San Diego Affordable Spay and Neuter Clinic (North Park) — Local services in San Diego

I brought my cat in to get neutered in January. My cat has amazing jaw bones, a very fluffy tail, 1 year old, and looks like a Maincoon (this is important). He got weighed and came in at 7lbs. During the weigh in, the vet tech(?) stated that he looked like a Maincoon, but I assured her that he might have similar features, but is NOT. I saw her jot it down on his paper, didn’t think much of it, and left him to get neutered. I received a call 2 hours later stating that he needs to weigh in at 10-12lbs to get the procedure done. I was annoyed but understanding. I asked if it had anything to do with the vet tech(?) jotting down that he might be a Maincoon, and was reassured that it was not. I picked him up, and was told to fatten him up and reschedule.

After a few months of changing his diet, he was finally around the 10lb mark and I rescheduled. I went in again in July (07/25) and got the procedure done. During this weigh in, he came out to 9.7lbs and I made the comment, “Aw man, I weighed him yesterday and he was 10lbs. I hope he can still get the procedure done!” And the vet tech stated, “What do you mean? Cats around his age only need to weigh in at minimum 4lbs?” I took mental note and complained to my friends about it, but didn’t state anything to the vet tech(?).

After having the procedure done, I was instructed to keep my cat in a cone for 2 weeks. They used surgical glue to close the surgical site. I noticed about 1.5 weeks in that there was a slight opening in the seem of one of the cuts made. There was no redness, blood, or signs of infection. To be on the safe side, I kept him in the cone for an additional week, putting it at 3 weeks total in the cone. I checked the surgical site daily to keep an eye on the opening, and that was that. I noticed that the surgical site was healing more slowly than I thought (I’ve had multiple cats that have gotten neutered) but I just thought he needed more time.

Unfortunately, right at the 3 week mark (08/15), my cat chewed through two loops of the cone late at night. Making the cone unusable. I guess he was sick and tired of being in the cone after nearly a month. I took off the cone, and monitored him to make sure he wasn’t licking or chewing at the surgical site.

Then today (08/16) I came home from work and was laying in bed. My boyfriend noticed my cat cleaning himself, so I picked him up to look. What I saw TERRIFIED me. The whole flap of skin that used to contain his testicles was lifted up. Imagine being able to open your cat’s ball skin like a book, barely hanging on at one seam. I immediately rushed to multiple urgent vets to try and get him seen. You could see raw tissue, and thankfully no bleeding.

I ended up at my third vet trying to get him seen, and this is what the Veterinarian told me what the most likely cause was;

“During his initial procedure, the technique used wasn’t safe. I believe he could have gotten burned by the razor while shaving the area pre-op, or the initial incision was not done correctly. When they glued him back up, there was a pocket of damaged tissue (the vet pointed out the darkest circle on the area of raw skin). That slowed the healing process, and triggered the whole skin flap to detach itself, heal, and grow new skin underneath. Your cat today was most likely trying to remove the dead tissue that was barely hanging on, and nearly got it off. Luckily the tissue underneath is healthy, there is no sign of infection, but we need to surgically remove the skin and clean the wound.”

He received a shot of antibiotics to prevent any infection from starting, a shot of a steroid to help with irritation, had the skin that was barely hanging on removed, the wound cleansed, and a topical cream to be applied every 12 hours to help with the healing process. All and all, the initial neuter wasn’t done well or correctly per the Vet I saw today. The cherry on top? My cat has to be in a cone again until it is fully healed.

So, BE CAREFUL. The price is what pulled me in, but after everything, I spent $650 dollars fixing...

I would not recommend this place to anyone. I should have known and read the signs since the moment I called, but I was happy that there was availability for my puppy to get neutered, so I went ahead and got an appointment with this guys. I took my 7 month old puppy to get neutered back in November and when I called, the staff that answered was rude and kept trying to end the call. Said to go to the website and try to schedule by emailing them because she had many dogs crying at the moment and could not hear me, which she clearly did hear me because she ended up answering my questions after all. I took him in and it seemed odd to me that they had a very long line of pets to get neutered on the same (quality over quantity), although it’s supposed to be a very quick procedure. First mistake they did was when they gave me the wrong medication, but the staff figured out before I took it home with me when I picked up my dog. They did not send me the records, which they said they would email with receipt. All seemed fine, although my puppy wasn’t eating well or drinking much water, until 10 days later I saw him limping. I tried calling but no answer, so I decided I’d call his regular vet since I could not get a hold of the is guys. My vet’s clinic also tried to get the records and contact them and they did not get any response either. At this point, my dog had a huge abscess adjacent to the neutering incision and was only getting larger. It was not until 5+ days later that they barely sent me the records because I left them a very angry message. At this point I had scheduled a second vet’s visit because even after antibiotics and other medication his abscess was still growing. He had to go in for a second surgery within 2 weeks of his neutering surgery for an exploratory surgery where they found he had an abscess due to infection through his neutering surgery. His infection was inside and did not come from his incision, which meant he got a bacteria during his neutering surgery. I emailed them as calling did not ever worked because they did not pick up the phone at all for days and let them know that I now had spent over $1000 dollars due to their mistake. It literally took them a days to get back to me and would simply answer with “please call this number”, which was the one u had been calling for days. The way for them to resolve that was to tell me to give them my phone number since I had a “hard time reaching them”. I let them know they were very unprofessional and then management sent me an email trying to see how they can fix the problem. I am now playing waiting game again to hopefully get reimbursed for the nightmare they had me go through and all the money spent for their lack of sterilized and aseptic environment. Hope this review help others with their fur babies. I’m definitely not taking my pet...

I am TERRIBLY DISGUSTED with this place , and the treatment both my poor kitty and I received. If there was an option for zero stars, believe me .. I’d put it. As most of you know by already reading the reviews and seeing what kind of reputation this place has, most of us are still trying to get our animals fixed for a low cost. As that was exactly what I was trying to do. However, this place is the farthest thing from “affordable” or “safe” for your pets. My kitten sat in his crate on a cold metal shelf for 5-1/2 hours before anything was done with him. At that, I received a call and got told that only one of his testicles were descended. The receptionist continued on by asking if I would be willing to pay an extra $200 to have the other one that’s all the way up in his stomach removed too. Mind you , real licensed vets should be able to find out this information before ever performing anything on your pet. After I declined the extra $200 , she stated that they were gonna go ahead and just neuter the 1 testicle. About 30 minutes later, I receive another call stating that if I am declining to pay the $200 that they can’t do the surgery at all and I can come pick up my cat anytime. I then replied with okay , as I have been sitting in their parking lot for around 8 hours. Once I go in, she did issue me a refund but stated I would have to wait another 2 hours to get my cat back. I then asked why is that, since he didn’t receive any treatment today? She replied stating that they administered him anesthesia and he will have to recover from it. Which makes absolutely no sense on why my cat was not only in a crate for 5 hours before anything happened but then was administered severe medication/sedation for a procedure the vet should’ve known from the start that he wasn’t going to get due to the 1 testicle not being descended. After another 2 hours, and a full 10 hour day of sitting in their parking lot, I finally got my kitty. He had urinated in his crate and all over himself due to the lack of care and organization of this place. My intention is to never bash anyone, but this was by far the most exponentially difficult process both of us had to go through. If you are like me and trying to save a couple bucks, believe me you’d be far better off going somewhere else. They have a lot of other affordable places & options. What an unprofessional and HUGE SCAM this entire process and day was...