Balboa Veterinary Hospital — Local services in San Diego

TL;DR – don’t bring your pets here. Can’t get a reliable estimate over the phone. Prices are high. Vet and office people are nice but the Office Manager is terrible.

Called around various vets offices getting quotes for neutering my corgi. Balboa Veterinary Hospital quoted "less than $400." I was told to bring the puppy in a week before the surgery date so they could examine the puppy prior to surgery.

I brought the puppy in and while waiting for the vet to finish the exam, I saw an elderly lady come in the office using a cane. Her husband was there having their pet tended to and she had been waiting outside in the car. She asked the receptionist if she could use the bathroom. The receptionist asked her to wait a moment, then went into the back for a few moments and when she came out she told this elderly lady that she couldn't use their bathroom, but she could use the one at the 7-11 up the street. Did I mention that she was very old, using a cane, and a customer? She stood there for a moment, stunned and confused, and then she finally hobbled out. I saw her through the window standing outside by her car looking up and down the street for the 7-11. She finally gave up and got in the passenger seat.

After examining the puppy, they brought me an itemized list of anticipated additional charges. They showed me two invoices; one for today for $245 that included $70 for the visit, $160 for blood work and another $15.85 just to draw the blood. The other invoice was for the surgery that totaled $487. I first questioned the $36.75 charge for one dose of anti-nausea medication because that seemed a little excessive. The answer was "that's what it costs." Then I totaled the two invoices in my head: $732. Yes, you read that right. Almost $750 to neuter and microchip a 7-month old male corgi.

I remarked that it seemed excessive and that we were given an estimate over the phone that was less than $400. That's when Lillian Page, the "Hospital Manager" decided to insert herself into the conversation, telling me that "We don't give estimates over the phone." Yes you do, I replied, because we got one. She says again, “No, we don’t. We don’t want people shopping around and then going to the cheapest place. We’re all about quality here, not quantity." I said, “Doesn’t $750 seem like a lot to you? Whatever happened to low cost spay and neuter?” Lillian says to me, “You can always take him to Tijuana and they’ll do it for $35.”

That was the final straw, so I decided to pay the $70 exam fee and go somewhere else. Lillian Page mumbled on the way back to the office, “I’m sick of people complaining all the time.” On my way out I said to no one in particular, “It’s no wonder they complain, the way you run...

My cat that I had for 15 years was sleeping a lot, seemed like a sudden vision issue, and she also was stiff when walking around. She was getting older and was terrified of vets but I knew it was time for a checkup with blood work and a physical exam in case kidney issue.

I looked at several reviews and found Balboa Vet Hospital and it described Dr Gunderson as a cat whisperer and she had hundreds of great reviews. Well, I took my kitty girl in and she was terrified of course. Dr Gunderson came in very relaxed and and took about 20 minutes trying to make my kitty comfortable with her. My kitty wasn't having any of it! She finally had to take her to the hospital area and give her meds to calm her so that she could do blood draw and x-rays etc.

About 20 minutes later Dr Gunderson came in with X rays and a look of despair. My kitty had a huge tumor all around her heart and most of her lungs! Now I am preparing to put my cat down. I spent all the time I wanted privately in the room with her wrapped in a blanket. Then Dr Gunderson came in and administered the meds to give her a quick and painless passing. I couldn't believe my kitty I had for 15 years was gone.

Fast forward a month (February 2018) and I decided it was time to get another rescue kitty, but this time two so they have each other. I adopted kittens (brother and sister) from a rescue and took them immediately to Balboa Vet Hospital because I wanted to start their vet experience off well. She again took time to let them get comfortable in the room and then she fixed them up. One had an upper respiratory infection and the other a severe eye infection almost swollen shut. After antibiotic shots and eye ointment they were as good as new in a week or two.

Well, just yesterday (July 8) my kitten Frank started vomiting severely, limping, sudden uncontrollable diarrhea, and panting. I called and was told to bring him right in. Turns out he stepped on a bee and was allergic. Dr Gunderson addressed his anaphylaxic reaction and he is back to his old self again.

I would strongly recommend Dr Gunderson and her team. The staff is very attentive, sharp, caring,...

Highly disappointed with my experience here. First negative experience was that I was called and told by a tech to bring in a stool sample, only to be told by the vet that it was far to early to retest and we’d have to redo it in a few weeks. Had to talk to the manager to get refunded the $90 for the unnecessary lab.

My puppy was spayed here as well. During all of my appointments and talks with the staff, no one took the time to explain how to tell if my dog was in pain, only to “watch her for signs that she’s uncomfortable”. When I had concerns post op about her breathing, I felt that the tech had no clue what she was talking about and failed to mention that altered breathing could be a sign of pain. (I had to research this information myself). I was told I could go in if I wanted to, but they made it seem like no big deal.

The evening of day two post op (after the vet was closed) my dog was showing signs of severe pain despite being given the medication the vet prescribed. I took her into urgent care to be evaluated and the urgent care vet was concerned not only that my dog wasn’t also prescribed an anti inflammatory post op, but that her dosage of gabapentin was extremely high. She adjusted the dosage and added an anti inflammatory and after the first dose I could tell there was already a huge level in pain relief for my dog. She seemed like a different dog entirely from the day before.

I asked the techs to speak with the manager the follow Monday when they were open and was told by the manager to find another vet because it seemed as though I didn’t trust them. I was told that the medication management post op was just what the dr. Preferred to do in her practice, and that in order to get prescribed an anti-inflammatory (which I was told was common practice by two different vets), that I’d have to bring her back in to be evaluated.

Would not recommend care here. I would not want to be treated this way as a human patient, so I wouldn’t want to subject my dog to...