Animal Healing Center — Local services in San Diego

After years of mishaps with the front desk at the Animal Healing Center (AHC), including misleading communication and questionable charging practices, we chose to leave this vet office for another veterinarian. Initially we did appreciate the holistic approach from Dr. Drumm, but couldn’t continue with her dog care knowing we needed better customer service. Even though we discontinued the vet service, we did continue with the wonderful and helpful chiropractor on staff, Dr. Page.

However on February 8, we experienced yet another unsatisfactory admin issue, as well as the defensive and belligerent attitude of the supervisor on staff Terry.

Breaking with standard protocol and precedent, the office admin decided to charge a credit card on file rather than calling to confirm method of payment and to schedule the next appointment. Due to COVID restrictions, payments are made over the phone after the appointment. And before I could contact the office to make my payment and the next appointment with Dr. Page, within 20 minutes after leaving, the office charged the specific card without my permission.

An actual illegal action, as I had not signed any “preauthorization form” allowing permission to make that transaction, I had to inform the office and the supervisor that this was not acceptable. I couldn’t stress it enough, especially since Terry wasn’t taking responsibility for the actions of his office, claiming it was “auto-charged” because the busy office wanted to get through customers.

“They normally call. I guess there was a miscommunication,” he said.

In the face of his apparent acceptance of what happened, I vehemently stressed how wrong that practice is, even questioning the legality of it. It would have been enough to simply hear him say, “Thank you for letting us know. It won’t happen again. I’ll talk to the staff.”

Instead, a triggered and unprofessional Terry said, “It won’t happen again because I’m firing you from ever coming here again. You are not welcome in the future.”

His actions, which will be reported to the Better Business Bureau as well as the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, reveal that his emotional reaction is more important than the animals for which he is supposed to care. For, this action removes the opportunity for our dog to get care from a chiropractor that was truly helping her, and it instantly took away a client from Dr. Page.

This is the level of dog care and customer service available through Terry and AHC.

I'm hoping for the sake of all the clients there that the admin and the supervisor can learn from this and strive to improve. All the clients and animals deserve...

I have only great things to say about this place. Dr. Chou is hands down the best vet I have ever seen. She is very knowledgeable about cutting edge medical science, and yet takes a wholistic, natural approach to treating animals. The tools, herbs and modalities that she uses are more effective than any band-aid treatments any other vet has offered to my dog. She has extensive knowledge of herbs, the microbiome, accupuncture, blood tests, and the immune system. She can still prescribe drugs and take blood labs like a conventional vet.

Dr. Chou is committed to helping animals be healthy and is truly a healer. She takes the time to get to know your pet, and works with you closely, examining subtle behaviors and progress each step of the way. She has been a god send in helping me navigate my dogs very complicated and mysterious chronic I'llness. She will never give up on your pet. She truly cares.

The staff here is very friendly and honest. No surprise charges or pushing of medications or procedures. The visits are affordable considering that you get veterinary care that is actually effective for getting to the root cause, vs wasting money on vets to just tell you your dog has allergies and prescribe steroids while your animal gets sicker and sicker. The atmosphere is wonderful. It's literally a house that has been turned into a vet office. They have essential oils vaporizing. My dog looks forward to coming here and gets excited when we arrive, while at other vets she gets scared and tries to hide.

Now that I know this place exists, I will never take my dog anywhere else unless it's an emergency vet hospital. I wish I would have found this vet clinic 8 years ago when I got my pup. It would have saved me and my dog a lot of suffering to be in good hands to start with.

I recommend this place...

My Golden Retriever, Charlie, had been suffering with terrible allergies for 2 or 3 years. (He's almost 7 now). I'd tried various "high-end" dog foods, most grain-free, with no improvement. His regular vet would give him steroids and antibiotics whenever he had a severe outbreak. This did relieve the symptoms, but within one or two months, he was starting all over again. A colleague of my daughter told her about the Animal Healing Center and how they'd helped her dog with similar symptoms! I was so excited! It took quite a while to get that first appointment, which was frustrating, but that's how popular they are! Dr. Diana treated Charlie and determined that he had too much internal heat. This made perfect sense, as he was always warm to the touch with red ears and belly. She recommended that I make his food, (It's good enough for me to eat!), and put him on some Chinese herbs. It took several months, but he began to recover. It's been almost one year since we first went there and his health is remarkable! He lost weight, his coat is shiny and soft, his eyes are bright and he has the energy of a puppy! I love this place and can't say enough good about the docs...