine and annual physical exam I came for and then quotes me $600+ and makes some sarcastic remark about how people that care about their dog’s health will choose this option (Implying that I don’t) or I can just pay for the two things I came in for (around $100-$150 which I was expecting). I tell her that I need to just do the things I came in for and that I would just get the other vaccines done another time. I did this since I wasn’t expecting all of the other information and can’t just unexpectedly drop over half a grand on the fly like the doctor and a lot of his customers can on a non-emergency. Instead of just respecting my decision, she asks me if I take my dog to dog parks and beaches. I don’t, but my friend picks my dog up and takes her about 2-3 times a month with his dogs. The staff member’s tone then changes and she starts to have an attitude with me and say that I’m putting my dog and other dogs at risk, etc. I’m sorry my bad, but again until a few minutes earlier I didn’t know that some of these vaccines were annual or supposed to be done every three years. No need to treat me like I’m the devil, you could have just told me it’s a good idea to keep her away from those places until I get the vaccines done. I thought all of those vaccines were only done once or twice in a dog’s lifetime with the exception of the Rabies vaccine. I thought I had already gotten everything done. I’m not against vaccinating my dog or anything, I just was not educated enough on the matter. I’m probably going to get the 3 or 4 other vaccines they mentioned done for her within the next few months, but I just can’t do it right now (for financial reasons). I definitely won’t get them done here, I don’t appreciate being talked to like that. I have enough of that from some people at my work, I don’t need it from the...

Visiting the San Diego area with my 9 yrs old dog with known hip issues. She injured her knee while visiting in SD so I took her to Center Urgent care. Upon arrival to the clinic the receptionists were very friendly and helpful. When we were brought into the exam room by the RVT, she was very short and didn't really let me explain much before she said she had to take my dog for an orthopedic exam. Dr.Miller came in. I gave her a little more back story on my dog that I felt was relevant and she seemed to listen. She told me my dog likely tore her CCL and would recommend pain medication, strict rest, and sling assisted movement until I could get in to see a specialist. I am a licensed veterinary technician so all this sounded normal to me. But then she said she was prescribing codeine. I explained my dog was sensitive to opioids and I didn't feel comfortable with that and she persisted saying that the knee was so painful that she needed the meds. I told I still thought the dose was too much so she said I could give a half dose to see if that was okay. When I got home that night I gave a half dose of the codeine. After awhile my dog was extremely sedate and weak but at the same time had an increased respiratory rate, seemed anxious and dysphoric, and had bouts of restlessness. I knew that was a side effect of the medication but I was hopeful that overnight she would relax and be okay the next day. She seemed okay in the morning just painful, so I gave another half dose of codeine. A little while later she became worse than the night before, she didn't have the sedative effect but the others were there. Her pupils were dilated and she had mild nystagmus in the left eye. So I called the vet back to see what to do. The receptionist informed me that someone would get back to me tomorrow and I explained I really needed an answer sooner than that so she said she would flag it to get a return call sooner. Later that afternoon the practice manager called and asked what was going on. I explained and she told me that there was nothing that could be done. I would need to be seen again if I was that concerned because the urgent care is run separately from the day practice and they would have to do a whole new exam, etc. She also claimed that the new developments had nothing to do with the side effects of the codeine and that was a separate issue. Her words were "neurologic issues and nystagmus are unrelated to CCL injury". I tried to explain that as an LVT I understood but I was concerned about the codeine effects and she just kept saying I'd have to have a whole new appointment. She also explained there were pain management alternatives to the codeine that are used in day practice and that in the day practice they rarely ever prescribe codeine. After this experience I felt very wronged, disrespected, and misled by this clinic. How can you run 2 separate businesses and not do rechecks at your day practice that were seen at urgent care? And how can you have multimodal pain management that is not accessible to urgent care patients but is to the day practice? As a client and an LVT I would not return to this clinic nor recommend...

Have you ever been to a restaurant that you thought was downright awful but everyone raved about it? Like the experience at this metaphorical restaurant was so truly awful that your overall life has become a little worse just for having experienced it? That the difference between your experience and the rave reviews was so absolutely different that you couldn't help but wonder what in the world was going on?

At that metaphorical restaurant, the actual main attraction (the food) was awful, cold, and made without love. The front of house (host or hostess) was constantly getting things wrong or making mistakes. The cost was far more than the overall experience warranted. But the reviews for the restaurant are amazing, people love it and have a wonderful experience so you're left wondering if you're crazy or losing it?

That was my experience at this vet. I could go into all the details of everything that went wrong, over several visits and at each point of the process, but it's honestly not worth my time. The one thing I'll say is now that I've found a better vet, it makes it really truly clear just how bad the experience I had, and the care my pet had was.

I could never recommend this place,--putting the absolutely long list of terrible experiences and care aside, for the sole fact that when coming in for an urgent care visit to see if my dog was healing right after a surgical procedure (and if not what we could do to get back on track) the veterinarian said that they had a pet in a similar situation (peeing and pooping accidents) and euthanasia was a relief for them, and something we need to consider. Less than a week after that absolutely bizarre comment from the Center vet, after going to a much better vet, our dog is back to himself. Completely. Completely! Can you imagine if that advice was given to someone else who trusted their vet without pause?

I was honestly happy that I wasn't the only person in the room when the vet said that about euthanasia, because I don't know if someone would have believed me if I said when I went to the vet to consult why my dog was still having diarrhea, the vet recommended euthanasia. Absolutely bonkers! This dog has a complex medical history aside from the reason for the visit, but this vet clearly had a different philosophy on caring for a special needs dog and it was immediately clear we were in the wrong place and talking to the wrong person. To make things worse, this vet who we had just met a week prior said we looked tired as a reason for the euth recommendation. Of course we were tired, our dog was in pain and struggling after their procedure, hence our visit there.

Again, and I can't emphasize this enough, I could never recommend! Ever! Ever! Absolutely it's a massive in-your-face Red flag if the conversation about care for your pet after a non-major procedure is a recommendation for euthanasia because I looked tired and my dog is stressed or healing slowly! Completely weird!...