Eye Care for Animals - San Diego — Local services in San Diego

Adding to my review 05/31/18- Spoke today with Dr. Venturi and assist. Megan at Dr. Venturi’s initiation. Dr. explained again the irregular heartbeat my dog displayed during surgery and the need to terminate the surgery for his well-being, which I appreciate. She also apologized for stating to me that no one in the office would have quoted me the amounts I was quoted and said she will have a staff meeting to discuss protocol for over the telephone quotes going forward. She also did not charge me for the work done on my dog’s surgical eye to have the drainage issue resolved to relieve pressure in his eye. I appreciated the professional behavior displayed by both Dr. Venturi and Megan. Original review: I’m sure many have had a good experience with this vet office but sadly I cannot say the same. My experience began when I telephoned the office to inquire about cataract surgery for my 6 1/2 yr old male Aussie. I was quoted $163.00 for the initial consultation, a range of $400-681.00 for the presurgery visit depending on what tests are run, and $2000.00 for one eye and $4000.00 for two eyes. When I arrived for the consultation I was quoted $163.00, $400-681.00 and $3299.00 for one eye and $4299.00 for two eyes. When I told them what I was quoted on the telephone of course they said no one there would give such a quote. That was when I should have run for the hills- unfortunately for me and my beautiful dog- I did not. I decided to have the surgery on both eyes and bite the cost bullet to allow my boy to see again. He had surgery and I was called later in the day on surgery day and told only one eye was done because after the first eye was complete and they turned him over to begin the second eye “his heart rate didn’t match his other vital signs so even though he’s had no history of a heart issue and nothing showed in our tests you might want to have him evaluated by a cardiologist.” I inquired about the cost since what I agreed to and the contract I signed was not executed since they didn’t do the second eye. Dr Venturi informed me I’d be charged their quote at the office for one eye- $3299.00, after the $163.00 and $681.00 already paid! I again told her what I had been quoted originally and again she told me no one there would have given me such a quote. I told her I really have zero reason to lie about the quote and that I wasn’t a happy customer and planned to make my concerns known in the form of complaints. I went to pick up my dog at the scheduled time and again Dr Venturi tried to tell me what happened and why she aborted the surgery and I told her she wasn’t going to convince me and I wasn’t going to convince her so it was best to just bring me my dog and not cause me to be in more traffic than I had to be since it was after 4:00 PM at that point after I waited at least 15-20 minutes (as I have at every visit) and then waited for her inside the room. I again told her I wasn’t happy and was filing complaints. She asked me where I was filing complaints and then told me I didn’t have a case. I asked her why she sounded so worried if there was nothing for her to worry about? She then told me she discounted my bill 15% off of the $3299.00 one eye quote. While I appreciated that, I didn’t feel I should be charged more than half of what I had agreed to pay the day of surgery which was $4199.00, or 2099.00 and instead I was charged $2734.15. Today was my dog’s follow up visit and his eye that the cataract was removed from needs additional care due to what I was told was post surgery pressure due to the drainage for the eye being blocked! I’m now being told this happens to 50% of dogs who have this surgery😩. Tmw he comes back for another follow up visit and honestly at this point the only reason I’m bringing him back is because I already paid for 4 follow up visits, which at this rate should be used up in a couple days! That has been my experience- not good for me or my dog. If you call for a quote- get a name and note date and time, you might...

I took my dog for an eye evaluation, and I was told it would be a complete and thorough examination using sophisticated technology. It was a basically a simple physical exam with no use of any testing or technology as promised.

Upon our visit, we were seen by the resident veterinarian, Dr. Tsai, who I found to be a "know-it-all" type physician, who kept cutting me off when I was trying to explain my concerns regarding my dog. She was argumentative and extremely arrogant, often stopping the conversation to just glare at us.

After the cursory exam, Dr. Tsai informed us that my dog had a cilia (hair) growth under his upper eyelid and that he would need a simple 15 minute surgery that cost $3,600, not including prescription medicines and follow-up.

As such, we left the facility and sought a second opinion. At the office of a second specialized animal ophthalmologist, we were told that NO such cilia existed and that that type of surgery was completely unnecessary and would do nothing to improve the condition of my dog's eye.

As such, I immediately called back Eye Care for Animals and Dr. Tsai and explained to them the situation, and my concern of how they could get the original diagnosis so wrong as well as the fact that they wanted to schedule and perform a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY PROCEDURE on my dog. I, then, I asked for at least a refund for our initial exam. The office manager profusely refused and made ridiculous excuses that since they have been in business for 20 years that it would be impossible for them to make a mistake like the one they made. She said if I was unhappy with her decision that I should seek legal remedies, which is what I plan to do. I guess they are use to this type of conversation bc they were extremely quick to refer me to counsel. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL AND AWARE OF EYE CARE FOR ANIMALS OF SAN DIEGO.

As a follow up, I just wanted to say that I did finally receive a refund for the initial consultation after speaking with Nicole at the corporate office. Nicole was keenly interested in finding out what happened and to offer solutions, rather than becoming immediately defensive, making excuses, and promoting legal recourse. Nicole successfully deescalated the situation with her professional, solution oriented and kind demeanor.

Conelo, eventually, received the proper diagnosis from another animal eye care specialist and underwent successful Entropion surgery. Conelo's eyesight is much better, and he is no longer in pain. I'm very grateful that we went to get a second opinion, and got the proper treatment; otherwise, we would have wound up paying thousands of dollars, not to mention all the pain, suffering and time for healing for a procedure that was not necessary.

My recommendation to Dr. Tsai is please listen to the owners when they explain the ailment and work collaboratively to find treatment, rather than arrogantly basing your diagnosis on just your individual exam, which in this case proved to be wrong.

Updated photos of my dog are the...

UPDATE 2: 6/5/23 Oh my goodness was today the best experience ever. Not only did my dog behave but the vet tech treated my dog immensely to encourage him to enjoy his visit. But, they also introduced him to all of the tools while clicking them and treating him to get him used to the sounds. The vet and the tech did absolutely everything in their ability to work with my anxious dog and me to ensure this visit was good. Was my first visit bad? Yes. Did eye care for animals win me back over? Also yes. If your dog is anxious, consider mentioning that, getting them some anxiety drugs and booking a later appointment just in case your dog needs to be sedated in order to be seen. The vets here WANT to work with you. It’s hard to work on big animals in a spot that that’s difficult to look at though.

UPDATE: 5/18/23 The animal eye care hospital called me about my review and requested to talk to me about my experience in an attempt to amend things. I have an upcoming appointment in hopes that things have improved. I will post an update after that appointment. The staff that called me was very kind, she apologized for the experience and assured me that one of the staff that was at my appointment originally is no longer there. I am looking forward to giving a second/third chance to this business with people who know my dog is large and fearful.

My dog has cataracts, I adopted him with it. Knew it was there but wasn’t aware of the capacity. My dog also isn’t the most comfortable around vets. In the process of attempting to get his eye looked at (while muzzled) instead of the vets deciding they couldn’t do it they chose to call in 3 OTHER nurses to pin my already fearful GSD to a wall in the corner in order to look at his eye while I just stand by on the side scared. I asked them to stop. They continued. Eventually I was able to speak up and tell them it was enough. I will not be going back to this eye doctor and I highly suggest nobody else does either. It’s been about a year since I went and I’m finally able to share this. After much work my dog is now comfortable around vets again. He is not able to be in a corner anymore due to this experience though. This veterinary practice needs a serious lesson in...