Vetco Total Care Animal Hospital — Local services in San Diego

Unfortunately, it was difficult to pick-up my dog’s medication this round. There was difficulty in finding his records today, so I waited on the side with my dog as he gets stressed in new environments/hospitals after being bit in June. I was calming him down and having him work through his “quiet” commands while we waited for our nurse to comb through his Vetco records when one of the vets who could have SIMPLY walked by decided to be evil for absolutely no reason and chastised my dog! Mind you, no one was being told to be in contact with my dog and he wasn’t being set up to be intaked. I was picking up flea meds so this guy decided to be evil all on his own!

He repeatedly taunted my dog on how scary/so scary he must be as he walked closer to my dog when he was working to control his nerves/calm down. This threw my dog into a fit being taunted as he started to bark at the man who pulled up on him because 1) he was not introduced and 2)the man was obviously being mean and taunting! The Vetco staff was a tall & big/bald white man who worked today on 08/05 at 9am. My dog was very stressed, continued to bark, and difficult to calm after this and I did not see why this employee thought that’d be okay if you care for pets???? It really just stressed us both out and angered me as it made it difficult to communicate with the receptionist after.

However, this is the second instance I’ve had at this hospital where the workers have been outright rude to my dog instead of taking a caring approach as the first nurse we met did when we visited in June when he got bit.

The first instance was after the kind nurse assessed him and his vet came in screaming at my dog to SHUT UP instead of introducing herself right before they took him in the back for a shave + cleaning of his wounds. During that time, I did not feel comfortable giving my dog to that doctor - blonde, her hair shoulder-length, caucasian woman. I was so angry because I couldn’t believe what was happening.

The only peace I had in that moment was the same initial kind nurse walking me through what happened in the back and honestly telling me how they had to calm him down/wrap gauze around his mouth to be able to treat him. She was very empathetic.

I don’t know if this location just fails to audit their staff’s service to the pets and people they “care for”, but just like family, our dogs are a part of our care too and we want what’s best for them.

I can now say this experience has solidified me from turning up at this location any further as Sports Arena is not one I’d recommend to any of my family or friends’ pets to go to. This was a JOKE of a visit and no one should experience their healthy or sick pets getting taunted and disrespected by...

I was not going to leave a review regarding my attempted visit until an associate of the vet called me after my departure (I am assuming she was a doctor or some sort of supervisor).

I was trying to find some sort of exception or way around a the exam fee and just go straight to blood work. Possibly fees waived, anything. After this discussion the associate took the little information I provided her with and seek out the charges that I would have to pay (including exam fee) I was surprised to learn that there was actually nothing affordable about the cost compared to other vets I had gone to, but I kept this information to myself. It was then that I left to visit the previous vet that was charging the same amount for blood work (and had actually helped me out on the exam fee after finding out that money was indeed an issue for me)

What happened next was the reason for my review. The phone call I received after my departure from, as earlier mentioned, some sort of supervisor/doctor, explained to me that I did need to be "rude" and "aggressive" with he staff. (nothing about my tone or body language was either of those. If anything maybe aggravated due to dealing with what might possibly be the end of my cats life). I then explained that from my research of what thrive represented, I was just hoping that they would see that the person in front of them was faced with some hard times and could make some exceptions on charges (as a lot of vets do and have done for me in the past) she then preceded to tell me that if they cut a deal for everyone faced with a hard time they would not be able to stay in business. After I tried explaining that I could tell her everything she would need to know from an exam, came the snarky remark that sealed the fate for this review. Her words were "oh really? Do you know what your cats rectum looks like? Because I do, and that is part of the examination that I do for each animal that I see" again, I must stress, coming from a business stand point dealing with a possible/would be/ or even could have been patient, this kind of behavior should not be expressed. IF I was truly believed to be "rude" and "aggressive", I was gone. There was no need to call and lay into me while I am already dealing with trying to get my sick/possibly dying cat affordable medical care. She finished the conversation with informing me that I will no longer be welcomed back to their office.

I have friends and family with furry family members, and though I may not know where to tell them to go for vet needs, I DO have one place to tell...

UPDATE 1/28/19

I took my old 13 year old dog to this location after attempting to hop out of the bathtub and ended up hurting his back legs. He is a stubborn deaf dog and I was nervous to bring him since I knew he would be trouble. I got checked in by the usual super friendly receptionist and they sat me in a room. I got a different doctor from last time but she was as friendly and acknowledgeable as the last doctor that I had. She put me at ease by explaining her findings and what are the next steps. After the initial examination a nurse came in to explain my options. What I love most about this place is that THEY ACTUALLY GIVE YOU OPTIONS and don’t pressure you in taking any certain one. They carefully explain each medication, what it will benefit, the costs, alternatives, and even suggested more financial friendly ways of getting them. My dog, of course, caused a scene when they tried to draw his blood and whatnot but the nurses were so patient and kind.

All in all, this was been ANOTHER great experience here.

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We took our two month old kitten here since he was sneezing. The check-in process was simple and the receptionist was very nice. The examination room was very clean and welcoming. The cat room even had a cute little cat tree for your cat or kitten to ply on while you wait.

The nurse, Jeanie?, was very kind fun to talk to. She was able to keep our kitten at ease while she was explaining what she was doing.

Now our veterinarian, Rebeca Uribe Garriga, is possibly the best down to earth veterinarian that I’ve met so far. She explained her reasoning for treatments and examined our kitten head to toe even tho she knew we were in because we were concerned about his sneezes. She also gave us follow up plans which put us to ease if for whatever reason he doesn’t get better. Best of all she didn’t push unnecessary tests onto us. She answered all our questioned and we left feeling relieved and with a better piece of mind for our kitten.

All in all, you can tell everyone who works at this location cares a lot about the well-being of your pet and are focus on wellness not upwelling services that won’t benefit you or your pet. The pet exam is only $25 and the treatment and medication was at a good price. I was surprised that everything done including the exam was under $100.

All in all,I’m glad that they opened up a clinic near me and will be taking my other pets...